I realize that the Lions looked incredible.  That they smacked and beat and pushed down and called Tom Brady's mama names.  

I realize that they scored a lot on the Patriots defense and our second stringers, one play aside, looked good enough to play "The Brady's" first string and kick their tushes...

But, you know what?  Doesn't mean a damn thing.

It doesn't matter how many tears that Tom shed because The Kong and the boys were really, really mean to him.

In one week's time everybody's records will be 0-0.

Yes, the Lions starters looked good against the New England starters and when they left the score was 17-3....if you want to hang your hat on that, so be it, but last year the Lions were up 17-10 at the half against these same Patriots and you know what the final score was? 45-24....and the Lions weren't the team with the bigger number.  So a good half of play doesn't actually mean squat...even in the real season.

Here's what we hope we can take away from this game.

1. Stafford only took one hit and managed to get back up from it with all of his limbs and faculties completely functional.  Not only that, dude looks smoking hot.  12 of 14 with a drop and just an awesome defensive effort? 

2. The defensive line can get a ton of pressure and all of the starters weren't even playing.

3. Willie Young played with the ones and still looked really fast.

4. Perriman...oops, I mean Burleson looks like he's going to have a monster season.

5. Aaron Brown looks too damned fast to cut.

Lastly, everybody has been complaining about the new kicking rules...I think the Lions are finally ahead of the curve on something.  It's stupid to just bang the kick out of the back of the endzone every time when you can do what Hanson and the Lions did on Saturday night.

I once had an argument with a close friend that Hanson was getting too old and losing leg strength because he rarely ever kicked touchbacks.  I was corrected, the short kicks were supposedly by design, because while, yes, some kicks can be returned for touchdowns...others can be fumbled or well covered and pin the offensive deep inside their own ten...there are in fact just as many good things that can happen as bad on a kickoff--and now the coverage team is an additional five yards closer!  Now, a good coverage unit can pin the opposition at least inside their own 15 instead of the twenty.

Forgive me if I can't even be the least bit excited that the Lions fourth stringers were able to come back and beat the Browns' fourth stringers for a 30-28 victory.  Ninety five percent of all the participants that made the outcome of this game possible will not be on an NFL roster in two more weeks.

And the whole 2-0 thing?  Come back in a month and let me know what their record is, because four years ago I watched the Leo's rack up a most impressive 4-0 preseason record...only to follow that up with the NFL's first 0-16 season.

So...I will not be attending any parades over the Lions ability to keep the Edmund Fitzgerald Memorial trophy with their second straight victory in the Great Lakes Classic.

Here's what I took away from the game.

1. Matthew Stafford has learned to throw the ball into the stands when being flushed out of the pocket...he did it a lot, with style even on Friday night.  This typically saved him a sack and a yard or two of field position...but did kind of deflate his completion percentage.

2.  Nate Burleson may have a future as a balarina.  That's two weeks in a row he's caught touchdowns while barely tapping his toes in bounds.  Most impressive.

3.  S. Amari Spievey still looks awesome.  He's everywhere, making tackles all over the field and it got me to wondering...where the heck has his partner in crime been for the last two weeks?  I can't recall ever hearing an announcer mention that S Louis Delmas has done anything yet.  He's supposed to be the potential all pro safety...

4.Somebody needs to see if "Mad" Willie Young can play against the real players, you know the ones that'll still be playing in a month...because he is eating up this camp fodder he's been playing against.

5.  The vaunted Lions defensive front four looked pretty...well "not vaunted."  The Browns, who I frankly don't think are an all world team, were able to put up 21 points in the first half on them.  This all led by Colt McCoy, who a lot of people were figuring wouldn't be around for the Browns again this year...due to a less than stellar freshman year in the NFL.

Maybe the Browns do have a QB of the future in McCoy, or maybe the Lions are back to their age old tradition of making every quarterback they face Hall of Fame worthy.