Detroit Lions fined for failing to report Matthew Stafford injury properly

The Detroit Lions have reportedly been fined for the way they handled the reporting of the injury to quarterback Matthew Stafford. According to several sources, the team was fined $75,000, Matt Patricia was fined $25,000 and general manager Bob Quinn was fined $10,000 for their part in the mistake.

Per Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, the problem came after the Lions administered a scan on the Friday before the Chicago Bears game. That scan, according to Patricia, revealed an additional injury that put Stafford’s status on that Sunday in doubt.

“We had some additional scanning Friday evening that took place, and that scanning really caused us to have some further internal discussions over the weekend,” Patricia said.

At the time, Stafford was labeled as questionable to play for Sunday’s game. However, if there are any complications or changes in a players’ status, the team must report any downgrades. Detroit failed to downgrade Stafford to doubtful or out before kickoff, and it appears that’s where the violation took place.

Last month, Patricia was asked if the team should have downgraded Stafford’s status after the additional testing. Here was his answer:

“The one thing that we were conscious of—and I was really conscious of—is if you downgrade a player to out, then you can’t make him active or dressed,” Patricia said. “That was the only thing I thought that would be more messed up, right? Trying to get a guy to dress after we downgrade him to out. OK, let’s take the night, let’s go to bed and let’s wake up tomorrow and see how we feel, and then make a decision.”

That excuse apparently didn’t hold water with the league.