National Football League

Lions QB Shaun Hill takes snaps with 1st offense

Published Dec. 22, 2010 9:22 p.m. ET

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Leading the Detroit Lions to two straight wins may not have been enough to help Drew Stanton earn another shot.

Shaun Hill took snaps with the first-string offense Wednesday, making it look like he will start against the Miami Dolphins.

''Very observant,'' Stanton said.

Stanton hurt his non-throwing shoulder in Sunday's win at Tampa Bay, but was healthy enough to make all the throws during the early parts of practice open to the media.

Matthew Stafford wasn't on the field and will miss a seventh straight game since aggravating his separated right shoulder.

''He's the only guy that is out of the consideration for the starting quarterback spot this week,'' Detroit coach Jim Schwartz said. ''We'll have a good idea as the week goes on about the health of our guys and who we're going to go with on Sunday. But we probably won't announce it until we get up to game time for competitive reasons because those guys are different and require different game plans.''

The Lions have four quarterbacks - rookie Zac Robinson is the other - because they're holding out hope Stafford might be able to play in the finale Jan. 2 against Minnesota.

If Stafford is physically ready to play the Vikings, Schwartz said he wouldn't worry about him being rusty.

''He's done that before,'' Schwartz said.

Stafford was out for seven weeks - six games plus the team's bye - after getting knocked out of the opener. If Stafford returns to play in Week 17, he will have missed another seven weeks before testing his banged-up throwing shoulder again in a game.

Stanton hurt his left shoulder in a 23-20 overtime win over the Buccaneers after helping Detroit beat the Green Bay Packers to win consecutive games for the first time since the first half of the 2007 season.

''He showed a lot of toughness playing through it on Sunday and being able to finish the game was big,'' Schwartz said.

Hill broke his right index No.v 25 against New England and missed the next three games. He's trying to throw passes while protecting his injury with a taped-on splint.

''I'm just going to push it and hope to be the guy,'' he said.

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