Assessing the Detroit Lions after the first pre-season game

We hare at DJC don’t put a lot of stock in any one pre -season game, or in the score, but look to judge the Detroit Lions on what they do over the four pre-season contests. Of course even that is not a great indicator. The year this team went winless they were 4-0 in the pre-season. What we are saying is pre-season doesn’t mean a whole heck of a lot, and we are kind of glad the Lions exposed some of the things they need to work on. If we saw them, then the coaching staff should’ve seen them and that usually means those things will get worked on.

For pre season game #1 (which I had to watch today because of the Olympics and a mini vacation, plus a trip to Toledo to see the Mudhens at work). I watched part of the game on TV Friday night as a fan, but really watched it today, and like most of you I saw some troubling things. First and foremost being the lack of continuity between QB Matthew Stafford and any receiver not named Calvin Johnson. When Stafford throws to Calvin he looks as good as any NFL passer can, when he does not…well, not so much. Stafford should be more familiar with some of these guys that have been here for awhile.

The rest is all things that the coaching staff can fix. Again throw out the numbers, the stats, and the final score. This was a glorified practice session and it exposed some thing this staff need the players to work on. This early that could be a very good thing. The performance of Kellen Moore is concerning but he was only going to be the third QB anyway. If he winds up playing in 2012 in the regular season, the Lions will have far bigger problems. Everette Brown’s performance was pretty good, and may give the Lions a difficult decision to make. The usually do not keep five DE’s on the 53 man roster, but Brown is so intriguing and has such a chip on his shoulder that he may win a roster spot, or become a very valuable trade chip.

The thing I am looking for now is the progression from the Browns game to what we see on the field against the Baltimore Ravens this week. If we are talking about the same issues after that one I will be far more concerned. If the coaches get some of the issues fixed we will be looking to the third pre-season game to see what this team’s starters can do. For now I am just happy to be past the off season that was not a lot of fun to witness.