Matthew Stafford will play through hand injury

Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford suffered what sounds like a fairly serious hand injury on Sunday, but it is not expected to keep him out of any games.

Lions head coach Jim Caldwell did not get into detail about Stafford’s injury during his press conference on Monday. He did, however, say that Stafford will play in Week 15.

Jim Caldwell opens news conference saying on Stafford "he's going to be able to play in the next game"

— Dave Birkett (@davebirkett) December 12, 2016

Caldwell says he won't talk about nature of injury, what happened, "all the rumors and false reports"…Said Stafford will practice this wk

— Dave Birkett (@davebirkett) December 12, 2016

Caldwell said if doctors clear a player such as Stafford he'll play. No thought of resting the player to rest him.

— Dave Birkett (@davebirkett) December 12, 2016

Stafford injured his hand early in Detroit’s win over the Chicago Bears, but he was able to finish the game and rally his team late. There has to be at least some concern about pain and effectiveness given the reports we heard about the damage.

The Lions are 9-4 and in the driver’s seat in the NFC North. They can’t afford to lose their starting quarterback at this point in the season.