Rebuilding of Lions is underway

Allen Park

You'd love to see Matthew Stafford fling aside his shoulder wrap and trot onto the field to throw more touchdown passes Thursday. You'd love to see Calvin Johnson drag his ailing knee out there and glide behind the Green Bay secondary again and again.

It's too bad it probably won't happen. The Lions finally had something to offer the nation on Thanksgiving, other than a reason to snooze on the couch, and their two marquee players are injured.

Sorry, but the Legend of Stafford likely will pause as he rests his ailing left shoulder, and Johnson could be out, too, with an injured knee. Tough breaks, but if it makes you feel any better, Stafford and Johnson aren't the Lions' only intriguing young players.

I'm not going bonkers over this -- really, I'm not -- but the Lions' rookie class looks like their best in a decade or so. That's not saying much but it's saying something, because the only way out of their mess is through the draft.

The winning 1-yard touchdown pass with no time left in that 38-37 thriller over Cleveland was caught by rookie tight end Brandon Pettigrew. A 26-yard touchdown was scored by rookie Aaron Brown. Key plays were made by rookie safety Louis Delmas, rookie linebacker DeAndre Levy and rookie defensive tackle Sammie Hill.

Sudden stardom

You can sate your hunger for Stafford by watching highlights of his rousing five-touchdown performance. You can hear the drama in his own voice, as captured by NFL Films microphones and scheduled to air on the NFL Network today.

Enjoy it, and then understand what it means. It doesn't mean the 2-8 Lions suddenly have turned it around in Stafford's rookie season, in head coach Jim Schwartz's rookie season. It doesn't mean they'll smite the Packers behind Daunte Culpepper and end a five-game Thanksgiving losing streak, in which they've been outscored by an average of 23.4 points.

It doesn't mean the rest of the nation will stop shoveling mashed potatoes long enough to pay attention. This is what it means: The Lions actually, finally, might have a few pieces to build upon.

Contrary to normal NFL teams, the Lions are not all about winning and losing right now, although winning remains the objective, as far as I know. They're about development, and we might be seeing the first tangible signs of progress.

The Lions hit absolute rock bottom when they trailed the Browns 24-3, and perhaps they finally hit hard enough to start bouncing up.

"I shudder to think where we'd be right now if we didn't draft well this year," Schwartz said Tuesday. "I've been in the NFL 17 years, and there's always that guy where you go, 'Oh my gosh, we really missed on that one.' I've been encouraged since the first rookie mini-camp. I thought we drafted well then, and nothing's really changed our minds."

Seriously, if that holds up, and if new GM Martin Mayhew can reverse the disaster of Matt Millen's drafts, the Lions might have their first slivers of hope.

Most of it is tied to Stafford, of course. But the Lions have five rookie starters, with Levy supplanting oft-injured Ernie Sims. Nine of their 10 picks are on the team -- seventh-rounder Lydon Murtha is with the Dolphins -- and while many of us shrieked when Mayhew selected Pettigrew 20th in the first round, the tight end from Oklahoma State could be a weapon.

Showing their stuff

I still would have hunted for defensive help, but Pettigrew has 29 catches for 334 yards. He admits he put too much pressure on himself early, when he dropped a lot of passes.

"I was trying so hard, I was thinking too much," said Pettigrew, 6-foot-5, 265 pounds. "This game is big for us. We haven't been on TV much, and it's time for us to show the world what we've got."

Lately, the Lions have used Thanksgiving to show the world what they lack. Last year marked the low point of the 0-16 humiliation, a 47-10 loss to Tennessee, which spawned more of those annoying cries to banish the Lions from the holiday. It's their tradition and it's not going away, and it shouldn't.

But something needs to grow here, eventually. The problem under Rod Marinelli -- one of about 7,584 problems -- was the staff's utter disdain for young players, many of whom happened to not be very good. Offensive tackle Gosder Cherilus and running back Kevin Smith are the only regular starters from Millen's farewell class, so the Lions desperately needed an influx.

For years, they've had pieces scattered across the field, some broken, a few usable. They still have scattered pieces but you can see a glint of something here, a flash there.

Stafford is the unquestioned leader, and that's what everyone can't wait to see again. But if the Lions truly are collecting worthwhile pieces, hey, they can show it by keeping an over-stuffed nation riveted on the couch for the entire game.

bob.wojnowski@detnews.com">bob.wojnowski@detnews.com