Dont Expect Too Much in Lions Preseason Game

The Lions will host the Patriots Saturday evening. It is their first sold out preseason game in years. It is also a nationally televised game. What seems most important to many fans however, is that it is against the Patriots.

New England has made a showing of blitzing the quarterbacks this preseason. Likely, Stafford will take at least one hit. Everyone will be watching to see how fast he gets up from that hit.... if at all.

The Patriots are the team that embarrassed the Lions last year on Thanksgiving. With the Lions feeling much improved and with their starting QB healthy, the fans want to see how we will compare.

Then there is Tom Brady. Will he pick the Lions secondary apart like he did last year? Will Suh bury him?

The game is filled with questions and hopes and excitement. Which is a very cool thing if you keep in mind that it is after all, only a preseason game.

Likely Brady will complete his share of passes. It means nothing because he does that against every team. It is possible Suh will use the turf like silly puddy and see if Brady's name will transfer to it if he pastes him against it hard enough. It will mean nothing except that the NFL will feel they have to protect one of its superstar QBs and fine Suh. It is highly likely that Stafford will take his first real hit since the surgery. It is also likely he will get up and his day will be cut short because Schwartz does not want to take anymore chances.

I will even go so far as to say it is about a 50-50 chance the Lions will lose this game. It means nothing! This is a dress rehearsal, not a real game. The win or loss will mean nothing for the season. The Lions might look great against the Patriots and fall apart against the Bucs in the first week. Or they may let the Pats destroy them and then win the next 8 games in a row.

What do you take from this game? Glad you asked....

How well does the Lions pick up the blitz to give Stafford a second to throw the ball?
Does the secondary keep the Patriot receivers from getting behind them?
How does Backus look in his first game action (if he plays)?
How well does Stafford read pressure. Does he have pocket presence to avoid the hit?
Does Amari Speivey continue to show strong tackling abilities this game?
Do all the key players come out of this battle injury free?

Give me positive answers to all of those questions and I will consider the game a complete success. But I guess it would be all the more enjoyable if the Detroit Lions returned the spanking they gave us last year.