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A game-time scratch, wide receiver Calvin Johnson more than likely could have played in Detroit's preseason match-up at Cleveland, but opted to sit out.

"I was just being smart," he said. "We've got a long season ahead of us. We want to go into that game (the opener at Tampa Bay) fully healthy."

Johnson suffered a shoulder injury in Detroit's first preseason game against Cincinnati. He sat out back-to-back practice days before getting back out there on Tuesday.

"I don’t like taking too many days off because we run so much," said Johnson earlier in the week. "You don’t want to lose shape out there, especially this time of year."

With Johnson's absence, veteran Rashied Davis started along with regular starter Nate Burleson.

Burleson put on a show with three splash plays: a 4-yard leaping touchdown in the back of the endzone, a 26-yard end-around and a 30-yard pass.

"They’ve been balling this whole preseason," said Johnson of Burleson and quarterback Matthew Stafford. "We’ve been doing our thing the whole camp.

"(It has been) great having Matt back healthy. As for today, we’ve got to clean up a little bit. We got a lot to learn from this. We’ve got a lot of penalty flags out there. There’s a lot to do before the season.”