NFL to Look into Lions' Reporting of Matthew Stafford's Injury

NFL is looking into how the Lions handled reports of Matthew Stafford's injury

According to multiple reports, the NFL will further look into how the Lions addressed Matthew Stafford's injury designation. 

Michael Rothstein of ESPN wrote a league source expressed the following: 

"We'll look into it and gather all the facts, as is standard in situations like this."

Per NFL rules, teams are required to disclose if a player has been ruled out before arriving at the stadium. 

What We Know

Stafford was listed by the Lions as a limited participant in practice last week. 

He then was listed as questionable on the injury report Friday. 

By Sunday, Stafford was officially ruled out for the Lions' Week 10 tilt with the Bears. 

Confusion

There has been confusion regarding when the Lions made the decision that Stafford would not be available to play Sunday.

Head coach Matt Patricia indicated in the postgame that the decision was made on Sunday for Stafford to sit. 

Meanwhile, some players expressed that they had been told on Saturday that Stafford was out. 

Regarding the rules, Rothstein added in his article:

"In the league's manual, it states 'if, prior to the team's arrival at the stadium on game day, an event occurs that causes the club to decide that a player will not start or will not play, the club must update its Game Status Report, as required by the Policy.'

'That goes up until the earliest time the team is instructed to report to the stadium on the day of the game. If the decision is made after the team arrives at the stadium and a workout is conducted that decides a player will be unable to start or play, they are not required to change the status report until the typical window 90 minutes before kickoff.'