If there was a positive development for the Lions other than winning their first game in 22 months, it was that the team found out that it can win without overusing WR Calvin Johnson. It was a lesson that QB Matthew Stafford had to learn the hard way through the first two losses, but the Week Three win was proof positive that not forcing the ball into Johnson is a good thing.

In the first two games, Stafford threw Johnson's way 20 times in 67 pass attempts, or 29.9 percent of the time. In the win over the Redskins, he threw Johnson's way seven times in 36 passes (19.4 percent).

In reality, Johnson should be targeted about 10 times per game on average. He's too good a player not to see a lot of passes thrown his way, and he'll be an integral part of every game plan going forward this season.

But Stafford clearly saw his mistakes from the first two games, trying to force the ball in to Johnson when there wasn't an opening.

WRs Bryant Johnson and Dennis Northcutt and TE Brandon Pettigrew are becoming bigger factors in the passing game, but another thing that helped prevent bad situations for Stafford in Week Three was a successful running game. RB Kevin Smith ran for 101 yards on 16 carries before leaving with a shoulder injury. By keeping his team out of 3rd-and-long situations, Smith prevented the Redskins from running coverages designed to take Calvin Johnson out of the game.

"Kevin is really important," head coach Jim Schwartz said. "We have a dynamic playmaker in Calvin Johnson who can get open downfield, but that is largely dependant on how we run the football and Kevin is a big part of that."

The key is for the Lions to establish other weapons throughout the offense so that things can open up for Johnson. And they want to be the ones who dictate the down and distance and when they want to take shots downfield, not getting stuck throwing low-percentage passes to Johnson in tough situations where the defense has the clear edge in coverage.

"It all works together, where the run game sets up the pass game," Schwartz said. "What you have to do, is that your other players in the pass game have to make plays to keep defenses honest.

"We see a lot of tricked up defenses; if we were playing basketball they would be playing a box-and-one on Calvin. We see a lot of that stuff (that) leads to opportunities for other guys. So if those guys make plays, we force defenses to play a little even-handed, and again, that open things up a little bit more for Calvin. So it is all connected, it all works together."

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