Another successful pre-season has ended, and while they failed to match their spotless 4-0 record of 2008, the Detroit Lions nonetheless delighted their fans, winning all but one game of this season's August slate.
The glow on the faces of Lions backers everywhere wouldn't be diminished by Sunday's 45-27 pounding at the hands of the New Orleans Saints. Most who follow the Honolulu blue and silver understand not to get too caught up in their team's performance during the sixteen meaningless games that remain. Leave those to the teams who feel the need to prove themselves on a snowy day in some frozen stadium. The focus for these Lions, as it has always been, remains the four-game stretch in the sweltering heat of August. Crunch time as it were.
Saints quarterback Drew Brees threw six touchdown passes during a 26-for-34, 358-yard afternoon. But as strong as Brees performance may have been, it couldn't erase New Orleans' 10-7 loss the previous week to the Miami Dolphins, a loss that crushed their chances at a perfect pre-season and dropped them into a tie with Detroit for "pre-champs" in the league.
Lions running back Kevin Smith put it best when he said he'd rather win the pre-season games than the first regular-season game. Smith almost got his wish, were it not for Detroit's most unfortunate loss in Cleveland in pre-week 2. No matter. This Sunday the Lions return home to face Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings, as they continue their three-month tune-up for August 2010.
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