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Penalties stall promising Detroit Lions drive

The Lions are up 6-0 with 3:58 in the first quarter.

That’s the good news.

The bad news is that they should be up at least 10.

The Lions have already been in Eagles territory twice, but have had to settle for field goals both times, following the trend of the early season.

The offense had four consecutive first downs, including runs by Mikel Leshoure (14 yards) and Joique Bell (13 yards) and catches by Brandon Pettigrew (10 yards and Calvin Johnson (28 yards).

But the Lions also had four penalties on the drive. The costly one, though, was a 15-yard personal foul on Gosder Cherilus that took them out of the red zone.

Two plays later, they settled for a 34-yard field goal by Jason Hanson.

Three is good, but seven is much better.

Josh Katzenstein
Josh Katzenstein joined The Detroit News as an intern on the metro desk in June 2011 before becoming a full-time metro reporter in September 2011. This August he moved to the sports desk and will assist in covering the Detroit Lions. He previously covered the University of Minnesota football and men's basketball teams for the student newspaper, Minnesota Daily, and freelanced for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. He can be reached at jkatzenstein@detnews.com.

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