Matthew Stafford Injury: Updates on Lions QB's Week 11 Status and Fantasy Value

Detroit Lion fans had the worst Week 10 in the NFL.

Not only were they completely embarrassed by their division rival Chicago Bears 37-13, but they also found out their star quarterback has an injured right index finger which forced him to wear a glove.  Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press has more on Matthew Stafford’s injury:

He suffered the injury back in Week 8 against the Denver Broncos on a hit by linebacker Von Miller, but kept the injury a secret during the bye week.

On the Mitch Albom Show on WJR-AM (760) Monday, Stafford talked about how wearing a glove affects his performance:

"

I wore the gloves just to help me grip. I taped it and braced it underneath the glove to try and kind of lock the last joint down a little bit, but other than that, it had nothing to do with throwing interceptions or throwing touchdowns.

When I went out there and played, I didn’t feel it and feel like it was a big deal. But I didn’t wear gloves 'cause it was windy or 'cause it was cold. I’m not scared of the wind or scared of the cold, I just couldn’t really grip the ball very well without them.

"

Fantasy Impact:

This one is really hard to predict.

Sure he isn’t going to be benched, but it’s clear his performance was affected by the injury on Sunday. He dropped back a ridiculous 63 times; completing 33 passes for 329 yards with one touchdown and four interceptions. He had thrown four interceptions TOTAL entering the game.

With the way the running game has been going recently (27^th in the NFL), the Lions have to throw the ball a lot. That’s a good sign for fantasy owners.

On the other hand, now that opponents know about the injury, they are going to be gunning for it. With Stafford's injury history, he is going to be at risk each and every week to start a game, get knocked out early and ruin your fantasy week.

Don’t bench him, but make sure you have a capable backup…you may need him awfully soon.