Lions tales: 10 plays, Smith talks playoffs, Orlovsky is “the man”

Starters to go approximately 10 plays in the exhibition opener:

I’m getting the joke out of the way… 10 plays? That’s 3 consecutive 3 and outs on offense. Defensively, that’s 2/3 of the Giants’ opening drive…

With that taken care of, Rod Marinelli did say once Jon Kitna gets his 10 or so snaps under center, playing time will be evenly split between Dan Orlovsky and Drew Stanton.  The battle to backup Kitna begins in earnest.

Also, as expected, the rookies will get a considerable amount of playing time.  So the game will quickly dissolve into the Lions 3rd stringers vs. the Giants 3rd stringers. Still, along with the soon to be waived, we finally get to see players like Gosder Cherilus, Jordan Dizon, Kevin Smith, Andre Fluellen and Cliff Averil.

I’ll be taking bets, asking who will be the biggest bust!

I honestly hope every single rookie plays well and become long-time Lions, but Millen’s track record always has me believing the worst will happen….No one pans out.

Kevin Smith has yet to learn the Lions and the playoffs don’t mix:

When told of the Lions’ 1 playoff victory in 50 years Smith couldn’t hold back…

"“One playoff win in 50 years?” he asked. “Wow. We will get to the playoffs this year. We will win a playoff game this year.”"

The rookie running back’s enthusiasm is so cute! Ah, youth. It’s soooo wasted on the young.

Then again, if Smith didn’t feel any other way, would you want him as your running back?  Exactly. Nothing wrong with the kid saying what he thinks.

Let’s just hope he can back up that talk before the Lions make him jaded and bitter. I do have to admit, Smith is one of the players I play on watching closely Thursday night. When the defacto starter is Tatum Bell, Smith has a huge opportunity to get major playing time almost immediately.

Dan Orlovsky wants to be “the guy”:

It turns out the long-time clipboard holder wasn’t talking about backing up Kitna, which is almost a sure thing considering the competition, but being the starter.

"“The guy,” Orlovsky said. “The guy who this organization looks to and says, ‘That’s our starting quarterback.’ That’s what I want to be. That’s my goal."

This is a make or break season for Orlovsky. He’s been in Detroit seemingly forever (He’s going into his 4th season), but has yet to get any kind of opportunity, save for all of 17 regular season passes in his ’05 rookie season. Orlovsky has been buried on the depth chart ever sense, never to see the field in the regular season.

That’s going to change this year. I don’t think anyone believes Kitna can pull off another 2006, and take every snap. Let’s hope Orlovsky is up to the challenge.

Pooch kicks:

Hugging Harold Reynolds has their NFC North training camp postcards up. Detroit’s has been sent by Jon (3:16) Kitna, something about Millen and plagues. Good stuff!

Sports Illustrated’s Adam Duerson visits Lions camp. He’s most impressed by Roy Williams, Kevin Smith, the newly revamped defensive backfield and the amount of American iron in the parking lot. Duerson’s not impressed with the backup QB situation, Chuck Darby as Big Baby’s replacement and the Lions chances of making the playoffs because of their tough second half schedule.