The Detroit Lions won their first preseason game in the all important dress rehearsal week, but was anyone really impressed?
The Detroit Lions are like any NFL team; if they’re playing a game they like to win it. Perhaps that’s because of all the difficulties this franchise has had over the years winning any games, exhibition or otherwise.
Regardless of that fact, the Lions put together a big second half comeback against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Friday to win 33-30, marking the first victory of any kind in the Matt Patricia era.
Now during the regular season the old adage is; a win is a win. In the NFL every win counts and actually getting those wins is more important than how they were won. You take a victory however you can get it and move on.
During the preseason a win really doesn’t mean anything. Sure they’re nice to get whenever you can, but it has no real meaning since they are nothing more than glorified scrimmages between two teams in a stadium full (or maybe half full) of fans.
After the torrid storms passed through on Friday and the 50-60 fans which decided to stick around for the contest settled in for some NFL action, they found themselves watching what appeared to be a fairly well-oiled machine schooling a disorganized, sloppy one.
If you watched it you know which team was which.
The offense wasn’t in the type of sync we had hoped it would be as the starters stalled inside Tampa’s 10 yard line twice in the first half and had to settle for field goals.
Meanwhile Ryan Fitzpatrick as well as Jameis Winston, who will be suspended the first three games of the regular season, found the end zone. Then with time running out Adam Humphries returned an errant Matt Prater field goal 109 yards to cap off the first half scoring.
Let’s just say that this dress rehearsal didn’t look like the Lions are very ready for the curtains to go up on Monday night in two weeks.