Detroit Lions Weblog

Thoughts on First Pre-Season Game, Takeo Spikes,

For at least a couple of days, I have celebrated the dismay and confusion that has engulfed Packer-land upon the trade of their immortal folk hero, Brett Favre. Selfishly, I hope that their misery is compounded with more Harrington-like performances by Aaron Rodgers as the season approaches. Am I wrong for deriving joy out of this “cheesehead” misery?

When the Favre trade was announced, I was cautiously hopeful that the Lions may acquire former Jets QB Chad Pennington to back up Jon Kitna. That was until Bill Parcells paid Pennington $11 million to assume the starting job in Miami. That is a little rich for most teams blood, considering that Pennington, as efficient as he can be, is a rag-armed immobile, and injury-prone version of his former self.

After Thursday’s pre-season performance, I am still left wondering, why aren’t the Lions in the market for a backup QB? I like Dan Orlovsky, but my perception of Drew Stanton, err I mean, Mike McMahon Jr., is that he is a VERY long way from being ready to play in the NFL. I was inspired by McMah-er I mean Stanton’s gutty performance at the end of the game, as he scrambled and dove for every inch of crucial yardage, against unfortunately, the Giants 3rd and 4th string defense. If Jon Kitna suffers even a mild injury, it would be an organizational disaster.

The Lions loss out on their pursuit of LB Takeo Spikes to the lowly 49ers.  Spikes presciently sized up the relative health of the two organizations and, let’s just say the Lions were the bridesmaid, again.  The Lions seem happy with the performance and growth of young linebackers Buster Davis and Jordan Dizon, so there may yet be a light at the end of the tunnel for them on the strong side.

Overall, the Lions pre-season performance was surprisingly solid.  Their mental errors were surprisingly limited, but I still was left with the feeling that they have no running attack and that their pass rush has a long ways to come before it is even an average NFL pass rushing attack.  I’ll give ‘em, a C+.