Lions receiver Johnson beating rookie curve
ALLEN PARK -- Calvin Johnson is flattening out his rookie learning curve with his long reach and super-long strides.
Calvin Johnson, a Lions receiver, has eight catches in the first two games. He has been the third or fourth option in a receiving corps that has three veterans with more catches -- Shaun McDonald (13), Roy Williams (11) and Mike Furrey (10).
The quality of Calvin Johnson's play, and how it compares to how most rookie receivers perform, stands out. He has averaged 16.4 yards a catch and has two touchdowns.
Offensive coordinator Mike Martz has watched Calvin Johnson mature rapidly. Calvin Johnson hit a wall late in training camp but has recovered.
"Calvin Johnson has really made a surge here in the last few weeks," Martz said Thursday. "The opener (at Oakland), he was pretty good. He was really better, even, this last week.
"I think his confidence continues to grow with his ability to play in the league. It's fun to watch him get the ball now and run and make plays."
Some of the NFL's top receivers were slow starters as rookies. Neither Hines Ward, Derrick Mason, Plaxico Burress nor Steve Smith caught a touchdown pass as a rookie. Muhsin Muhammad and Chad Johnson had one TD catch.
Randy Moss was an exception, with 17 TD catches for Minnesota in 1998. Anquan Boldin set the NFL rookie record with 101 catches for Arizona in 2003. Joey Galloway had 67 catches for Seattle.
Roy Williams is another exception. He caught 54 passes and scored eight TDs in '04.
Calvin Johnson hasn't concerned himself with comparisons, or where he stands with the current crop of first-year players at any position.
"I really won't look at it, to tell the truth," he said. "I just want to focus on what I'm doing, not really get caught up in my stats right now."
The first game at Oakland exposed him to the faster tempo of the pro game. He adjusted last week against Minnesota.
"It really did jump up from the preseason, but the second game, I was there with it," he said.
Personnel dept.
Teddy Lehman has played behind Paris Lenon , the starting middle linebacker, but Lehman got some playing time in overtime when Lenon had to leave with an injury.
"Teddy really did a good job," offensive coordinator Joe Barry said.
Daniel Bullocks has begun rehabilitation exercises on his right knee. The anterior cruciate ligament was torn in the third exhibition game at Indianapolis.
Bullocks went out of the game when his knee buckled on a non-contact play, but he knew something was wrong before that.
"I hurt it earlier, but I kept playing," said Bullocks, who would have been the starting free safety.
The Lions will have the same five starters on the offensive line for the third straight game.
By the third game last year, the Lions had two starters at left guard (Rick DeMulling and Ross Verba ) and three at right tackle (Barry Stokes , Rex Tucker and Jonathan Scott ).
They had a different line combination for the first eight games and did not have the same five starters in consecutive games until games eight and nine.
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