Lions rookie tight end Brandon Pettigrew will have season-ending surgery on his left knee. Pettigrew suffered a knee injury during the first quarter of Detroit's loss to Green Bay on Thursday afternoon. Coach Jim Schwartz had hoped that the injury wasn't severe, but an MRI revealed significant damage on Friday. Pettigrew will finish his rookie season with 30 catches for 346 yards and two touchdowns.

Lions coach Jim Schwartz doesn't regret starting quarterback Matthew Stafford on Thursday against the Packers. Stafford threw four interceptions against Green Bay in Detroit's 34-12 loss. "No second thoughts at all," Schwartz said. "Him throwing the interceptions had nothing to do with his shoulder." Stafford separated his left, non-throwing shoulder at the end of a Nov. 22 game against Cleveland.

Lions rookie tight end Brandon Pettigrew left the team's loss to the Packers on Thursday afternoon with a knee injury. "I don't want to say too much until we get more tests," Detroit coach Jim Schwartz said after the game. "But it is something that we'll have to take a hard look at." Pettigrew's knee buckled while engaged with Packers linebacker Clay Matthews in the first quarter. He left and didn't return to the game.

Detroit has played on Thanksgiving Day on 70 separate occasions and it is a tradition new head coach Jim Schwartz has a special reverence for. "This isn't just another game," Schwartz said. "This isn't just one of 16 for us. This is a special tradition and something we need to embrace and uphold." There were murmurs around the NFL that the Lions should stop automatically playing on Thanksgiving. Schwartz told season-ticket holders at a town-hall meeting that he wanted to put "barbed wire" around the game and not give anyone reason to talk about taking it away.

Browns coach Eric Mangini regrets hinting that he felt the Lions faked injuries during Sunday's game. Detroit defeated Cleveland 38-37 on a last-second touchdown pass that was set up by a pass interference call, which Mangini also questioned. "At the end of the day we're accountable for losing the game and for not making enough plays," Mangini said. "That's me, that's the coaches, that's the players. That's what it was. I think I was frustrated with the situation and probably expressed that more than I probably should have, but at the end of the day we're responsible for it. "We had plenty of opportunities to win the game and we didn't. That wasn't good enough," he said.

The Lions could be without rookie quarterback Matthew Stafford and wide receiver Calvin Johnson on Thursday. Detroit will play the Packers in their annual Thanksgiving game. Stafford sprained the AC joint in his left non-throwing shoulder during Sunday's win over the Browns. Coach Jim Schwartz said Tuesday that both players will be game-time decisions.

Lions coach Jim Schwartz wasn't happy with some of the accusations Eric Mangini threw his way. After Detroit defeated Cleveland 38-37 on Sunday, the Browns coach hinted that the Lions were faking injuries to slow down his no-huddle offense. "That couldn't be further from the truth," Schwartz said in response. "There was no need to do that because the officials were doing a really good job of standing over the ball for us and them. We used a lot of no-huddle, also, and I thought the crew did a really good job of making sure that substitutes were allowed to come in on either side if the offense substituted. So, that game was under control that way. There was no need to do any of that stuff and that couldn't be further from the truth." In addition, Mangini was also critical of the pass-interference call at the end of regulation that allowed the Lions to win the game. "Well, they don't know what they're talking about," Schwartz said. "You can quote me on that. When the quarterback is out of the pocket, there can still be pass interference. There can't be illegal contact, but there can be pass interference. When the ball is in the air, you can't make contact with the receivers. It's clear. There were more flags thrown than there were officials."

Lions quarterback Matt Stafford suffered a separated shoulder in the team's 38-37 win over the Browns on Sunday afternoon. He was injured as he threw a desperation pass into the end zone, and a source told ESPN's Chris Mortensen of it's nature. "He's extremely sore today," coach Jim Schwartz said Monday. "Most of the tests have come back, and there doesn't appear to be any long-term structural damage, but there's a lot of pain. If that continues, he'd be unlikely to play on Thursday, but we're not closing the door on anything yet."

Browns coach Eric Mangini hinted on Monday that he believes the Lions were faking injuries during Sunday's game. Cleveland was running a no-huddle offense, which was slowed considerably by Detroit's injuries. "I'm just saying there were a lot of them," Mangini said.

Stefanie Spielman has lost the cancer battle she fought publicly and relentlessly for more than a decade. The breast-cancer advocate and wife of former football star Chris Spielman died on Thursday evening evening at her Upper Arlington home in the wake of her fifth bout with the disease. The mother of four was 42.