Jake Delhomme looked sharp in the first half as the Browns built a 24-14 lead at the break.
UPDATED: 10:35 p.m.
Jake Delhomme couldn't stop Detroit's Chris Houston from scoring after Houston recovered a Jerome Harrison fumble in the second quarter of Saturday's preseason game at Ford Field.DETROIT -- You can pick at a lot of things in a preseason game and interpret them any which way you want.
Saturday, the Browns lost three more fumbles -- giving them eight turnovers over their last two practice games -- and allowed three touchdown drives in the second half. The Detroit Lions came away with a 35-27 victory.
But at this time of year, the first half tells a truer story of where a team may be heading.
With the regulars in, the Browns scored on three of their five possessions, running off 41 plays to Detroit's 18, and held a 24-14 lead at halftime. One of the possessions was a Jerome Harrison fumble on first down, which was returned 14 yards for a Lions' touchdown.
The Browns also scored when end Brian Schaefering stripped the ball from running back Kevin Smith and Eric Wright returned it 44 yards for a touchdown.
Detroit played hard on defense and made a lot of physical hits, but the Lions don't look like they're going to be stopping many teams this year.
Jake Delhomme had his third straight 100-plus passer rating performance, completing 20 of 25 passes for 152 yards, with one short touchdown to fullback Lawrence Vickers. Delhomme operated the no-huddle with constant formation shifting and motion.
Perhaps the best sign of all was that Delhomme completed seven of nine passes thrown to wide receivers Josh Cribbs, Brian Robiskie and Mohamed Massaquoi. Cribbs had a nice catch of 30 yards on the left sideline.
"I thought Jake was outstanding tonight and he's been outstanding all preseason," said coach Eric Mangini.
"It's a whole other set of problems for defense when Seneca's in there," Mangini said.
Delhomme said, "Things are going well. We did some decent things. Guys made a lot of good plays. We've got to just keep on going forward."
As in their previous game against St. Louis, the Browns' defense came out slowly. In the case of trying to defend fleet rookie running back Jahvid Best, the Browns were real slow. Best ran the ball 51 yards through the heart of the Browns' defense on the first play from scrimmage before Wright brought him down.
"He just busted a gap," said rookie safety T.J. Ward. "He didn't score. Now we have to work on getting better in the red zone."
Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford connected with Bryant Johnson on a fade over Sheldon Brown for the touchdown from seven yards on the Lions' third play.
The Lions also moved 60 yards on nine plays on the opening series of the second half. They did it with Best on the sideline.
"It's tough because we didn't play the game we wanted to play," said Brown. "Obviously we wanted to stop the run and then eliminate Calvin Johnson from having big plays and then try to pressure the quarterback."
Stafford wasn't sacked. He completed 13-of-17 for 141 yards and one touchdown. Calvin Johnson had two catches for 42 yards, but no scores.
In three practice games, the Browns have allowed opposing starting quarterbacks to complete 30 of 36 passes.
"We've got to fix it defensively," Mangini said. "I don't think we're that far off, but you can't be a little bit off. A small margin of error leads to big plays instead of sacks and turnovers."
It's probably that Mangini and coordinator Rob Ryan are concealing their true intentions on defense. Last night, linebackers Eric Barton and David Bowens received a lot of time with the first team. There was little blitzing.
In fact, Detroit made all the noise on the field.
Lions linebacker Julian Peterson nailed receiver Carlton Mitchell after a 26-yard run on an end-around and sent the rookie flying out of bounds. Detroit's prize rookie defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh drew a penalty for grabbing Delhomme by the helmet and throwing him to the ground. Also, defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch drew a penalty for a blow to Delhomme's head.
But the hit that stopped the game in its tracks and brought a profound hush to Ford Field was made on Browns special teams ace Nick Sorensen. He received a double helmet hit to the head, courtesy of Lions Caleb Campbell and Andre Fluellen on a Cleveland kickoff.
Sorensen was immobilized on a wooden stretcher and carted off as players from both teams knelt in prayer. By the end of the night, Sorensen was released from a local hospital after tests were negative and he returned home with the team.
Wallace relieved Delhomme to start the second half and put up three points in two series. The second one ended on an Evan Moore fumble after a catch. The Lions turned that miscue into a touchdown and also scored after Colt McCoy had the ball stripped by end Willie Young.
McCoy was able to find some rhythm in this game for the first time. He completed 10 of 14 passes for 76 yards, but was unable to threaten the end zone on his last two possessions.