Lions injury update: Matthew Stafford’s ankle is ‘feeling better’

While the Detroit Lions won’t release an injury report until Wednesday, players made themselves available to the media on Monday. All signs seem to indicate that Matthew Stafford, who injured his lower leg on Thanksgiving, will play this week. He told Mitch Albom on his weekly radio appearance on 760 AM that his ankle was “feeling better.”

Stafford hurt his lower leg after getting rolled up by a Vikings defender during the second half of Thursday’s game. After getting it heavily taped, Stafford returned to the game, but was clearly hampered by the injury and was caught limping heavily in the locker room after the game.

But according to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press said that Stafford looked much better in the locker room on Monday:

That being said, it’s clear Stafford is not 100 percent. During an interview with Detroit Lions radio play-by-play radio caller Dan Miller, he appeared to be wearing a protective layer around his right foot:

Even at home (via an Instagram post from his wife, Kelly), Stafford appeared to be wearing additional protection around that lower leg:

This isn’t the first time this season Stafford has dealt with an ankle injury. After the Lions’ Week 5 game against the Panthers, Stafford showed up on the injury report with an ankle injury, but was not limited in practice. That just so happened to be the same right ankle that Stafford is hampered by now.

All that being said, it doesn’t appear that Stafford is in danger of missing his first game since the 2010 season. We’ll see just how severe the injury is when Detroit releases their first report on Wednesday.