Detroit Lions quarterback Drew Stanton, seeing his first playing time in the NFL, stepped in for starter Daunte Cullpepper late in the first quarter and threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to tight end John Owens on the first pass of his NFL career.

Stanton, a second-round draft pick in 2007 who missed his entire rookie season with a knee injury and part of the 2008 season with a thumb injury, also completed a pass to convert on fourth down and continue a drive that ended in a 1-yard TD run by Kevin Smith in the fourth quarter.

The Lions lost, 38-14, to Jacksonville, but the Lions and their fans must have been happy with what they saw in Stanton.

Stanton, a natural leader and fan favorite who played at nearby Michigan State, finished with excellent stats. He completed 6 of 8 passes for 94 yards (11.8 yards per attempt) and one touchdown with no interceptions for a passer rating of 153.1—all despite being constantly harassed by a Jacksonville defense that racked up seven sacks, five on Stanton. Stanton, known for his scrambling ability with Michigan State, also rushed one time for 4 yards.

Culpepper completed 5 of 10 passes for 104 yards, including a 51-yard rainbow to Calvin Johnson, with no TDs and one interception for a passer rating of 47.5. Culpepper was signed this past week and had only three days of practice with the Lions before getting the start in place of injured starter Dan Orlovsky. Original starter Jon Kitna was lost to a back injury early in the season and is no longer with the Lions.

Lions coach Rod Marinelli has not yet announced who will start for Detroit on Sunday against Carolina on the road.

Dan Orlovsky is the starting quarterback, and the Detroit Lions are expected to sign the previously “retired” Daunte Culpepper, 31.

Offensive coordinator Jim Colletto recently said that Drew Stanton, currently Orlovsky’s backup, is not ready to take his place behind center.

Who do the fans want?

Stanton.

The former Michigan State star received 65 percent of the first 3,614 votes when the website Everything Michigan [http://www.twiigs.com/poll/Sports/Football/19800] asked Lions fans, “Who would you like to see start at quarterback?”

Culpepper received 18 percent of the vote and Orlovsky 15 percent.

Stanton was drafted in the second round in 2007 but missed his rookie season with an injury. He also missed preseason time this season with a thumb injury but is now healthy.

Many fans see Stanton as the team’s quarterback of the future.

Orlovsky is in the final year of his contract, and the Lions parted ways with injured starter Jon Kitna after a poor start has led to the team’s current 0-8 record.

And Orlovsky sprained his right thumb in Detroit's 27-23 loss to the Chicago Bears last Sunday and was wearing a hard cast on Monday. Orlovsky said he hurt his thumb on the first play of the game and kept playing, attempting 47 passes. Orlovsky said he took a pain pill at halftime.

Jay Glazer of Fox Sports [msn.foxsports.com] has reported that Orlovsky could miss several weeks, leaving the door open for Stanton or Culpepper.

ALLEN PARK -- With starting quarterback Jon Kitna nursing a sore back,
backups Drew Stanton and Dan Orlovsky have had the rare luxury of
practicing with the first team, splitting reps Wednesday and Thursday.

In Detroit's 34-7 loss to the Chicago Bears last Sunday, Kitna had to
leave at halftime with back spasms. He underwent an MRI on Wednesday but
the results are unknown. Lions coach Rod Marinelli said he is day-to-day.

Kitna has had back problems in the past. Against the Bears,
second-stringer Orlovsky came in and suffered injuries to his left ankle
and knee late in the fourth quarter. He said he will be ready to go Sunday
against Minnesota, though, and is expected to start if Kitna is still
sidelined.

That moves up Stanton, a second-round pick in 2007 who has yet to take a
snap during the regular season, to No. 2. And with Orlovsky in the final
year of his contract, the Lions hurtling toward a lost season and Stanton
considered the team's QB of the future, fans already are calling for the
local Michigan State product to be given a shot.

"We split all the reps and it was good for me to get out there,'' he said.
''Some of the stuff I haven't done before and some of it came back quick."

Stanton suffered a knee injury early in camp last year and missed the
entire season. This year, he suffered a sprained right thumb prior to the
third preseason game and is getting back to full health now.

Despite the lack of practice time, Stanton said he is ready to step in.

"It's just a matter of me progressing every day," Stanton said.

The Lions also are expected to sign veteran backup Drew Henson, known on
the team as "Drew 2," from the practice squad as an emergency quarterback
if Kitna is out.

Quarterback Drew Stanton, one of the hottest players in training camp for
the Detroit Lions, sprained ligaments in his right (throwing hand) thumb
during practice last Thursday and will be sidelined up to six weeks.

Stanton, the Lions' second-round draft pick in 2007 out of Michigan State,
put up outstanding numbers in his two preseason appearances before the
injury and was primed for a big bump in playing time as he looked to
overtake Dan Orlovsky for the No. 2 QB slot behind incumbent starter Jon
Kitna.

Stanton, in his second year, missed his entire rookie season with a knee
injury. He is expected back for Detroit's fourth game of the regular
season, Oct. 5 against Chicago.

His thumb will be in a cast for four weeks.

His statistics through two exhibition games were impressive: 7-for-8, 85
yards and a touchdown for a passer efficiency rating of 150.5. Stanton
also has scrambled five times for 49 yards and a touchdown.

"You'd like to be out there playing, especially after these last couple of
games,'' Stanton said. "I was looking forward to another opportunity to
come out and play, but that's not the case now. I think it was really
important for me to get out there and run the offense and see how things
evolve right in front of my eyes.

The Lions, who play their third preseason game Saturday against the
Cleveland Browns at Ford Field in Detroit, signed free agent quarterback
Drew Henson on Friday to fill in for Stanton.

Early on in Lions training camp at Allen Park, quarterback Drew Stanton was criticized for almost everything—his inability to throw a consistent spiral, his command of the huddle, his taste in clothes…well, maybe not his taste in clothes.

But instead of allowing his confidence to drop as he settled in at third string behind veteran Jon Kitna and fourth-year pro Dan Orlovsky, Stanton, Detroit’s second-round draft choice out of Michigan State in 2007, came out throwing.

Stanton, basically a rookie after missing his entire first season with a knee injury, was one of the team’s stars in a 27-10 road victory over Cincinnati in the Lions’ second preseason game last weekend.

Stanton finished 2-for-2 passing for 58 yards and scrambled twice for 20 yards. A perfect 50-yard touchdown bomb to Brandon Middleton keyed his performance in the fourth quarter and Stanton finished with a perfect quarterback rating of 158.3 as he played in just his second preseason game

Now, Stanton could be pressing Orlovsky for the second QB slot and is expected to get more playing time in the Lions’ third exhibition game, Saturday at home against Cleveland—especially after this quote from Lions coach Rod Marinelli following the Bengals game:

“The guy’s an athlete and he threw some nice shots in there,” Marinelli said. “He’s getting better throwing the ball and he’s special athletically.”

Stanton still needs to work on his accuracy in the pocket, but he’s a different quarterback than he was at the start of training camp. He showed his renewed confidence by converting a 3rd-and-8 with a 10-yard scramble that set up his TD pass and later scored on a 10-yard run with a naked bootleg.

Critics still say that Stanton runs too much, but if results are what matters—and in the NFL, results are all that matter—then Stanton will get another chance to show his value to the Lions sooner rather than later.

One week after taking his first snaps in the NFL, Detroit Lions quarterback Drew Stanton threw his first touchdown pass—and it was a bomb.

Stanton, in his second year after missing his entire rookie season with a knee injury, came up big one play after scrambling for 10 yards on 3rd-and-8 in the fourth quarter of the Lions’ 27-10 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in an exhibition game at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati. Stanton lofted a 50-yard bomb to Brandon Middleton for a touchdown that extended Detroit’s lead to 20-10 with 6:10 left in the fourth quarter.

Stanton, known for his scrambling ability, added a 10-yard touchdown run on a naked bootleg with 1:53 remaining to seal the win.

“The guy’s an athlete and he threw some nice shots in there,” Lions coach Rod Marinelli said of Stanton, a second-round draft choice in 2007. “He’s getting better throwing the ball and he’s special athletically.”

Stanton, a Michigan State product, finished 2-for-2 passing for 58 yards and scrambled twice for 20 yards as he made his push for the second-string slot behind incumbent starter Jon Kitna. Stanton also finished with a perfect quarterback rating of 158.3 as he played in just his second preseason game.

Drew Stanton, the Detroit Lions' second-year quarterback, saw his first
action in a Lions uniform Thursday night and engineered his team's
game-winning drive in a 13-10 victory over the New York Giants in an
exhibition game in Detroit.

Eddie Johnson capped the drive with a 41-yard field goal with 2:47
remaining in the game.

It was the first NFL game action for Stanton, a 2007 second-round pick who
missed his entire rookie year with a knee injury.

"I was definitely looking forward to getting a chance, especially being
from here and getting a chance to step onto Ford Field," Stanton, who
attended high school in Michigan and starred at Michigan State, said.
"The first couple of drives we went three-and-out, but then we buckled
down and really did some good things. We got into the right plays and
checks.''

Stanton completed five of six passes for 27 yards and drove the team for
the winning score. He also scrambled three times for 29 yards, getting two
first downs along the way.

"To come in in that situation and come away with a victory, you want to do
that every time,'' Stanton said.

Drew Stanton lit up
By playerpress.com wire service
August 4, 2008

Quarterback Drew Stanton lit up Lions' training camp in Allen Park,
Michigan, today with his best throw of camp.

Stanton, who is battling Dan Orlovsky for the backup job behind starter
Jon Kitna, launched a long bomb and hit receiver Taye Biddle down the left
sideline. The pass was a tight spiral and hit Biddle right in stride for a
touchdown.

Stanton, a second-round draft pick in 2007 out of Michigan State, is in
his second year with the Lions but missed his entire rookie season with a
knee injury.

Stanton: Lions’ QB of Future?
By playerpress.com wire service
July 19, 2008

For Drew Stanton, home games are exactly that.
Stanton, born in Okemos, Michigan, a suburb of Lansing, was a star at Harrison High School in Farmington Hills, a suburb of Detroit, and went on to become the starting quarterback at Michigan State in East Lansing.
Now he’s in his second year with the Detroit Lions, still close to home, and when the rest of the Lions fly in from all over the country for the start of training camp July 23, Stanton will have the luxury of taking the short drive down Route 94 from Detroit past Dearborn to report to Allen Park.
Of course, having a constant home-field advantage won’t do him any good in the Lions’ quarterback competition. That’s where his natural ability, commitment and newly-built confidence will come in handy.
Stanton, who spent all of his rookie season last year on Injured Reserve with a knee injury, will use training camp to flaunt his skills in a battle for playing time with entrenched starter Jon Kitna and close friend Dan Orlovsky, an experienced backup. Stanton is 100% healthy and ready to show his stuff when drills start.
Though Kitna, a 12-year veteran who started every game the last two years, throwing for more than 4,000 yards each season, looks to be the starter again in 2008, there is evidence that the Lions might be ready to turn the ball over to someone else. Detroit finished last season 1-7 after a 6-2 start, and Kitna finished with 20 interceptions and 51 sacks, giving him 42 picks and 114 sacks the last two seasons. If the team suffers through a sub-par first half this season, it might look to give its younger quarterbacks a chance to show what they can do.
Orlovsky enters his fourth year with the team after being a fifth-round draft pick out of UConn. He played in two games as a rookie in 2005 but has not seen action since, serving as the second-string QB last year when Stanton was injured.
Stanton has displayed a strong arm, has good size at 6-3, 228 pounds, and has shown significant leadership skills when given the chance. Sources at Lions’ training camp in 2007 reported that more than one person in the Lions’ organization thought Stanton was the best quarterback on the roster before he tweaked a knee injury that he suffered while playing on punt coverage at Michigan State.
The team invested a second-round pick in the 2007 draft in Stanton, along with the accompanying four-year contract, meaning the front office will, at some point, want to give him a chance—especially if the team is eliminated from playoff contention at some point.
While Stanton will have to learn a new style of offense after the departure of 2007 offensive coordinator Mike Martz to San Francisco, he feels life will be easier under new coordinator Jim Colletto.
“With the talent level so high on defense, not checking is a hard way to operate week-in and week-out in the NFL,” Stanton said. “Now we are trying to put ourselves in the best situation. You have to run away from certain looks, get out of certain plays, depending on the coverage. For instance, a very vanilla example is trying to run the ball against cover two and throw it versus cover three or anytime they try to load guys up in the box. I think you will see a lot of that out of us this year, especially when you have weapons like Calvin Johnson and Roy Williams on the outside.”
And Stanton is fortunate to have Kitna on the same sideline. Though the two compete at the same position, the classy veteran has no qualms about aiding the development of Stanton and Orlovsky—or teaching them a lesson on the golf course.
“He is constantly teaching me things and he goes out of his way to offer me information,” Stanton said of Kitna. “He’s been playing at this level for 14 years now, and that doesn’t just happen by mistake.”
Time will tell how long it takes for Stanton to get on the field. If the Lions win, Kitna will stay behind center longer. But whether the team is winning or losing, Stanton is out to show during training camp that he’s ready to take over when the time comes.
“Now it’s just a matter of performing in the preseason, trying to be prepared when the dust settles to play some football, regardless of where I am on the depth chart,” Stanton said. “As a backup you always have to be prepared because you’re one snap from going in there. I have to be prepared as well as I can because I don’t know what to expect after missing my rookie season. I try to focus on things I have control over, and my main focus is to be ready when opportunities present themselves.”