Redskins Recon-The Preseason: The Lions

Preseason game 2-against the Lions looms and once again preseason individual games take on their usual air of "Who we playing now?"





The preseason is being taken by many fans, myself included, as not all that important in the scheme of things other than an extension

of training camp-a chance to evaluate new players-and new coaches as well; the beginning of the weeding-out process to finalize the roster and

depth charts. Thus, it's usually hard to find much talk about game specifics-at least cocerning the opposing team-for an upcoming game.

A lot of Lions fans take a similar approach. Little direct mention of playing the Redskins was available but some about types of opponents

being faced from which one can infer general feelings about where the Redskins rank in relative importance as far as Lions fans are concerned.


Right at the moment anyway.

attyspeaks

Thursday was beautiful. And we have Skins, Jags, Bills coming up. My concern is that we aren't facing good or even decent teams. Bills

may be an exception, but that is the final throwaway game -- not realistic. Maybe I should have more respect for the others? Perhaps but I

don't. My reaction will likely be like Thursday: yeah we looked great, but those Jets stink.

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wesleysh21

I thought the exact opposite. I want to face losing teams in preseason. They are more apt to play their starters longer and actually gameplan

a little for the game. They want to win, to "set a culture of winning." The best teams are not trying to win. Their main concern is avoiding

injuries, with a second tier concern for talent evaluation and player development.

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coyote12

I don't for this reason preseason is just tougher practice and allows teams to work on certain parts of there game and get into game shape.

Lions can work on and refine plays during preseason and not put main players in tough play , just get in shape and heavy practice.

In NFL really there is not huge difference in rosters. All players trying make a team give extra effort, watch next week Skins will be all out.

Skins game for likely a quarter will give are D a look at scramble type QB an maybe good ST we need to find returner maybe Jones is answer. All

teams have strong and weak areas the better teams have less weakness.

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Wiseacres

Depends on what you're objective is when it comes to preseason games. Which is why they don't gameplan much, they call plays and formation to

see how the players perform, are they where they're supposed to be and using the correct techniques, etc. Can they read and react, catch the

ball, fill the hole and make the tackle or not. I suspect the Lions already know how most of their 1s will do against the opposition, the 2s and

3s are mostly playing against other 2s and 3s anyway in preseason, does it matter much how good or how bad their 1s are?

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I did find a blog post relating to what the Redskins might see and have to deal with from one site.

Three Lions storylines to follow in Week 2 of the preseason



The Detroit Lions got their 2015 preseason off to a pretty great start last week with a dominant 23-3 victory over the New York Jets. This week,

the Lions are set to take on the Washington Redskins on the road on Thursday. Here are three storylines worth keeping an eye on leading up to

the Redskins game:


1. Does the injury situation improve at all?

Okay, so the injury situation isn't exactly bad when you consider that the only severe injury suffered to this point involved a player who

likely wasn't going to make the team anyway (Darren Keyton). However, the Lions have several starters still sitting out practice with Joique

Bell, LaAdrian Waddle and Jason Jones on the PUP list and Haloti Ngata on the NFI list. There's no expectation that any of those players will

see game action this week if they are activated, but just getting one of them back on the practice field would be a step in the right direction.

The same goes for rookie Alex Carter, who has missed all of camp so far with an ankle injury.


2. What will Ameer Abdullah do for his encore?

Ameer Abdullah introduced himself to the nation last week with his 67-yard performance against the Jets. He only got seven carries, but he had

an electrifying 45-yard run that even drew some comparisons to Barry Sanders. That's obviously an overreaction, but Abdullah is suddenly on the

national radar. What will he do in his second preseason game for an encore? It will be interesting to see, but I'm personally hoping he gets a

chance to show off his skills in the passing game.


3. Can TJ Jones really beat out Jeremy Ross for the return job?

Of all the players who got a chance to serve as the Lions' returner last Thursday, TJ Jones showed the most potential by far. He had three punt

returns for 31 yards against the Jets, and 24 of those yards came on one return. He showed a good presence back there on punts, and I liked the

way he ran with the ball once it was in his hands. The Lions are clearly open to moving Jeremy Ross out of the return job he's occupied the last

couple of seasons, given how many other players have received a look, and Jones seemingly has the best case of the other candidates so far. If

that continues in Week 2, Jones could potentially be on the verge of earning a roster spot just with his work on special teams, but consistency

is key for a role like that.

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Chapter 2 of "What are these 2015 Redskins going to look like?" is about to happen.