Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford saw something in the preseason opener against the Jets that he had never seen before.
According to the Lions’ website, when Stafford hit Calvin Johnson for a 28-yard gain on the Lions’ second offensive series, the Jets’ cornerback left Johnson open to account for running back Reggie Bush in the flat. Stafford said afterward that he thinks that shows how big an impact Bush will have on the Lions’ offense: Defenses can’t just key on Megatron anymore.
“I’m used to it the other way around,” Stafford said. “I went up to Reggie afterwards and I was like, ‘Nobody ever drops Calvin for anybody.’ It was kind of awesome having a corner drop Calvin to play Reggie coming out of the backfield. That’s the kind of the offense that we envision.”
It is, of course, just the preseason. Teams don’t game plan in the preseason the way they do in the regular season, and it’s entirely possible that if the Jets had been game planning to stop Megatron for a week, Stafford wouldn’t have seen the same coverage he saw on Friday night.
But it’s still a promising sign for the Lions that they have a running back who can threaten opposing defenses in a way that no one on last year’s roster could.