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After throwing no passes in front of the media on Wednesday because of a hand injury, Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford returned to a seemingly normal amount of activity on Thursday.
According to media on hand, Stafford was throwing passes with his “usual zip on the ball.” Per DetroitLions.com’s Tim Twentyman, Stafford “spun the ball pretty well.” However, it appears he’s still a little limited:
Matthew Stafford ramping up activity at practice today, including attempting a few passes. Still handing off left handed though.
— Kyle Meinke (@kmeinke) December 7, 2017
ESPN’s Mike Rothstein even grabbed some video of Stafford throwing, albeit lightly.
Here he is with a little more zip on the ball:
Here’s Matthew Stafford throwing with a couple fingers taped up at practice. He was much more active today. pic.twitter.com/KR6azgkXK4
— Nate Atkins (@NateAtkins_) December 7, 2017
As you can see from the video above, Stafford still has two of his fingers wrapped individually. He isn't wearing a glove, which is good news considering his poor history throwing with a glove on.
Overall, this is a big step in Stafford’s progression through this injury, and at this point, it looks like he’s trending towards playing against the Buccaneers this week. We’ll see if he is still listed as “limited” in Thursday’s injury report when it comes out this afternoon.
While Stafford was active and throwing, the Lions were missing several starters from Thursday’s practice, including right tackle Rick Wagner, guard T.J. Lang and defensive end Ezekiel Ansah.