Johnson: ‘Matt has looked good this preseason. He is on point.’

“Saturday was the first time I’ve been to a preseason game at Ford Field that was sold out. It definitely felt like a regular season game just because the crowd was there and they were all into the game. It was big for us to go out there and get that ‘W’. It is preseason, but we had our minds right. We were ready to play, we limited our mistakes and came out with a win.

“As far as the receivers, we’ve still got to work on our technique. We strayed from it a little bit, but Shawn (Jefferson) was on us and we’re going to get back to it. I came out of the game feeling good – no more damage to the shoulder. Still getting better, so as far as that goes, it’s all good.

“Matt has looked good this preseason. He is on point, I will give him that. He is putting the ball where it is supposed to be, when it’s supposed to be there. Then we’re being where we’re supposed to be at, so it all helps out. We’re all coming together and making this thing work out the right way and I think if we keep that up, we stay sharp and stay tight on our details, we could have a heck of a season.

“As far as this week coming up, we need to keep our bodies in shape. I don’t know how much play time the starters are going to get, so we just need to keep our bodies in shape through this week because we’re going to have a couple days off and just staying mentally sharp.”

Jackson out to raise money to bring clean water to developing nations

Defensive end Lawrence Jackson is 26 years old today but, instead of gifts, he would like to give back to a worthy cause.

“We oftentimes forget how blessed we are – we have an abundance of a lot of things,” he said. “I’ve gone back and forth year after year of not wanting birthday gifts from people and this year it was presented to me to help fund wells and safe drinking water. When I saw that opportunity, I took it as a way to get everybody involved and contribute a 26-dollar gift or more for my birthday.”

The charity is mycharitywater.org, which helps fund clean water projects in developing nations.

“I know it started with a guy who, for his birthday, had all his friends over and asked them to put in 29 dollars,” said Jackson. “Then he took all that money and used it to buy water. I also know a bunch of celebrities have done it before, so that’s kind of where I got the idea from.”

This is the first time Jackson has done this. As of right now, he has raised $3,335 of his $5,000 goal.

Delmas: ‘You can never take for granted these preseason games.’

“I think the game went as planned. One thing, just speaking on the defensive side, our coach did a good job of this week not trying to coach as far as scheme or personnel, but coach as a team. Therefore, we went in with the mentality of let’s try to dominate in all three phases of the game: defense, offense, special teams, and I think we accomplished that.

“It felt good to be out there longer. Its always good to get out there with the team and show what you’ve been working on from before. I think our defense, offense and our special teams all did a good job in these last three games, putting good things on film. Every win isn’t as good as it seems, just like every loss isn’t as bad as it seems. We still have a lot of key things to work on and we need to get them done to take the next step forward.

“You can never take for granted these preseason games, they’re games, and our coaches do a good job of preparing us like it’s a regular season game, not a preseason game. We never had the mentality that we’re just going in for a preseason game. Every game was a real game for us, it’s just that we got pulled out earlier than usual.

“(But) let me say something, I’ve been ready for the regular season since the first preseason game. Playing preseason games is kind of like reeling a fish up on a hook and as soon as it gets to the boat, it falls off. You almost got it in, but you’re not there yet. It’s the same thing with the season, you want to get the preseason games out of the way so you can see where you’re at, and when the regular season comes you can make adjustments.

“Every game is different. Our first game we were just getting our feet wet. The second game we were cleaning up techniques so we could go into our third game like a regular season game, and we did that. Now this game right here is just to tighten up on all the other things. We’re trying to see if we can put all three games into a fourth game, and if we can do that we’ll be able to play well throughout the season.”

Lewand, Lions comment on sudden death of beat writer Tom Kowalski

Tom Kowalski, longtime Detroit Lions writer for Booth Newspapers and MLive.com, died this morning, according to his fiancee, Diane Wolan.

“The entire Lions organization, the Ford family, and me, personally, were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Tom Kowalski this morning,” said Detroit Lions Team President Tom Lewand. “Tom was a true professional, the consummate beat writer, somebody who brought a lot of tremendous information to our fans — even in times of disagreement; we always had the utmost respect for his professionalism.

“He will be sorely missed and our deepest sympathies go out to Diane and to his entire family. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of them.”

HEAD COACH JIM SCHWARTZ
“I’ll just say this about Tom,” said Head Coach Jim Schwartz. “The one thing he always tried to do was get it right. He knew football and he always wanted to get it right and we had a lot of respect for that.”

Schwartz lets the first question go unanswered in honor of Kowalski

DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR GUNTHER CUNNINGHAM
“It was tough hearing the news today about Tom because I felt like I lost a good friend and not just a writer,” said Defensive Coordinator Gunther Cunningham. “When he asked me questions, it was important to him to be right. Obviously, he always did his homework and that’s what I respected most about him. To me, he was an old-school writer. He was honest and fair.

“The way I look at him, he is all Detroit. People in this area that I met, they are all alike and he epitomized that. Our conversations were solid, and there was mutual respect for each other. Beyond football, we would also talk about life.

“I am sad that he is gone. God bless his family and friends.”

CENTER DOMINIC RAIOLA
“On behalf of the team, we consider him part of the family; we saw him every day,” said center Dominic Raiola. “I dealt with Tom every day; I’d see him out here. (It will) take a lot of time to get over this.

“In the end, Tom always had the best interest of everybody in that locker room. He always wanted to know more about why things happened on the field and he always did a good job of that. He was a good person; he was fun to be around. (I) had a lot more personal relationship with him, so that was some tough news to hear.”

KICKER JASON HANSON
“I have too many (memories),” said kicker Jason Hanson. “It is one of those things, just like with everybody, takes you by surprise. It kind of knocks the wind out of you. You don’t know what to say or think yet. It is just amazing. Of all the reporters, I think he was the one that got it right most of the time and really had the insight.

“Beyond that, regardless of any of that, he will be missed by all of us. And everyone in this locker room, their condolences and their prayers and their thoughts go to his family and friends. I am just at a loss of words. I don’t know what to think. We all are like ‘Is it true?’ We are devastated.”

QUARTERBACK MATTHEW STAFFORD
“Tom was a great guy,” said quarterback Matthew Stafford. “He was a big football guy; you could tell he knew football, he loved it. He was always a good guy in our locker room and we were blessed to have him around.

“As coach pointed out on the field, he said ‘You know, he always tried to get it right, which is something you respect from a reporter.’ He will definitely be missed.”

A collection of Tweets honoring Tom

Bell, Rayner among eight released players

The Detroit Lions have announced the release of eight players:

• WR Demario Ballard
• RB Mike Bell
• TE Richard Dickson (waived/injured)
• LB DeJuan Fulghum
• WR Marcus Harris
• DB Michael Johnson
• K Dave Rayner
• DT Montavious Stanley

Detroit’s current roster is at 82. All teams must be at 80 by 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday.

Johnson starting, Young active against Patriots

Wide receiver Calvin Johnson is in the starting lineup for tonight’s 8 p.m. match-up against the New England Patriots at Ford Field. Rookie wide receiver Titus Young is active for the first time this preseason.

Other starting line-up changes include defensive end Lawrence Jackson starting in place of Kyle Vanden Bosch and running back Aaron Brown starting in place of Jahvid Best.

Inactive players include (in numerical order):

• RB Maurice Morris
• CB Alphonso Smith
• RB Mike Bell (illness)
• RB Jahvid Best
• T Jason Fox
• DE Kyle Vanden Bosch
• DT Nick Fairley

Best, Vanden Bosch among players ruled out for Saturday’s game

The Lions have announced which players have been ruled out for Saturday’s preseason game against New England:

• RB Jahvid Best
• DT Nick Fairley
• T Jason Fox
• RB Maurice Morris
• DE Kyle Vanden Bosch
• CB Alphonso Smith

Notable game-time decisions include wide receiver Calvin Johnson and rookie wide receiver Titus Young.

Johnson: ‘It’s actually going to be Nate that’s going to be doing the celebrating’

“I don’t even know what this whole touchdown celebration thing is about. Somebody came up to me today telling me that they’re talking about it on Sportscenter. I don’t celebrate. It’s actually going to be Nate that’s going to be doing the celebrating. He’s trying to get me to go in on it with him, but it’s a one-person thing.

“We talk about them, though. He always tells us what he’s going to do. He ran the Lebron one across us. My favorite one so far was the one he did in Dallas last year. He drew the star with his fingers and he punched through it. That was cool. We both came up with one for that game. He did that one and I stood on the star. I can’t wait to see this week’s celebration. I hope he practices it in the mirror.

“Nate’s been having a good preseason and it’s great to see that. It’s big. He’s doing a heck of a job out there. We have a lot more weapons at our disposal. He was a little knicked up last year, so that kind of takes away from what you can do, but it’s great to have him in full effect.

“He brings a lot of energy. He wakes everybody up, he gets everybody going. That’s just him. He does have a strong personality. He makes sure we’re ready to play.”

Delmas: ‘My mindset is to prepare for it as if it’s the first game of the season.’

“I think as a whole unit, defensively we played okay (at Cleveland). As a leader of the defense, I’m pretty sure that the other leaders of the defense feel the same way, but we felt like we can go out there and play much better than we did. There’s a lot of room for improvement.

“We’re very proud with the way that we played because we didn’t hold back at all, we just know that we can work on a lot more to make each other better. At the end of the day we were very satisfied.

“My mindset this week – being that it’s our third preseason game, its’ the game that most people focus on as a ‘real’ game – my mindset is to prepare for it as if it’s the first game of the season. Go in there and try to be on top of my game mentally and physically, go in there and make plays and lead my troops into victory. At the end of the day this game is just like a real game and the wins and losses matter.

“First and foremost, New England’s offense is controlled by a very smart, very healthy quarterback. He might not be the fastest or have the strongest arm, but he makes up for that with ability to think right after the snap of the ball. He has weapons out there that he can throw the ball to: (Deion) Branch, Wes Welker, Chad Ochocinco and don’t forget about the two backs. They have a very strong back who’s down there running and then they have a third-down scat-back. They have multiple weapons that we need to take seriously and if we don’t, that scoreboard can get really bad quickly. We have to go in there and focus.

“No defense ever wants to give up 21 points in the first half. Obviously that’s what happened to us last week and I’m not going to say we slipped up and I’m not going to say we weren’t prepared. We approach every game as if it’s our last. With that being said, we still have a lot to work on and like I said, no team wants to go into halftime down 21 points. We have a lot of improvement to do and we’re going to learn from that game and hopefully it won’t happen again.”

Johnson: ‘I’m just working through it, staying in treatment and doing what I can to get back out there’

“My shoulder is sore. I’m just working through it, staying in treatment and doing what I can to get back out there as soon as I can. I’m still practicing because keeping up with my conditioning is a big thing. You definitely don’t want to fall behind because, when that first game comes, you get winded out there.

“Camp is just about over and I’m definitely excited. That’s the consensus amongst everybody. We’re starting to watch film for the Patriots to start getting used to our regular season schedule. We don’t get into it too deep -  just watch film once or twice and we don’t really game plan too much. It’s more working on what we do.

“Our offense has looked good our first two games, but we still don’t have everyone on the field. Of course I think about what the offense will be like with everyone available. The biggest thing is making sure everybody’s healthy. You don’t want to lose people here in the preseason. You definitely want to start the season with all your guys. Titus got on the field this week and he’s looking good. He has quick feet and good hands, so once he’s fully healed and ready to go, he’ll be an added weapon.

“We’ve got some talent out there on the field if we can just get everybody out there at the same time. That’s the biggest part is getting to that point where everybody’s healthy and can start the season off the right way. That’s a big goal of ours.

“I’m looking forward to seeing family this weekend. I haven’t seen my mom in awhile – in about a month. I’ve got some friends coming up here, too. I’m not really able to do anything with my parents because we don’t have a lot of time. They are just in and out – they just come up for the games – so we’ll probably go out to dinner on Friday night before we check into the hotel. I look forward to seeing my parents come up for the game.”