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Sunday, August 16, 2009

Preseason Game 1: Lions win Stafford’s debut


By: Michael Niziolek

Jason Hanson kicked a field goal as time expired to give the Detroit Lions a 27-26 win over the Atlanta Falcons in Detroit’s first preseason game and the exhibition gave fans a good look at some of the new faces looking to make an impact this season – mainly Matthew Stafford and Aaron Brown.

Stafford was solid in his debut.

Stafford completed seven passes for 114 yards with a touchdown and interception. He had a good command of the offense and showed off his strong arm, so strong that veteran WR Keary Colbert dropped three catchable balls.

But Stafford wasn’t perfect either.

On his second drive he threw an interception to Tony Gilbert that was returned for a touchdown. Stafford was pressured on the play and instead of throwing the ball away he made his first real mistake as a NFL quarterback.

The following drive he was able to quickly make up for it by hitting Derrick Williams in the endzone with a 25-yard strike, while being hit by a defender.

Head coach Jim Schwartz said he was impressed with the play and how Stafford bounced back...

“The thing I liked about it is: he bounced back with an 80-yard touchdown drive and took a hit which you have to do in the NFL and made a perfect pass and Derrick (Williams) made a great catch,” Schwartz explained. “I liked that bounce back.

Overall, Stafford said he was happy with his first NFL game experience.

“It was a blast, it was fun out there,” Stafford said after the game. “I threw it around a little bit - I obviously don't want to throw anymore picks but we jumped back and had a touchdown there which helped us out."

The other rookie making a big splash was RB Aaron Brown.

The rookie out of TCU had two touchdowns – a 32-yard run and a 45-yard reception from Drew Stanton. His speed and athleticism were on display during both plays as he was able to turn it up field quickly and make defenders miss in space.

Brown has the potential to be a very versatile player for the Lions this season as a third down back, return man and as a receiver.

Like Stafford, Brown also made a couple of mental mistakes.

He drew an illegal formation penalty on punt coverage and on his second touchdown let the excitement get the better of him. He did an impressive backflip after scoring, but was slapped with a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

Other notes:


* Kevin Smith had a nice game. He only rushed the ball three times, but his two receptions for 27 yards helped set up the Lions field goal in the first quarter. On his second reception he was able to break a couple of tackles and put the Lions in the redzone for the first time of the year.


* Calvin Johnson sat out the game with a thumb injury and that gave the Lions coaching staff an opportunity to look at some of their other receivers. Colbert’s dropped passes didn’t do him any favors, but outside of Derrick Williams none of the other wideouts made much of an impact.

* Daunte Culpepper showed some good mobility. He was forced out of the pocket a couple of times and able to turn it up the field for positive yardage. Jim Schwartz talked about Culpepper’s legs during the week and it was clear he felt the quarterback was healthy for the first time in a couple of years.



* The defense still has some work to do on their tackling. Michael Turner was able to break a 40-yard touchdown run after at least two defenders failed to take him down.