The back injury Matthew Stafford suffered Week 9 in Oakland, the same injury that's kept the Detroit Lions quarterback out of action the last six games, will ultimately cost Stafford the rest of his 2019 season.
The Lions placed him on injured reserve today.
"Obviously, have the utmost respect for Matthew and his efforts to try and do everything he could to get back and play," head coach Matt Patricia said in a conference call Tuesday. "It will be really in the best interest for him and us as obviously an organization right now to give him that opportunity to rest and heal and continue along that path."
Stafford was injured late in that Raiders game. On a 1st-and-goal from the Raiders' 8-yard line, he scrambled and was sandwiched between linebacker Nicholas Morrow and defensive end Benson Mayowa. Stafford finished the game, but hasn't played since.
At the time of the injury, the 11-year veteran was playing some really good football in his first season in Darrell Bevell's new offense. He was leading the league in 20-plus-yard pass completions and was 187-of-291 passing (64.3 percent) with 2,499 yards with 19 touchdowns and just five interceptions. His passer rating (106.0), yards per completion (13.4) and yards per attempt (8.1) were all career highs at the time.
The Lions were 3-4-1 this season under Stafford, but are 0-6 without him with Jeff Driskel (0-3) and David Blough (0-3) under center.
Stafford had his 136 consecutive regular-season start streak ended by missing those games this season. That streak dated back to the start of the 2011 season.
"It's been a hard year for him, but a special year for us together in beginning this thing and starting to grow," Bevell said Tuesday.
"We were doing a nice job together and I can't emphasis how much I appreciate the work that he did just in terms of learning the new stuff, picking it up, teaching his teammates and then unfortunately he went down."
