Few were happy with how the Lions performed last week in their preseason opener against Cleveland.
The Lions took one on the chin, losing 19-17 to the Browns and leaving coach Jim Schwartz struggling to find anything positive to say about the effort.
“Let’s be clear,” Schwartz said. “This is a preseason game. We don’t use these as a barometer and they don’t count. But you want to play well. Whether you win or lose, you want to play well and I don’t think we played well.”
Tonight, the Lions travel to Baltimore to face the Ravens in an effort to wash away the bad taste of last week. The game begins shortly after 8 p.m. and will be broadcast nationally on Fox.
This week, he says the Lions need to turn in something better on the field, as our Chris McCosky reported today.
“Hopefully we play a lot better; we need to play a lot better,” he said. “We need to play with a little more sense of urgency. On Tuesday we had a training camp practice. Wednesday was almost like a regular-season practice. It was a preparation day. Thursday we’ll travel. So we’re on more of the game week kind of feel than last week where we were going right from a training camp practice right into playing a game.”
The Ravens could play much of their first-team offense, including Ray Lewis and Ed Reed, for much of the first half, meaning Matthew Stafford, Calvin Johnson and company will get an early look at what is typically one of the league’s best defenses.
Here’s who the Lions are expected to be missing tonight:
- Kyle Vanden Bosch (knee)
- Sammie Hill (back)
- Mikel Leshoure (hamstring)
- Ryan Broyles (knee)
- Jonathan Scott (knee)
Obviously Vanden Bosch is a veteran who doesn’t quite need the preseason experience like the others do.
Tonight, the Lions have to get the offense moving. Last week’s effort against Cleveland was lackluster, to say the least. That needs to take a step in the right direction tonight as we move forward toward the start of the regular season. It would be almost impossible for the Lions to be as bad as they were last week, so that’s a start, I suppose.
Stay with us throughout the game tonight for continued coverage and analysis of the happenings from M&T Bank Stadium.
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