The Lions have claimed 24-year old DE Turk McBride off waivers from the Lions.  McBride played in 9 games for the Chiefs last season and he made 41 tackles and forced 1 fumble.  He has now played two years in his NFL career appearing in 25 games in which he has made 55 tackles, defensed 1 pass, has 1 sack and he has forced 1 fumble.  McBride still has some upside because of his age so the Lions have nothing to lose in giving him a look.  The Lions released DT Orien Harris to make room on the roster for McBride and it is a upgrade.

The Lions put up a better fight than I thought they would yesterday.  But, the Lions never got closer than 11 points behind in the 2nd half of the game.  Matthew Stafford had a rough debut completing 16 of 37 passes for 205 yards with 3 interceptions.  He also carried the ball 2 times for 0 yards but scored a TD.  The Saints ganged up on Kevin Smith in this game holding him to 20 yards on 15 carries (1.3 ypc) with 1 TD run.  But, he also caught 7 passes for 52 yards (7.4 avg) often bailing out Stafford when he was in trouble.  Calvin Johnson led the way for the Lions in the passing game with 90 yards on only 3 catches (30.0 avg).  The Lions only had possession of the football for 23:30 of this game and they finished with only 231 total yards of offense (33 rushing, 198 passing).

The defense was shredded for six TD passes by Drew Brees in this game and there’s no way to sugarcoat how truly awful they played.  CB Anthony Henry did his best leading the Lions with 12 tackles and a interception.  Safety Louis Delmas was also busy with 6 tackles and a fumble recovery that he returned 65 yards for a TD.  The Saints finished up with 515 total yards on offense (157 rushing, 358 passing) in this game so the Lions have a lot to work on defensively.

This is not the way the Lions really wanted to break rookie QB Matt Safford in.  The Lions will likely feed the rock to Kevin Smith early and often in this game as it would serve a few purposes for the Lions: 1)  It will protect Matt Stafford from the pass rush.  2) It will help the Lions try to control the clock.  3) It will give the Lions a better chance to “win” the game.  Smith should be effective on the ground against a soft Saints run D.  Make no mistake though I’m almost positive that Calvin Johnson will get over 100 yards receiving tomorrow and it won’t matter how many players the Saints have covering him.

The Saints will be without Pierre Thomas tomorrow as he will be sitting this game out with a injury.  That means Mike Bell could get a lot of playing time along with Reggie Bush in the running game.  The Lions do have capable linebackers so the Saints might just decide to air it out with Drew Brees.  The Lions have huge problems in the secondary and they don’t mount much of  a pass rush so look for Brees to have plenty of time to throw the ball.  Look for Marques Colston, Lance Moore, Devery Henderson and Jeremy Shockey to all have big games against the Lions tomorrow.

PREDICTION:  NEW ORLEANS SAINTS 41, DETROIT LIONS 17

The Lions dominated the Bills earlier tonight despite the scoreboard.  Matt Stafford started this game and he looked a little bit shaky completing 5 of 9 passes for 81 yards with a pickoff.  He also lost a fumble.  Brooks Bollinger played well for a guy who just signed with the Lions a couple of days ago as he completed 11 of 19 passes for 111 yards with a interception.  RB Tristan Davis had his 15 seconds of fame in this game as he scored on a 79 yard run.  He finished the game with 92 yards rushing on 3 carries (30.7 ypc).  Aaron Brown was also busy with 11 carries for 56 yards (5.1 ypc) with a TD.  Calvin Johnson made a brief appearance but he still led the Lions in receiving with 56 yards on 2 catches (28.0 avg).  The Lions finished up with 422 total yards on offense in this game (249 rushing, 173 passing).

The defense was in bend but don’t break mode tonight.  LB Jordon Dizon led the way for the Lions on defense with 7 tackles.  The Bills finished up with 321 total yards on offense in this game (87 rushing, 234 passing) but it didn’t matter because they only allowed 6 points.  The Lions finished the pre-season with a strong 3-1 record.

The Lions have claimed 27-year old CB Cletis Gordon off waivers from the Texans.  Gordon played in 14 games for the Chargers last season and he made 13 tackles and defended 1 pass.  He has now played in 28 games in his NFL career and he has 29 tackles and he has defensed 3 passes.  Gordon has also returned 3 punts for 12 yards (4.0 avg) and 3 kickoffs for 73 yards (24.3 avg) in his career.  Gordon will have to show that he can help on special teams as well as on defense if he wants to make the Lions’ roster.

The Lions have released CB Keith Smith.  Smith had 5 tackles in 3 pre-season games for the Lions this year.  He played 5 years for the Lions appearing in 71 games (5 starts) in which he made 146 tackles, had 1 sack, defensed 12 passes and he had 4 interceptions (one of which he returned for a TD).  This is a good sign for the Lions as they tried to build quality depth in the defensive backfield this off-season.

The Lions have claimed 24-year old QB Kevin O’Connell off waivers from the Patriots.  O’Connell played in 2 games for the Patriots last season in which he completed 4 of 6 passes (66.7%) for 23 yards with 0 TDs and 0 INTs (73.6 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 3 times for -6 yards (-2.0 ypc) last season as he was kneeling on the football.  O’Connell did not play well in the pre-season for the Patriots earning his release but a change of scenery could do him well.

The Lions have signed 29-year old QB Brooks Bollinger.  Bollinger played in 2 games for the Cowboys last season and he completed 10 of 17 passes (58.8%) for 71 yards with 1 TD pass and 1 interception (63.6 QB Rating).  He has now played five years in the NFL in which he has completed 211 of 360 passes (58.6%) for 2,226 yards with 9 TD passes and 9 interceptions (74.6 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 41 times for 155 yards (3.8 ypc) in his career.  Bollinger will battle newly acquired Kevin O’Connell for the #3 job on the Lions if Drew Stanton misses a lot of time this season.