The Lions want to run the football more so they tried it out tonight and it didn’t go that well but they did win the time of possession battle holding onto the ball for 33:59 of the football game which helped them win.  Jon Kitna was sharp while he was in the game connecting on 6 of 7 passes for 106 yards.  He hit Roy Williams with a 20-yard TD pass to open the scoring for the Lions.  Dan Orlovsky followed Kitna in the game and he completed 8 of 11 passes for 81 yards.  2nd year man Drew Stanton finished up the game completing 5 of 6 passes for 27 yards.  Stanton also led the Lions in rushing with 26 yards on 6 carries (4.3 ypc) which proved that he’s getting healthy.  Rookie Kevin Smith rushed for 22 yards on 8 carries (2.8 ypc) in his first taste of NFL action.  Veteran RB Tatum Bell did not play too well as he rushed for 8 yards on 7 carries (1.1 ypc) last night.  2nd year WR Calvin Johnson had a huge game to lead the way for the Lions as he caught 4 passes for 78 yards (19.5 avg).  The Lions finished tonight’s game with the Giants having rushed for 84 yards on 35 carries (2.4 ypc).  They also completed 19 of 24 passes for 214 yards against the Giants.  The Lions have some work to do in the running game but they have time to fix it.

The Lions defense was bending but not breaking against the Giants.  Linebacker Leon Joe led the way for the Lions with 6 tackles.  Safety Greg Blue was also very active with 3 tackles and a sack.  The Lions played good run defense against the Giants who finished with 79 yards rushing on 24 carries (3.3 ypc).  The Giants did completed 21 of 32 passes for 231 yards so the Lions have to get better at defending the pass.  Overall this was a nice win against the World Champs to start the preseason for the Lions.