Detroit Lions Offensive Position Battles Heat Up Against Pittsburgh

The Detroit Lions painted a clearer picture of what the depth chart looks like in their 30-17 preseason win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Friday.

The Detroit Lions‘ preseason win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Friday provided some insight regarding the current state of the depth chart in some positions while complicating it in others. While most of the offensive starters are basically set, the bottom half of the depth chart was nowhere near finished going into Friday’s game, and while some performances clarified where the roster stands, others made already closely-contested position battles more difficult to predict.

Quarterback

While Matthew Stafford‘s starting job is not in doubt, Dan Orlovsky‘s underwhelming performance (16/25, 164/1/1) has opened the door for at least some speculation regarding the number two quarterback position.

Orlovsky made some nice plays, but those were largely offset by a handful of simply terrible throws, including a pick-six to a defender with no receiver in the area. Both he and rookie Jake Rudock (8/11, 72/1/0) completed most of their passes underneath, which yielded high completion percentages.

Rudock did a better job of taking care of the football and not risking turnovers. Orlovsky is still firmly the number two, but if this trend continues throughout the preseason, Rudock fans might have an argument.

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