| Detroit Lions Victorious in Great Lakes Classic |
By Jason Behr
August 29, 2010
On Saturday night in that ever important 3rd pre season game against the Cleveland
Browns the Lions did just enough to capitalize on 3 Cleveland turn overs to emerge as
winners 35-27.
I do have to say coming on the heels of a pretty good first 2 games this one was pretty
disappointing for the most part with a few bright spots and exposing more problems down
the road for the Lions.
The good was a lightning quick 1:28 3 play scoring drive on their first possession of the
game highlighted by Jahvid Best 51 yard opening run followed by a 10 yard reception and
capped nicely by a Stafford to the other Johnson,Bryant touchdown pass. The other pleasant
trend that continued is good run blocking by not only the starters but also the second unit that
helped Aaron Brown to a very nice 5 carries for 34 yards and 2 td game. This along with his
4 solid kick off returns for 95 yards may have just cemented his roster spot. Another bright
spot was the return of Louis Delmas at safety that saw his first preseason action in the first 2
defensive series of the game. He responded with a couple of nice red zone pass coverage
plays and had 1 tackle for loss in run pursuit.
The bad of course is that Best came out of the game after his spectacular first series with
tightness in his legs and one can only hope it is just a minor couple of days thing and Kevin
Smith given his first significant playing time was largely disappointing. He got 8 carries for
just 20 yards and 1 touchdown but fumbled once and slipped on another rushing play. The
Defense was just all around terrible giving up 414 total yards of offense is unacceptable
preseason game or not. Even the starting defensive line got done in by a good offensive line
anchored by Pro-Bowler Joe Thomas and some nice game planning by the Browns. It was
evident that Cleveland watched the tape and decided to go up tempo no huddle quick short
throws to negate the pass rush as evident by Jake Delhomme starting connecting on 10 of
his first 13 throws for only 73 yards. I sure hope this is not a trend of things to come in the
regular season.
The Lions also added to their injury list by placing Jared DeVries on the Injured Reserve
list for the list and watching their starting middle line backer DeAndre Levy go down with a
pulled groin muscle on the very first play of the game. In what could be a truly debilitating loss
to an already weak line backing unit.
This game also featured the first extended action by the much bally hoo 3rd round pick Colt
McCoy and a fairly average 10 of 13 completions for 73 yards mainly to short check down
throws. As one can expect from any rookie quarter back he struggled reading the defenses
and relied on safe throws and his fumble in the 4th quarter led to one of two late touchdowns
that helped the Lions cement the victory.
August 29, 2010
On Saturday night in that ever important 3rd pre season game against the Cleveland
Browns the Lions did just enough to capitalize on 3 Cleveland turn overs to emerge as
winners 35-27.
I do have to say coming on the heels of a pretty good first 2 games this one was pretty
disappointing for the most part with a few bright spots and exposing more problems down
the road for the Lions.
The good was a lightning quick 1:28 3 play scoring drive on their first possession of the
game highlighted by Jahvid Best 51 yard opening run followed by a 10 yard reception and
capped nicely by a Stafford to the other Johnson,Bryant touchdown pass. The other pleasant
trend that continued is good run blocking by not only the starters but also the second unit that
helped Aaron Brown to a very nice 5 carries for 34 yards and 2 td game. This along with his
4 solid kick off returns for 95 yards may have just cemented his roster spot. Another bright
spot was the return of Louis Delmas at safety that saw his first preseason action in the first 2
defensive series of the game. He responded with a couple of nice red zone pass coverage
plays and had 1 tackle for loss in run pursuit.
The bad of course is that Best came out of the game after his spectacular first series with
tightness in his legs and one can only hope it is just a minor couple of days thing and Kevin
Smith given his first significant playing time was largely disappointing. He got 8 carries for
just 20 yards and 1 touchdown but fumbled once and slipped on another rushing play. The
Defense was just all around terrible giving up 414 total yards of offense is unacceptable
preseason game or not. Even the starting defensive line got done in by a good offensive line
anchored by Pro-Bowler Joe Thomas and some nice game planning by the Browns. It was
evident that Cleveland watched the tape and decided to go up tempo no huddle quick short
throws to negate the pass rush as evident by Jake Delhomme starting connecting on 10 of
his first 13 throws for only 73 yards. I sure hope this is not a trend of things to come in the
regular season.
The Lions also added to their injury list by placing Jared DeVries on the Injured Reserve
list for the list and watching their starting middle line backer DeAndre Levy go down with a
pulled groin muscle on the very first play of the game. In what could be a truly debilitating loss
to an already weak line backing unit.
This game also featured the first extended action by the much bally hoo 3rd round pick Colt
McCoy and a fairly average 10 of 13 completions for 73 yards mainly to short check down
throws. As one can expect from any rookie quarter back he struggled reading the defenses
and relied on safe throws and his fumble in the 4th quarter led to one of two late touchdowns
that helped the Lions cement the victory.
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