After More Than a Year, Lions Quarterback Drew Stanton Has Yet to Throw a Spiral

Just about a year ago, weeks after the Lions drafted Drew Stanton with their second-round pick, I wrote a post about Detroit's latest franchise quarterback struggling to throw spirals during the team's offseason workouts.

The problem was explained away as Stanton adjusting to the Lions' Martzian offense, and his willingness to learn made it a non-issue. Stanton would spend his rookie campaign on injured reserve -- despite being healthy virtually the entire season -- which is one way to make Stanton's "throwing problem" go way, even if temporarily.

Fast-forward to present-day Detroit. Mike Martz is gone and Stanton is back at practice. Throwing ducks. But unlike Martz, who had grand plans to make Stanton better, new offensive coordinator Jim Colletto is taking a different, less hands-on approach:

One of Stanton's passes was particularly poor Wednesday morning. He threw a ball down the left sideline that wobbled and died in the air. Wide receiver Devale Ellis had to stop and come back to catch it.

Asked about that pass, Colletto smiled and said: "I kind of close my eyes and don't pay attention."

Other choice nuggets from the guy responsible for bringing the running game back to Detroit: "[Stanton's] gotten better," ... Colletto said after the first practice Wednesday ... "[QB coach] Scot [Loefller's] worked on it with him a lot, and sometimes he reverts back to some old habits. Today he didn't throw an interception, so that was a huge plus."

So it's come to that. Lions' coaches are high-fiving each other because a guy supposedly battling for the starting job made it through an entire practice without throwing a pick. Next stop: 10 wins!