DETROIT -- Matthew Stafford walked gingerly out of the Detroit Lions' locker room late Sunday afternoon, clearly favoring his right leg -- walking with it almost peg-legged straight after Detroit's 27-24 loss to Carolina on Sunday.
Stafford received treatment after the game and in a rarity, the quarterback did not do his postgame news conference at a podium but inside the locker room near the exit. He declined to say when he injured his right leg and wouldn't say, exactly, what he injured.
"I'll be all right," Stafford said. "I feel like coach will handle all that stuff, talk to you guys about all that kind of stuff."
Stafford had his right ankle taped up between drives during the second half of Sunday's loss. After a touchdown pass to Darren Fells, he hobbled off the field pretty quickly. Lions coach Jim Caldwell, when asked about Stafford's injury, wouldn't give much of an indication of what's ailing him.
"He's a fighter," Caldwell said. "He's tough. We'll see where he is."
Stafford was sacked six times for the second straight week. He completed 23 of 35 passes for 229 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. He also fumbled twice, losing one.
While Stafford finished the game, defensive tackle Haloti Ngata did not. He was ruled out with an elbow injury and Caldwell said after the game he was "not certain" the extent of it.
Ngata, 33, has been dealing with injuries the past two weeks, including getting his shoulder worked on during last week's win over Minnesota. He came off the field midway through the second quarter and soon made his way to the locker room for more testing.
If Ngata misses time, the Lions will rely more on Akeem Spence and Jeremiah Ledbetter opposite A'Shawn Robinson.