Whew, what a enjoyable trip Saturday was. The Detroit Lions had been aggressive from begin to end with a plethora of spectacular performances. It’s normally not till the ultimate preseason sport that we see valiant last-minute efforts that endear us to gamers on the roster bubble, however we had been handled to it early on Saturday in opposition to the Colts. That leaves us with many sturdy contenders for this week’s sport ball.

Tom Kennedy

Stats: 5 receptions, 24 yards, 2 TD

Mr. Preseason merely won’t go away. After a quiet begin to the sport, Kennedy burst onto the scene with two spectacular touchdowns. Though Kennedy didn’t have a ton of yardage, his impression can’t be overstated in a sport the place the Lions didn’t play virtually all of their big-bodied receivers.

Kennedy got here down with a jumpball within the nook of the top zone to finish the half, and timed his separation completely on an over the shoulder seize for a landing halfway by way of the third quarter. He saved an offense alive that was in any other case crippled within the purple zone for a lot of the day.

Austin Bryant

Stats: Four tackles, 1 sack, 1 TFL

Bryant was only a menace all day lengthy in opposition to the Colts’ backup offensive line unit. From begin to end, we noticed Bryant within the backfield, be it a run or a cross. It was very reassuring to see for a man whose major profile shouldn’t be that of a run stuffer. Nonetheless, Bryant received after it within the passing sport, racking up a sack in addition to cleansing up on what seemed to be one other sack for him however can be credit score to another person.

Bryant left no doubts about having that dawg in him on Saturday, and never only for his play on the sphere. Within the third quarter, Bryant seemed to be injured and the refs blew their whistles to get Bryant medical consideration. Bryant received up, waved off the trainers, however was in the end pressured to take a play off because the ref blew their whistle. As quickly as Bryant his the sideline, you possibly can see him admit that he was in additional ache than he initially indicated. That wouldn’t cease him from discovering his means again onto the sphere the very subsequent play for his one sack on the day.

Your entire second-team offensive line

Wow, what a day from them. After a tough preliminary outing in opposition to Atlanta, the backup offensive line completely dominated the trenches from begin to end in opposition to Indianapolis. The top outcome? The Lions completed the day with 174 speeding yards on 5.three yards per carry, each marks head and shoulders above something we’ve come to count on from a Lions operating sport over the previous decade. There’s one play that completely sums it up:

This wasn’t an outlier both; there have been loads of performs Saturday with holes simply as massive as this one, and that led to a few Lions operating backs averaging 4.6 or extra yards per carry.

Maurice Alexander

Stats: three catches, 18 yards, three punt returns, 22 yards, Four kick returns, 152 yards

As if the Lions receiving room wasn’t crowded sufficient already, it simply received busier. Maurice Alexander introduced his arrival on Saturday, breaking off two huge kick returns that nearly went for touchdowns. One will be handed off as luck, however two in a sport isn’t coincidence.

It’s going to be a tall process for the teaching workers to search out room for Alexander on the 53-man roster, and I don’t know in the event that they’ll have the ability to. It’s arduous to miss Alexander’s efficiency on Saturday although, and certainly subsequent week they’ll be trying to see if he can maintain that efficiency to warrant a spot.

Who’s your choose for this week’s sport ball winner? Make your choose within the ballot beneath: