Thoughts from Game 5.

The Lions seemed to be a much improved team from last year. I was surprised this wasn't a blowout. They hung in there with the SB champs, can't ask much more than that. Sure the Steelers had some starters out, but so did we. Our starting QB was out, CJ missed a good chunk of the game, and Kevin Smith isn't healthy. Anyways, I was impressed that the game ended up being as close as it did.

Special teams was much better this week. Sure Hanson missed a FG, but no kicker is perfect all the time. Derrick Williams did a nice job on returns. Our coverage team did a much better job this week. I wasn't too impressed with Northcutt on punt returns. He seemed to fall as soon as he was touched. Overall, special teams wasn't great, but it wasn't too bad either. I'll give them a grade of a C+.

Not sure why the defense waited until the 4th quarter to put pressure on Ben. They should've played like that the entire game. Ben started making mistakes early on, so he probably would've made even more mistakes had they put pressure on him. I thought the defense got hosed on the roughing the passer call that negated the TD. Ben definitely did some acting on that one. It was nice to see the Lions get an interception later on in the game and return it for a TD. I believe that was the first since Dec. 2007. The defense still needs to work on tackling and getting more pressure on the QB. I'll give the defense a B-.

The offense wasn't too bad considering Stafford was out and CJ missed a good chunk of the game. Derrick Williams made some nice catches and also Pettigrew had a great catch too. However, I wasn't impressed with Pettigrew. He had some drops and also he wasn't paying attention on a couple of the plays that Daunte tried to go to him. Northcutt had a nice game. Kevin Smith didn't look too good today. Not sure if it's the injury or if he just isn't good. I don't know what it is, but he's not getting the job done. Backus is still Backus. The o-line was ok, it could've been better. At times, Daunte seemed to hold on to the ball too long. Daunte had a bad interception and a couple fumbles, but for a guy coming off the bench he wasn't too bad. He had a nice run for a first down and 32 yards. Heck, he did a better job of running the ball than Kevin Smith. With that said, Stafford should still be the starter, but Daunte is a good backup. He almost led the team to a win against the SB champs. A couple positives that should be mentioned is 3rd down conversions and the TOP. The Lions were a very good 61% on 3rd down conversions. They also won the time of possession battle. The offense gets a B-.

Lastly, the coaching staff. I wish they'd stop forcing the run when it's not working. Kevin Smith wasn't getting it done so they should try something else. They kept killing drives with Kevin "1 yd gain" Smith. Kwan still needs to be fired. Coaching gets a B-.

Overall the Lions get a B-. They were a bit sloppy, but they kept it close against the SB champs. Not nearly as bad as expected.