Matchup Preview Preseason Wk 2: Lions at Browns

I know, if you’re not a Lions or Browns fan you may not appreciate this game. But, these are two upcoming young teams whose fan bases have alot of optimism leading into this season.  Many will  be watching to examine the quarterback matchup of Colt McCoy and Matthew Stafford.  But, there will be much more to watch in this game.

The last time these two teams played in the regular season, it was a shootout. Brady Quinn threw for 4 TDs.  But, rookie Matthew Stafford threw for 5, leading the Lions to a 38-37 victory on a last second touchdown to Brandon Pettigrew in Week 11 of the 2009 season.

A couple years later, both of these young teams are looking to show they are headed in the right direction after losing seasons.  Detroit was 6-10 last season (finnishing the season on a 4 game winning streak) and Cleveland was 5-11.

Last season Cleveland established a power running game behind halfback Peyton Hillis running for almost 1200 yards with 11 TDs.  Rookie quarterback Colt McCoy completed nearly 60 percent of his passes and cornerback Joe Haden had 6 interceptions.  Detroit had some excellent rookie play of their own last season.  Ndamukong Suh was the rookie of the year at defensive tackle with 10 sacks.  Detroit also drafted Nick Fairley out of Auburn in the 1st round on that defensive line, in the offseason,  to dominate in the middle.

Fairley has a broken foot and running back Mikel Leshoure from Illinois is out for season.  Former Brown corner Eric Wright will probably miss the game with a groin injury.  Opposite side starting corner  Chris Houston is also questionable with the same injury.  While the Browns are relatively healthy, with the exception of last years 2nd round pick running back Montario Hardesty.  Hardesty practiced for Cleveland Monday, but hasn’t played since injuring his knee nearly a year ago in his preseason debut against the Bears. He is listed as questionable.

Former Browns Corey Williams and Brandon McDonald are expected to play on the Lions defense.  There are also some promising young players we will watch.  In the Browns new West Coast offense under first time head coach Pat Shurmur rookie receivers Greg Little,  and end Jordan Cameron showed well last week against Green Bay.  Former Boise State receiver Titus Young was out for Detroit last week agains the Bengals, but he is listed as probable for Friday.

I also like to watch Jahvid Best.  He was dynamic when healthy last season. Brandon Jackson should see plenty of carries again for Cleveland this week and be a good 3rd down back.  But, offensively it does come back to these two quarterbacks.  Colt McCoy completed 9 of 10 passes for 135 yards last week and Stafford threw 2 touchdowns in a 31-3 demolition of the Bengals.  McCoy won’t have Mohammed Massaqoui to throw to who just got his walking cast removed.  But, Josh Cribbs did catch a long touchdown in the 1st half of the preseason opener.

Both of these teams have a world of talent.  Cleveland also has a young defensive front seven that looked impressive last week, as well as great offensive line play.  Detroit, when healthy could have one of the best defensive lines in the league.  These teams play two contrasting styles and I don’t know how I went this long without mentioning Calvin Johnson.  Many people believe Detroit can possibly make a playoff run (even in the loaded NFC North) and Peyton Hillis will be on the cover of Madden.  So, I’ll be watching.