Lions QB Matthew Stafford (right shoulder Out) did not practice Friday as expected. Shaun hill will get the start.

Lions QB Matthew Stafford (right shoulder) did not practice Wednesday after separating the shoulder (grade II) Sunday. Reports have Stafford missing anywhere from 1-6 games. One thing we do know, Shaun Hill will be under center for the Lions this week. Hill is our QB27 facing a tough Eagle's defense. Calvin Johnson can still be productive with Hill under center.

On a Detroit radio show (WDFN-1130 AM) this morning, Dr. Stan Sczecienski of Garden City Hospital said there might be evidence that QB Matthew Stafford's injury could sideline him for just a week or two.

Sczecienski, who does not treat Stafford, said two pieces of information lead him to believe the injury might be a shoulder contusion instead of a separation. One, replays show that Stafford got hit on the side of his shoulder and, two, Stafford himself said there was no injury to the labrum (Sczecienski said injury to the labrum is normally an indication of a separation).

Stafford is expected to visit noted surgeon Dr. James Andrews this week for a second opinion.

The Lions got some good news on Monday regarding the shoulder of quarterback Matthew Stafford. But it's good news that wasn't entirely unexpected.

Coach Jim Schwartz said that Stafford won't need surgery to repair an injury to his throwing shoulder, per Larry Lage of the Associated Press. Peter King of NBC reported during Football Night in America that the injury preliminarily had been assessed as a Grade II sprain of the AC joint, which means that it was believed to be a moderate separation of the shoulder. Typically, an injury of that magnitude doesn't require surgery.

If surgery had been required, Stafford possibly could have been out for the year.

Schwartz said there's no timetable on the second-year quarterback's return. We heard on Sunday in the aftermath of the injury that the team feared he'd miss at least two-to-three weeks, and as many as four to six.

The Lions play the Eagles, Vikings, Packers, Rams, and Giants before getting a bye in Week Seven.

And so it appears that, when Philly travels to Detroit in Week Two, injuries will result in backup quarterbacks starting for each team.

The Lions traded for Shaun Hill in March, gave him a one-year contract extension four months later and turned the keys of their offense over to him Sunday.

The backup quarterback played the entire second half of the Lions' 19-14 season-opening loss to the Bears after starter Matthew Stafford suffered a right shoulder injury.

Stafford could barely move his arm after the game, and his status for next week's home opener against the Eagles is unknown.

"It's my job to be ready no matter what and I feel like that's been my M.O. my whole career," Hill said. "Even when I spent all those years as a (third quarterback), I always felt like I prepared like I was going to play, and it's for situations like this."

Still, Lions coach Jim Schwartz said he was confident in Hill after the game. Drew Stanton is the Lions' third-string quarterback, and the team had no other signal callers in training camp.

"There's a reason we have Shaun Hill on this team," Schwartz said. "That's' cause Shaun's an experienced quarterback and he can lead us to wins. So if Matt's not able to go, we have a lot of belief in Shaun."

Lions QB Matthew Stafford suffered an injury to his throwing shoulder with 15 seconds remaining in the first half. He likely will be out a couple of weeks at least, but the Lions say it's too early to tell.

"It's not fun,'' said Stafford, who had completed 11 of his 15 passes for 83 yards before getting hurt. In his 11 NFL games, Stafford now has been significantly injured for a third time. He suffered a dislocated right knee in last year's game in Chicago and also suffered an injury to his left shoulder last year.

"I worked hard to come back from the other injuries I had and I felt we were doing pretty good on offense and moving the ball well,'' Stafford said. "So it's not exactly what you want on opening day.''

Stafford didn't want to talk about any specifics of his injury.

"I knew something wasn't right, but didn't know what exactly,'' he said. "We put ice on it real quick so that numbed it up for me pretty good.''

Shaun Hill will get the starts while Stafford is sidelined, but isn't looking like a fantasy option.

The Detroit Lions were hoping Matthew Stafford would have a brief and productive tuneup for the regular season. He didn't.

Stafford's second pass was intercepted and returned for a touchdown and he didn't lead Detroit to points on his second and last drive. But, third-stringer Drew Stanton threw a pair of second-half touchdown passes to lift the Lions to a 28-23 win over the Buffalo Bills in their preseason finale Thursday night.

"The interception was a big negative, but we made some positive plays as well," Stafford said. "Now, we just put this behind us and start planning for Chicago."

Detroit opens the season at Chicago - hoping to snap a 20-game skid on the road - and that's when coach Jim Schwartz will start to care about results.

"It really doesn't matter, to tell you the truth, how I'm feeling or what our record was in the preseason," Schwartz said.

The Bills are happy with QB Trent Edwards. All signs point toward Edwards as the official #1 QB.

Matthew Stafford threw a touchdown pass, rookie Jahvid Best had a 51-yard run and Aaron Brown scored twice in the fourth quarter to lift the Lions to a 35-27 win over Cleveland in a preseason game Saturday night.

Stafford was 13 of 17 for 141 yards and threw a touchdown pass to Bryant Johnson on Detroit’s first drive, connecting with a receiver on a high pass in the end zone for the second straight week.

Stafford handed off to Best for a 51-yard run on Detroit’s first play, threw a short pass to the first-round pick that he turned into a 10-yard gain with a juke on the second and lofted a 7-yard TD to Johnson on the third.

Lions LB DeAndre Levy, who was slowed by a back injury during training camp, left the game with a groin injury on the game’s first drive.

Many in the Denver crowd came hoping to get a glimpse of the future in Tim Tebow and instead got a peek at the past.

Cornerback Dre' Bly's 47-yard interception return set up Detroit's first touchdown in the Lions' 25-20 win over the Denver Broncos on Saturday night.

Bly, who played two seasons in Denver before his unceremonious release following coach Josh McDaniels' hiring in 2009, picked off a pass against the Broncos for the second straight preseason - he did it while with the San Francisco 49ers last year.

Two plays later, Matthew Stafford connected with Calvin Johnson for a 20-yard touchdown pass.

Detroit third-stringer Drew Stanton's 25-yard touchdown on a quarterback draw with 1:53 left was the difference. Brady Quinn drove the Broncos into Lions territory in the closing seconds before Willie Young stripped the ball away and Korey Bosworth recovered.

Tebow's home debut will have to wait at least another week. He sat out with bruised ribs he suffered in the exhibition opener a week ago, much to the disappointment of throngs of Broncos fans donning his No. 15 jersey at Invesco Field.

Kyle Orton, fresh off signing a one-year extension that bought some time for the Broncos to formulate their long-term plans at quarterback, completed 16 of 22 passes for 177 yards with two touchdowns and one interception in four first-half possessions.

Orton has thrown four TD passes in seven drives this preseason despite playing behind a makeshift offensive line, with the team's top three tailbacks sitting out and a turnstile of targets catching his throws.

Jabar Gaffney caught six passes for 98 yards, all from Orton.

Stafford was 13 of 20 for 130 yards, guiding the Lions to scores on all four of their first-half drives.

In all, 16 Broncos sat out, including Champ Bailey , D.J. Williams, Daniel Graham, Chris Kuper, Spencer Larsen, Brandon Stokley, and Demaryius Thomas, the team's top draft pick.

The Broncos hope most of them return next week to play against Pittsburgh in the all-important third preseason game.

Broncos LT Ryan Clady, recovering from offseason knee surgery, did footwork drills with strength coach Rich Tuten on the field a few hours before kickoff.

FS Louis Delmas (groin) sat out for Detroit (1-1).

• Quarterback Matthew Stafford's accuracy in all drills remains astounding. He made just two bad passes in the seven-on-seven, one-on-one and team drills in the afternoon session. The best was a deep out to Calvin Johnson; he hit him absolutely in stride between three defenders.

• Rookie Jahvid Best caught punts for the first time Sunday.

• You can't help but be intrigued by the Lions' possibilities in the red zone.

They worked on it a bunch Sunday morning and when you see two 6-foot-5 tight ends (Tony Scheffler and Brandon Pettigrew) and a 6-5 receiver (Calvin Johnson), the potential to create favorable matchups seems limitless.

"We've got some trees," coach Jim Schwartz said. "Those guys are tall and when you get down there it becomes a matchup game. When you can elevate the ball and take it over somebody's head, that's a plus."

That alone won't get it done, though. There has to be a running threat, which Schwartz thinks is there in rookie Jahvid Best, and some inside receivers who aren't afraid to catch a ball in traffic coming across the middle, which he thinks he has in Nate Burleson .

"I like our combinations," Schwartz said. "Burleson is a guy who has great quickness and tremendous courage. There aren't many wide receivers who have the courage that Nate has to go across the middle. You need that."

Remember being excited about the Lions offense a few years ago after they drafted Kevin Smith? This has a different feel though, and drafting some Lions this time around shouldn't be a bad thing, as long as you keep things in perspective. Calvin Johnson should be a WR1 while Stafford may be a nice QB2 option to pick up in later rounds. RB Best certainly has some potential to be a mid-to-late round addition that pays off later in the season.