Pride of Detroit
The Detroit Lions’ offense finally showed some life during their Friday preseason game against the Atlanta Falcons. Of course, that sign of life came from one quarterback in particular, who led Detroit on scoring drives in all three of his attempts. The other quarterback has yet to lead the Lions to a single point.
That shift in quarterback dynamic headlines this week’s Bubble Watch, where our staff makes their weekly predictions for who will and won’t make the Lions’ initial 53-man roster.
Let’s kick things off with the offensive side of the ball.
Allen has now put in back-to-back performances that have outdone Hooker. He looks more poised and confident running the offense, while Hooker just can’t seem to get into any rhythm. For the preseason, here are each player’s stats:
Allen: 16-of-22 for 211 yards, 2 TDS, 2 INTs, 95.1 passer rating
Hooker: 10-of-16 for 56 yards, 0 TDs, 1 INT, 2 lost fumbles, 42.7 passer rating
As a result, eight of 11 staffers have moved Allen into the backup quarterback position. Interestingly, one person on staff believes Detroit may be swayed to keep three quarterbacks now, to perhaps see Hooker’s development fully through while protecting themselves in the immediate with Allen.
Still no drama here. There is a little concern about Vaki’s ability to stay healthy, given he’s missed both preseason games. But the concern is mild enough that his roster spot doesn’t seem in jeopardy.
Per request, we’ve dropped Tim Patrick down to the roster bubble after a slow start to training camp and the strong play from several Lions rookies, including Isaac TeSlaa, Dominic Lovett, and Jackson Meeks. However, our staff all have him in, likely because of what coach Dan Campbell said of the veteran receiver last week.
“I would tell you it’s not as bad as he’s portraying it,” Campbell responded to Patrick’s comments about a bad start to camp. “Tim, we know what Tim is, he’s just a steady, reliable veteran guy, plays big, he’s smart, hard worker and he’s going to put his days back-to-back and he’s going to be just fine.”
Meeks had a very strong preseason game, which could vault him into the WR6 discussion—especially with Lovett nursing an injury—but the POD staff is not overreacting to a single game.
