© Copyright 不及格社區
The Detroit Lions secured their first win of the preseason Friday night Color Rush Ricky Jean Francois Jersey , which means it’s time for our first post-win award for unsung hero of the week. The series highlights one player whose performance, be it throughout the whole game or in a single moment, played an important role in the Lions’ success but may not have been the most memorable. While there are some games where only so many players shine, the objective is to give credit where it may have been forgotten.Unsung hero of the week: Jake RudockJake Rudock’s future (or lack thereof) with the Lions is, unfortunately, fairly certain by now. Last week, Rudock’s inability to take advantage of a last-chance opportunity to work with the first team offense just about cemented Matt Cassel as the Lions’ backup quarterback. That was reaffirmed this week when Rudock didn’t play until the fourth quarter. When he did enter the game, however, Rudock made the most of it. He looked confident and in control of the offense, even daring to look towards middle and deep routes. On the second-to-last offensive drive of the game Rudock displayed some uncharacteristically nice touch on his passes, most notably on a rainbow to Brian Brown from across the field that fell out of Brown’s fingertips in tight coverage. After Brandon Powell’s 80-yard punt return touchdown, Rudock then tossed a perfectly timed lob to Brown in the corner of the endzone for the 2-point conversion, but an ill-timed jump rendered Brown unable to come down with it once again. On the final offensive series, Rudock again commanded the offense in a very un-Rudock-like fashion. The offense drove 60 yards down the field in 2:40 for the go-ahead score Youth Matthew Stafford Jersey , with Rudock going 8-of-9 and getting everyone from Powell to Marcus Lucas to Dwayne Washington involved. Most notably, Rudock kept the drive alive with under a minute left when he scrambled for a first down on third-and-1 from inside the red zone. While it may be too little too late for Rudock, it sure was nice to see him look comfortable and commanding for a change. His game-winning drive, although not exactly pressed for time, came largely out of the hurry up and was a stark contrast to how Rudock looked in two-minute drills during joint practices last week.The reason Rudock is the recipient of this week’s award for unsung hero of the week is not because of himself, however—Rudock’s ability to run a no huddle offense against third stringers should not be a question. The importance of it is that he provides opportunities for other players; being on target and keeping drives alive by scrambling offers targets to those on the roster bubble or those looking to impress other teams once inevitably cut in the coming weeks. At the end of the day, if the writing is on the wall, then he’s doing himself as much help as he is other backups by looking sharp late in the game. Whose performance from Friday night do you think was overlooked? Let us know in the comments. After a listless home loss this past weekend, Detroit defensive lineman Ricky Jean Francois called out his team."I just want everybody to lock back in. Lock in for these next 10 weeks, just lock in," Jean Francois said after Sunday's 28-14 loss to Seattle."Leave everything else alone outside of this building. I know you love your family, but tell them you will see them in February. Just lock in and do your job, nothing else is important to us right now."Time will tell whether Sunday's loss becomes a galvanizing moment for the Lions, but the frustration was understandable.For three straight seasons Authentic Michael Roberts Jersey , Detroit has won between seven and nine games, and its fans have experienced occasional optimism followed by quick letdowns.After losing to Seattle, the Lions are again in a tough spot — alone in last place in the NFC North, heading into road games against Minnesota and Chicago."I think all of our process every single week as we move through the season here, it has to improve," said Matt Patricia, Detroit's first-year coach."Everything does. The season gets harder as you go on and the process has to get better each and every week. So, we have to make sure we're doing that to the highest level."The Lions lost their first two games of the season but showed an appropriate amount of urgency after that, scrambling back to the .500 mark. They appeared to have fixed their long-dormant running game, and the home game against the Seahawks looked like another opportunity to show progress.Instead, Detroit (3-4) allowed three touchdowns in the second quarter and never recovered."We came out flat with no focus. We just weren't ready to go again," Jean Francois said. "That team came off that bus ready to go. They were ready to execute everything, they were ready to put their skills on display. We just came out there and weren't focused at all against this team and that's the weird part."Running back Ameer Abdullah, who fumbled while returning a kickoff http://www.authenticsdetroitlions.com/cheap-sam-martin-jersey , shared similar sentiments afterward."It's a long season, sometimes you kind of hit a cruise control and you forget the little things you do every single day," Abdullah said. "Like same foot, same shoulder, ball security, hold tight, stuff like that. But you have to continue to focus on that stuff as the season goes on."Beyond the intangible notions of focus and intensity, the Lions were outperformed statistically as well. Seattle had a 176-34 edge in rushing — a step back for a Detroit team that ran for 248 yards in a win at Miami the previous weekend.The Lions fell behind 21-7 in the second quarter, and that probably played a role in the rushing disparity. Detroit finished the game with only 13 attempts on the ground."I think we talked about it all week last week about how good they are in the run game. They do a good job of loading the box and just put themselves in some really good positions to make some plays," Patricia said Monday."We have to execute a little bit better and obviously just try to get some more positive plays in the run game going earlier in the game and be able to stay with it and control the game from that aspect of it."Detroit also turned the ball over three times against Seattle, so the Lions have had eight turnovers in their losses to the Seahawks and Jets, but only two in their five other games.But two of Detroit's turnovers Sunday came in the fourth quarter when the team was already facing a double-digit deficit. The game began to slip away long before then."They out-executed us in all three phases last night and we did not execute up to par," Patricia said. "I just have to do a better job coaching and we have to do a better job of playing."
The Wall