Drew Stanton had a good practice Monday in his bid to become the Lions' backup quarterback. Stanton took all the second-team reps at the team's Organized Team Activity workout, completing (roughly) 75 percent of his throws and making solid reads most of the day.

This was a small sampling, of course, and in non-contact drills, but Stanton still looked much better than he did during rookie mini-camp last month or at the start of the team's mandatory mini-camp three weeks ago. At mini-camp, the Michigan State product did not take any reps during team drills as coaches insisted he focus on learning the playbook and his own mechanics.

He threw several good-looking balls Monday, and said he feels like a different quarterback.

"It's been a long progression, definitely, but like I said I'm starting to see the benefits of doing it the right way and it's starting tog et converted to muscle memory that allows you to play the game and not think as much," Stanton said. "It's starting to kind of make sense. It's not just chicken scratch or foreign language to me now."

My gut tells me Dan Orlovsky will enter the season as the Lions' No. 2 quarterback — Jon Kitna remains a strong No. 1 — but judging by Monday Stanton's at least ready to compete for the job.