Cornelius Washington stars as Detroit Lions top New York Jets in NFL preseason
Dave Birkett
Cornelius Washington proved life after Kerry Hyder may not be so bad after all.
Washington had a sack, three tackles and forced a fumble in his first action this exhibition season as the Detroit Lions beat the New York Jets for their second win in as many exhibition games, 16-6.
Starting at left end in place of Hyder, who was lost to a season-ending torn Achilles tendon in last week’s preseason win over the Indianapolis Colts, Washington led another solid defensive effort against a sluggish, backup quarterback-led offense.
Washington sacked Christian Hackenberg on the third play of the game, and the Lions got a dominant effort from their first-team defense.
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In four series, the Lions’ No. 1 defense had two sacks, two near takeaways and allowed just two first downs. Hackenberg finished 2 of 6 passing for 14 yards and did not complete a pass until early in the second quarter.
“It was pretty strong,” Lions coach Jim Caldwell said of his team’s defensive effort in a halftime interview with WJBK-TV. “I think they were in the minus yards in terms of passing, so we got a little pass rush and we played pretty good pass defense.”
The Lions played Saturday without their top two defensive ends – Ziggy Ansah remains on the physically unable to perform list with a leg injury – and sat starters Haloti Ngata and Darius Slay after just two series.
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Matthew Stafford led two scoring drives in his three offensive possessions, and gave way to Jake Rudock after throwing a 5-yard touchdown pass to Marvin Jones on the second play of the second quarter.
Stafford finished 8 of 10 passing for 84 yards, and running back Ameer Abdullah played parts of just three series and had four carries for 16 yards in his return from Lisfranc surgery.
“Obviously, a bunch of stuff to clean up like every preseason game, but did a nice job moving the ball a couple times, got a touchdown, field goal,” Stafford said on WJBK-TV. “Good start, bunch to clean up.”
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The Lions got their first look at right guard T.J. Lang, who’s practiced sporadically this preseason as he returns from hip surgery.
Lang played three series and told WJBK-TV that it was “good to get out there with the guys, run around a little bit (and) start getting ready for the season.”
“I thought we did some good things there in the first quarter when Matt was in,” Lang said. “Obviously, we got to protect the quarterback a little bit better, but scored 10 points in one quarter so not a bad job for us. Me, I feel like a lot of room to get better but it’s definitely nice to be back on the field.”
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Rudock (8 of 13 passing, 84) led the Lions on a 16-play, 87-yard field goal that ate up most of the second quarter, but neither he nor third quarterback Brad Kaaya (4-7, 38 yards) had much success in the second half.
The Lions, who lost No. 3 wide receiver TJ Jones to a hamstring injury in the second quarter, had just 80 yards of offense in the second half, with much of that coming on a late fourth-quarter field-goal drive.
Contact Dave Birkett: dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett. Download our Lions Xtra app for free on Apple and Android!