Stafford Looks Good in Lions Last Preseason Game

In his one half of play in the Detroit Lions last preseason game, rookie Matthew Stafford looked good. Though his numbers were nothing good to look at, his level of play was nice.

Stafford completed 5 of his 9 pass attempts for 81 yards. He had one interception and no touchdowns. Stafford also had one run for 7 yards.

To look at the numbers, you might roll your eyes and think he did not have a good game. What the stats don't show is that his one interception came on a play where the receiver fell down, giving the defensive player free access to the pick. The stats also do not show the touchdown that he did throw to Calvin Johnson in his first drive, but was called back due to a holding penalty on #70 Daniel Loper.

In that first drive, Stafford threw a bullet down the right sideline, just out of reach of the defense to hit Calvin Johnson who was knocked out of bounds. His next pass found Johnson again on a timing play where he threw the ball before Johnson even turned around. It was then that Matthew Stafford let another pass loose to the end zone. The ball floated just over the defenders and Johnson again pulled it in for the touchdown that was called back because of the holding penalty.

That seemed to be the end of Stafford looking like a star however. He was almost picked on another pass where he had his eyes locked on Calvin Johnson as the star receiver ran across the field, allowing two defenders to close in for what should have been an interception if the pass would not have gone through the defensive players hands.

Though the rookie got away with one there, it was made up later when he threw the ball to the left side and his receiver fell down allowing the defense to intercept it and return the ball down the sideline. It looked like it would be returned for a touchdown but Stafford did a good job of getting there to make the tackle.

Matthew Stafford did look good but the offensive line showed why the Lions might be smart to let him learn on the bench for a season. Twice in the first half, Stafford took sacks because the offensive line had breakdowns. The line did look very good for most of the half, but it is those breakdowns that gives one reason to fear. They were not sacks where a player gets a hand on him and slowly drags him down. One sack rode Stafford over ten yards backwards by a couple players before he went down hard and on the other, Stafford had his arm hit as he cocked it back to make the pass, which concluded in a lost fumble.

Two sacks may not sound like much to worry about, but consider the facts that it was only one half and he only attempted 9 other passes. If he was to get sacked 4 times a game, he would be dropped for an amazing 64 times in a season. That is not something you want your quarterback of the future to go through. That is something that can ruin any rookie quarterback, however confident or tough he may be to start.

Detroit Lions beat the Colts 18 - 17

The most important thing to remember here is that it is still only a preseason game. The Lions beating the Colts means absolutely nothing. That being said, there are certain things I noticed in this game.

1) The offensive line actually looked good. Several times they opened holes and often they actually moved the trench forward. Yes they made a few stupid, idiotic and ridiculous mistakes like a blow to the head AFTER the play was over and such. Still, all in all, I see a huge improvement over how they played in the last decade.

2) There were two drives where Manning moved the ball with apparent ease to score a touchdown. On both of those drives, the Lions played a soft and non-aggressive zone defense. Like last week, when the Lions blitzed, the looked much better.

3) The offense looks much better with Johnson and Johnson playing.

4) Yes, it is actually possible to over throw Calvin Johnson on a fade route.

5) The biggest improvement from last week to this week is a tie between Stafford and the kick-off coverage unit.

6) Delmas can hit like a mac truck. Now if he can learn when to pull up and just make the tackle.

7) I am already getting tired of Charlie Sanders speaking on the sidelines.

8) Kevin Smith is running much harder this season. He seams harder to tackle but he is still missing that extra gear to break the long ones.

9) I really really hate the zone defense.

Detroit Lions lose to Cleveland Browns 27-10

First let me say this right off.... I do not think it was as bad as many believe.

#1 - The Lions first team defense gave up one long drive for a touchdown. After that they settled down and played fairly well. The only other TDs came from the special teams and late in the game against backups.

#2 - Sticking with the defense.... In the first three quarters, the Lions defense blitzed 11 times that I counted. Only once during a blitz did they give up more than a few yards. So when the Lions blitzed, they did well.

#3 - Stafford looked pretty bad this game. Culpepper looked pretty good. Unless Stafford plays lights out over Culpepper in the coming weeks practices, Daunte should be named the starter and play the first half of the third preseason game.

#4 - Special attention needs to be placed on the special teams this week. The coverage unit was down right horrid and the blocking/return unit was almost useless.

#5 - More Special teams.... Aveion Cason should be cut. He rarely returns a ball past the 20 yard line. Too often he seems to dip his head and run into men rather than make them miss. His fumble on the outside run should be the last straw. He does not help the Lions enough to warrant the spot he takes up.

#6 - Keep in mind that many of the Lions playmakers were not playing tonight. None of the three starting receivers and their hopeful star tight end did not play.

#7 - Also keep in mind that this was a preseason game. They mean absolutely nothing. If the Lions were to play great, many fans would say "So what? It was a meaningless preseason game." When they played bad, those same fans are saying... "Same Old Lions! They wont win a game again this year." Schwarts did not prepare the team to win and they did not game plan to win. Special teams showed some large holes and the defense was bad for one series. Now Schwartz knows what he needs to work on next.

Stafford to Start 2nd Preseason Game

Detroit Lions coach, Jim Schwartz has said rookie quarterback, Matthew Stafford will start the second preseason game. Stafford is expected to play into the second quarter then give way to Daunte Culpepper who started the first game.

For now, don't read too much into this news. This decision in no way predicts who will start the first game of the regular season. Schwartz has all along said that he would give his quarterbacks equal chance before making a decision on his starter for the season. With Culpepper starting the first game, it is only right to let Stafford start the second game.

However, it is of utmost importance that Sometime during the next week, Schwartz needs to make his final decision. The third preseason game is usually the dress rehearsal for the starters in the NFL and whoever will be the starting quarterback needs to get more reps in to prepare for the real season. To continue having the two share reps in practice would only hinder the inevitable starter.

A lot of fans are high on Stafford after the first game but it is not rightfully so. Though Stafford did nothing to hurt his chances, he still did not really out play Culpepper. Daunte being the veteran, he should have to be out played by Stafford to lose the starting nod to the rookie. After a record breaking NFL worst season in 2008, Daunte's lack of mistakes would better suit the Lions 2009 season.

If Stafford truly out plays Culpepper in the 2nd game, then he should get the nod, but if Daunte is not out played, he should not be benched. It is as easy as this. If two quarterbacks play evenly, then go with the one who will make less mistakes.

Lions Win Preseason Game-1

As expected, Daunte Culpepper took place under center to start the game and did a fine job. Culpepper completed five of six passes for 41 yards. He did not have any touchdowns and did not throw an interception. What impresses me most however is that he only had one pass that was incomplete. The veteran quarterback did not do anything to hurt his chances of starting for the Lions in 2009 and he did not do anything special to gain a lead on Matthew Stafford.

The first overall pick in April's draft, Matthew Stafford, took the ball after that and had a different kind of game. He completed 7 of 14 passes for 114 yards. He threw one touchdown and had one picked off. Though Stafford only had a 50% completion rating, he also had a few of his passes dropped. His touchdown was a perfectly thrown ball where only the receiver could get it, but his interception was a typical rookie mistake when he allowed a blitz to make him throw the ball early and he did not read the defense well. The interception was returned for a touchdown.

Though Culpepper did not do anything great or anything bad, Stafford did both. So from this game alone, the quarterback competition stayed just as tight.

Rookie running back, Aaron Brown, scored a touchdown and Drew Stanton had an 18 yard scramble that set up the game winning field goal.