Jeff Riger's Blog: Schwartz Still Yet To Decide On A Quarterback
The Detroit Lions got back to the practice field on Wednesday morning with a different swagger to them, they are now winners. The Lions for the first time since 2007 have put to rest some demons as they have won a divisional and road game in back to back weeks. Of course just because some things seem different, that doesn't mean everything has changed. When Head Coach Jim Schwartz got to addressing the media after practice as usual, he had no information about who his starting quarterback would be on Sunday against the Dolphins. "We'll have a good idea as the week goes as to what the health of our guys are and who we are going to go with on Sunday. We probably won't announce it until we get up to game time, simply for competitive reasons because those guys require different game plans."
The choice will be the same for Schwartz; he can choose the guy that has won him 2 games in a row and has a shoulder injury in Drew Stanton or he can go with Shaun Hill, who has not played since Thanksgiving day who is dealing with a broken finger. So is health the main factor as to who gets the nod? Schwartz said "it's going to be one of the considerations for sure, you know game plan and a lot of different things but yes, health will be one of the considerations." Stanton was approached after practice and talked about his condition saying " I'm getting range of motion back and now it's just a matter of continuing to heal. It's progressively gotten better in a short period of time, so hopefully it will get to the point where it feels comfortable where I can play and do stuff. It's pretty close to that now."
Hill talked about his injury as well after practice saying "it just continues to get better. Just still kind of adapting to playing with it. Obviously the more time I spend on that the better off I will be. Things are a lot better today then last Wednesday." The one edge that Hill might have over Stanton is reps, Hill got the starters load Wednesday while Stanton played the role of the back-up. "Well it was just nice to be able to do it" Hill said. "The difference between last Wednesday and this Wednesday was Last Wednesday I had to wait until Friday, but today was different."
Of course the one opinion that is held by many people is that Stanton should get to start on Sunday since he is the first Lions quarterback that has actually won. The former Harrison High and Michigan State alum was asked about that thought and responded in a politically correct kind of way. "There is a lot of different scenarios as to how it could play out. We just have to figure out what is best for this team and try and win two more football games and end this season on a good note. You know whatever it is going to be, I've got to try and do what I can to help this team win football games."
Schwartz also had a Matthew Stafford update for the media during practice announcing that the former 1st overall pick would not be healthy enough to be in consideration to play this week. Schwartz has said all along that when Stafford is 100 percent he would play. So with just one game left after this week does that feeling remain? "All the games count the same, so if we could get him back that would be good but we will cross that bridge when we get to it. Obviously as you get closer to the end it changes your thought just a little bit but were probably not at that spot just yet.
The Lions take on the Dolphins Sunday in Miami, catch the broadcast starting at 10AM on "The Ticket".
