For the second straight year, the Lions will begin the preseason against a rookie quarterback seeing his first live NFL action. Last year it was Andy Dalton of the Bengals. This year, Brandon Weeden will lead the Browns into Ford Field for Friday's preseason opener.
If anyone knows what Weeden can expect in his first NFL game tonight, it’s Lions quarterback 
“I know he’s excited, I’m sure. I know I was before my first one," Stafford said of Weeden. "I wish him all the luck. He’s obviously got a little more experience playing pro sports some but he’s a first-round draft pick, a guy stepping in who’s going to try and help them."
Stafford, who completed 7-of-14 passes for 114 yards with a touchdown and an interception in a 27-26 victory over the Falcons in his first-ever preseason game in 2009, said it's difficult as a player to truly understand what live action will be like.
“You prepare yourself as much as you can but you have to learn on the fly," Stafford said.
Now a veteran of three preseasons, Stafford said he’s just focused on playing fast and running the offense smoothly in the couple series he’s expected to play tonight.
“I just want to play fast, be crisp, throw and catch, make sure we're doing our assignments correct,” he said.
“We get out there and compete against another team. It's a grind out here competing against each other every day and knowing exactly what they're going to run against us and they know exactly what we're going to run against them. So it's nice to get out and hopefully play a team that's obviously in a different color uniform and go out there and have some fun.”
The preseason doesn't count for anything, but there’s something to being sharp offensively. Over the last two preseasons (eight games) four of the five teams that had the highest combined scoring average in the NFL in the preseason also ranked in the top five in scoring average during the regular season. Those four teams were the Lions, Packers, Saints and Patriots.
