Good morning and ROARRRRRRRR!
The Detroit Lions' reserve players wrapped up their preseason Thursday night by stomping the Buffalo Bills' emergency players 35-13, leaving them with a 3-1 preseason record.
The good news: Only two NFL teams finished with better records this summer, the undefeated Seattle Seahawks and Washington Redskins.
The bad news: Everyone is back to 0-0 this morning with the start of regular season now less than a week away.
Alas, we can still take our morning tour of the Lions' den:
Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press: "The Lions finished the preseason 3-1 and are 15-5 in exhibition play in Jim Schwartz's five seasons as head coach, but they head into their season-opener next week against the Minnesota Vikings with a number of questions about their supposedly high-powered offense."
Birkett on the Lions' offense: "Some level of concern is warranted. But until the offense is on the field together and slotted in the right spots -- [Nate] Burleson in the slot, [Patrick] Edwards as a complementary part, etc. -- it's impossible to make any conclusive judgments."
Quarterback Matthew Stafford on the Lions' offense, via Josh Katzenstein of the Detroit News: "I think we’re right where we need to be. Keep progressing, get some of our guys back on the field and go out there and get ready for Minnesota."
Lions defensive end Jason Jones has played well at his new weight of 280 pounds, according to Katzenstein.
Waiting out final cuts will be nerve-wracking for bubble players like kick returner Steven Miller, writes Kyle Meinke of MLive.com.
Receiver Matt Willis made a strong case for a roster spot Thursday night, writes Justin Rogers of Mlive.com.
Let's be careful to note, as Paula Pasche of the Oakland Press did, that the Bills were missing 27 players Thursday night.
Here is my Observation Deck post off the game.