Decker committed a holding penalty on third-and-2 from the Pittsburgh 17 and was beaten on the next snap by Harrison, which resulted in the sack and forced fumble recovered by the Steelers.
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“I felt OK”, Stafford said in a halftime interview with WJBK-TV. “We’ll look at that and kind of temper it, different number of reps that they had, so you may not see some of the older guys much, if at all in some cases”.
Steelers: Alejandro Villanueva got the start and played two series in his battle with Ryan Harris at left tackle.
The Lions (1-0) trailed 14-3 in the first half before pulling ahead to stay in the third quarter on a 42-yard field goal by Devin Bell.
Doran Grant opened the scoring when he picked off Dan Orlovsky’s throw and returned the interception 39 yards.
The Steelers fumbled on their next play from scrimmage – Kerry Hyder, who recovered three fumbles in one game last preseason, recovered the loose ball – and Matt Prater tacked on a 31-yard field goal for the Lions.
Running back Zack Zenner led all Lions running backs rushing 7 times for 24 yards.
However, he was 16-25 for 174 yards and connected with wide receiver Andre Roberts for a 28-yard score.
The already-cautious Lions held cornerback Darius Slay out of Wednesday’s practice and pulled defensive end Ezekiel Ansah from the session early.
Other Lions starters that did not play last night included Eric Ebron who suffered an undisclosed injury last week. Rudock, who finished 8 of 11 for 72 yards and a score, hit Jace Billingsley with a 27-yard touchdown on third-and-9.
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Landry Jones started at quarterback for the Steelers in place of Roethlisberger and completed 6 of 12 passes for 55 yards. Download our Lions Xtra app for free on Apple and Android!
