David Blough took big step toward making his case to be Lions’ No. 2 quarterback

The battle to be the Detroit Lions’ No. 2 quarterback is not necessarily going to be exciting, but David Blough took a step toward overtaking Tim Boyle in the preseason opener.

In most NFL cities where there’s not a clear-cut established quarterback who’s immune to being benched for anything other than major injury, the backup quarterback is a fan favorite.

In Detroit, Tim Boyle and David Blough are currently in a battle for who will be Jared Goff’s backup. Blough hasn’t seen significant action in a regular season game since 2019, when he made five starts in place of Matthew Stafford, and Boyle was not good in three starts last year when Goff was out last season.

Barring an outside addition at some point in the next few weeks, Boyle or Blough will be the Lions’ No. 2 quarterback going into the season and the winner of the battle will probably be who has looked less bad in preseason games.

But during Friday night’s preseason opener against the Atlanta Falcons, Chris Burke of The Athletic hit on exactly the right idea.

David Blough made his case to overtake Tim Boyle as Lions’ No. 2 quarterback

While Boyle had some good moments against the Falcons, he missed more easily attainable throws than he hit and he offers nothing in terms of athleticism or mobility. He does have a better arm than Blough, but that’s about his only advantage.

Blough made a critical mistake late, botching a shotgun snap that set Atlanta up for the game-winning score. That’s the thing that will be remembered about him right after an otherwise meaningless game. The offense also only got six points (two field goals) while he was running the show.

But Blough had a better completion percentage than Boyle (18-for-28 vs. 9-for-16), generally looked more comfortable running the offense and he was the Lions’ leading rusher in the game with 22 yards on four attempts.

For a backup quarterback, if you’re not great you better be at least a little exciting or midly interesting. Lions’ fans saw what Boyle has to offer last season, while some might remember Blough’s 75-yard touchdown to Kenny Golladay early on Thanksgiving in 2019.

It was mostly downhill from there, but that’s just not a throw it’s easy to see Boyle making–even to a wide open receiver.

They could and should be open to adding someone, but the Lions seem to have pretty much cast their hand with backup quarterbacks at this point.

With that in mind, Blough should see the field before Boyle in the second preseason game against the Indianapolis Colts. And he should have an opportunity to lock up the No. 2 role, while possibly pushing Boyle to the roster bubble.