Sunday, August 15, 2004

Lions Diary

The Detroit Lions played host to the Pittsburgh Steelers last night. It's pretty hard to gain much insight from a pre-season game and last night's tilt was no exception. As it was both teams' initial pre-season game, both starting lineups were gone early. Here's what stood out to me.

Joey Harrington and Charles Rogers looked like a Pro Bowl pass-and-catch combo until you factor in the Steelers played without their starting corners. Nonetheless, the combination did look good and took what was given them during their brief time on the field.

The Lions' defense didn't look good, but they played without their top three corners, as well. I'm sure Tommy Maddox, Plaxico Burress and Hines Ward would have chewed up the Lions' secondary even more had they played longer. Losing starter Brock Marion at safety (shoulder injury) would only have given Maddox more opportunities. Thankfully, it's only the pre-season.

I did like Artose Pinner. He's not Barry Sanders-Billy Sims special, but he runs a bit harder than I thought. I still have to think Kevin Jones is the starter-in-waiting, but he's got to recover from a hamstring injury first. Pinner did easy some of my concern about Jones' absence.

It's hard to get too wound up over the first game of the pre-season. Let's hope the Lions can get the injured healthy quickly and be ready for their second game of the exhibition schedule versus the Cleveland Browns.

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