The Lions were hoping to get a half out of starting quarterback Matthew Stafford on Saturday night, but they will have to settle for a bit more than a quarter.
Shaun Hill has replaced Stafford in the second quarter of their game against the Raiders after Stafford had to leave the game with a left hand injury. Stafford appeared to hit the hand on a helmet when Raiders defensive end Dave Tollefson hit him to force a third down incompletion.
The Lions are calling his return questionable, although you can downgrade Stafford to out if you’re keeping your own injury list at home. Stafford won’t be back after halftime and the Lions aren’t going to push their quarterback back into the game with any chance of making whatever’s wrong with his non-throwing hand any worse than it already is.
Stafford was 8-of-10 for 68 yards in the game. Calvin Johnson didn’t have any catches while Stafford was in the game, although it’s not clear if that was because of Ron Bartell’s coverage or if the Lions were looking to see what others could do in their third preseason contest.