Winners:
- The Defense- an opportunistic defense help create four turnovers and gave the offense great field position at least twice. they also kept the Pats out of the end zone, and limited Brady to 185 yards. Granted they still let the Pats pass for nearly 300 yards but we wanted to see something out of this unit and we did. The defense could be very good and if they can play like this they can keep games close and hopefully the offense can take advantage and we see a great swing from the 4-12 record of a year ago.
- Jim Schwartz- After Willie Young took a stupid penalty he was benched. This team needs more of this and I really wish Jim had come to town with this kind of attitude. the team would be far better if he had. The team still took too many dumb penalties but hopefully they will learn this lesson.
- Sam Martin- He is exactly what a struggling special teams unit needed. He books kick offs through the end zone or gets enough hang time with them that the coverage team can get down the field to make plays. Although he has struggled with the punt game he was outstanding there last night.
- Louis Delmas- Limited action, but he is a leader on defense and the secondary always plays better with him out there. It was good just to see him on the field.
Losers:
- first team offense- They did score a TD but they still cannot run the ball and they seem to be struggling. Some of that may be a play calling aberration this pre-season but the defense but this team in position to score a lot more points and far too often the offense leaves points on the field as drives stall out. Reggie Bush is a huge addition to the passing game but has done nothing to improve the ground attack. Add to that the issues along the offensive line and we may see Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson break more record out of necessity,
- The ground game- this is some kind of combination of the Lions being a pass first team and the problems along the right side of the O line. 124 yards on 29 rushes for a 4.3 average is an improvement but doesn't seem good enough.
- Wide Receivers- They are having a hard time creating separation. That doesn't matter so much for guys named Calvin Johnson but I am fairly certain the Lions only have one of them on the roster. Beyond him and maybe Ryan Broyles there is no one in this unit stepping up. If the Lions cannot figure out a way to run the ball to at least keep opposing defences honest they will be very easy to stop.
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