The Lions introduced two new quarterbacks yesterday, one a former Pro Bowler signed out of retirement and the other a high draft pick who doubles as a homegrown college star. First, the good news: they were both fine.

You had Daunte Culpepper starting the game even though he had all of three days of practice with his new teammates. He connected on half of his passes, including a deep ball to Calvin Johnson. Can you ask for much more after three days?

You had Drew Stanton throwing a touchdown on his first NFL pass and hitting on three-quarters of his throws, including a big gainer to Calvin Johnson. Can you ask for much more from a guy whose offensive coordinator, Jim Colletto, suggested that he would embarrass himself if he played? (Side note: you can’t say Stanton didn’t learn anything from Mike Martz or Jon Kitna — after getting sacked five times, clearly he’s figured out how to stand in the pocket too long.)

As for the bad news, brace yourself. If you were expecting the new guys to make an impact on the final score, this probably wasn’t what you had in mind. But this 38-14 mauling wasn’t the quarterbacks’ fault or the offense’s fault. In fact, Kevin Smith had his best game, rushing for 96 yards on 23 carries and a touchdown. (Rudi Johnson only got a couple of touches, so it looks like Colletto and Rod Marinelli are finally going with Smith as their starter.)

But the Lions’ defense is really, really not good. This was a game that lots of people — including the Lions — thought Detroit could win. After all, the Jaguars gave Cincinnati its first win of the season the week before. But the Jaguars can still run the ball, and they ran it plenty against the Lions. They gained nice four- and five-yard chunks consistently and were dominant in the second quarter, when Maurice Jones-Drew scored three times.

Detroit seems on a collision course with the NFL’s worst record, possibly 0-16. And the defense is so bad that it’s hard to look at the guys who play there and see future stars. But in addition to getting the top pick in the draft, it would sure be helpful for the Lions’ prospects if some of the team’s recent high draft picks could show something during this awful season’s last games. Defensive ends Cliff Avril and Ikaika Alama-Francis are getting praise from coaches and finally seem to be active every week on game day, and both have shown flashes. But with a sack and a half between them, you can’t exactly say they’ve broken through.

(A note on getting praise from coaches: I was listening to the Houston Texans’ broadcast for the Lions debacle against Houston in week seven, and the announcers kept talking about Alama-Francis as one of the Lions’ young stars along with Calvin Johnson and Kevin Smith. I assume they got that from interviewing the Detroit coaches, but it was a little surprising given that Alama-Francis had been inactive the previous two weeks and recorded only two tackles on the season heading into the game.)

Anyway, here’s the box score.