"Shaun Hill taught himself to throw without using his right index finger when he broke a bone three years ago. It's a skill he's working on again.

Hill threw a handful of short passes at Detroit Lions practice today for the first time since re-breaking his finger in a Thanksgiving loss to the New England Patriots.

He still had a splint on his hand and was noticeably rusty on some of his passes, but he said he plans to increase his workload daily with an eye on possibly returning for Sunday's game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

"It's a little different throwing with it now than it was three weeks ago, so part of it's kind of learning that, retraining myself a little bit," Hill said. "I'm going to do everything that I can throughout the week to see where we are. I'm certainly trying."

Lions coach Jim Schwartz declined to name a starter today. Matthew Stafford did not practice and is expected to miss his sixth straight game with a separated right shoulder. Third-stringer Drew Stanton will start for the third consecutive game if Hill can't play."