Colts at Lions: A Quick Preview

This weekend the Indianapolis Colts head to Detroit to take on the Lions in a little preseason action.  Ulitmately, as usual with the preseaon, this games means very little and carries about as much significance as the time you chose to go with Orange Slice instead of your usual Mountain Dew.

Ok, ok perhaps it carrries more weight than that … but not much for the Indianapolis Colts.  Sure there are still things to look for and a few position battles taking place, but for the most part I have to imagine that head coach and Jim Caldwell and his staff have a pretty good idea how this team is going to look on opening day.

This Saturday will primarily provide a chance for Peyton Manning to stay in the game a little longer, allow the veterans to shake off some more rust and give another chance to build some chemistry on the field.  I would like to hope that timing, execution and fundamentals will be a big focus this weekend.

There is a chance back up quarterback Jim Sorgi could see some playing time.  With Sorgi healthy, quarterback Chris Crane was released, so now third stringer qb Curtis Painter will likely see some snaps as well.  Offensive guard Ryan Lilja will miss the game (not good), but besides that there shouldn’t be any major shake ups for the Colts.

The Detroit Lions, however, are on the opposite end of the rainbow, and not the one with the pot of gold.

Daunte Culpepper is slated to start at quarterback after rookie Matthew Stafford started the first two preseason games.  Culpepper has proven he can succeed in the NFL, and Stafford, well … has been paid millions of dollars before throwing a single touchdown.  I’ll think he’ll develop just fine over time, but Detroit has yet to committ to him as the starter.  Oh yeah, there is also third stringer Drew Stanton who has thrown more touchdowns in the preseason than both Culpepper and Stafford.

Despite the controversy, whoever is taking the reigns will have some weapons at their disposal.  Wide receivers Calvin Johnson and Antonio Bryant will see playing time after dealing with injuries. Rookie tight end Brandon Pettigrew (the Lions second round pick, what what??) might also play.  The Lions also recently added veteran receiver Dane Looker to improve an unimpressive receiver corps.

The Lions also hope to see some things start to take shape on the defensive side of the ball. Several draft picks, including second and third rounders, were spent on defense and several additions were also made to bolster the Lions roster.  The coaches would like to see those players pan out and do something … anything … to help the Lions reverse last year’s 0-16 record.

Saturday’s game may reveal some things for the Lions, but hopefully Peyton Manning and crew come out firing on all cylinders like last week, get an early lead and pull out another preseason win! With that said …

GO COLTS !!!