Yesterday was the start of something that I’ve been anticipating for months; the beginning of the football season. Yeah it’s only the preseason but I know that after each game we move one day closer to the start of the regular season. Last night the city of Detroit gathered in their living rooms, inside bars and basements to watch the Detroit Lions kickoff the pre-season against the Cleveland Browns. There was much anticipation for Matthew Stafford and how he looked after his record-breaking season last year and we all wanted to Calvin Johnson and if theMadden Cursewould have any affect on him yet. Then you have Ndamukong Suh who is trying to “bounce back” after an “off” year.
Now enough of the small talk, lets get to the actually game which affectionately has been dubbed the Great Lakes Classic.
Going into this game I thought the Lions’ first team would go in and crush the opposing Browns’ first unit.
However the complete opposite happened.
The Lions played mediocre while the Browns had some very good play from their average starters and terrible bench while Lions head coach Jim Schwartz summed it up best when he referred to his team as sloppy.
What went wrong:
- 3 for 13 on third down for the Detroit Lions. Sure three-quarters of play were played by Kellen Moore and Shaun Hill but Stafford and the first team weren’t very efficient as one drive ended in a turnover while the other two drives ended in punts.
- The secondary gave up over 300 yards passing to quarterbacks who shouldn’t even be on a football field. Thaddeus Lewis threw for 90 yards while Seneca Wallace threw for 86 yards and a touchdown. Bill Bentley for the Lions did have a nice interception for the secondary and played the best out of all the corners and safeties. However, out of the four quarterbacks that threw for the Browns, Brandon Weeden looked the worse while Colt McCoy looked the best with 88 yards passing. This all was very bad for the Lions defense as it was all back-up quarterbacks throwing all over a Lions team that will be on the field during the start of the season. Guys like Alphonso Smith, Sean Jones, Jacob Lacey, Bill Bentley and Jonte Green will all see time in the secondary as back-ups and at times as starters so they’re going to have to get their act together over the next three weeks.
What should have went right and did
- The running game for the Lions looked great didn’t it? Well it better have or the Lions would have had more problems than we all thought. Why do I say this? The Cleveland Browns had the 30th ranked run defense in the league last year and three of their defensive line starters were either injured or suspended so the Lions should’ve ran all over this defense. I was most impressed with Keiland Williams who came out very strong and definitely looked like the number two back come the start of the season when Mikel Leshoure serves his suspension and Jahvid Best weighs what’s best for his future.
What went right all game?
- The defensive line for the Detroit Lions looked great. Willie Young had a sack and a forced fumble while underrated defensive end Everette Brown had four hits on the quarterback and 1.5 sacks. Ndamukong Suh looked as dominant as he did his rookie season while Nick Fairley did a great job penetrating the offensive line and turning run plays the opposite way. All the way around the defensive line looked the best and most promising.
Is it time to hit the panic button for the Detroit Lions after a 19-17 loss to the Cleveland Browns? Absolutely not. It was the first pre-season game and we all knew that our secondary is average at best while the same goes for our run game. This isn’t like past Lions teams that had issue after issue to deal with but it is a team that definitely has it’s fair share of issues to work out. But for now just take it for what it is Detroit and get ready for the real football to begin really, really soon.