NFL preseason games are so tough to decipher.

It’s not always ones vs. ones.

The Lions didn’t do any game-planning. So how does it all shake out?

My five observations from the Lions’ 30-28 win at Cleveland on Friday night:

1. Matthew Stafford continues to impress. He was six of 10 for 85 yards and a touchdown. He escaped unscathed. He was pressure more by the Browns than the Bengals the week before but found a way out of it without throwing an interception.

2. Penalties should be a concern. Yes, it’s preseason. But Detroit amassed 14 penalties costing them 123 yards. Way too sloppy even for the preseason.

3. Still tough to judge veteran running backs Mike Bell and Jerome Harrison who got most of their work in the second half, not against the Browns’ starters. They were better than last week, but that was expected since they’ve had another week to learn the offense. As a whole the offense had more balance with 176 rushing yards and 231 passing.

4. Safety Erik Coleman was a solid offseason acquisition. He’s tough. Even if he doesn’t start (Louis Delmas and Amari Spievey have the edge at safety), he’ll have an impact when he is in and on special teams.

5. Lions’ secondary needs to gel or perhaps just tighten up. The defensive line should make their job easier, but they have to take advantage of it. They were without Chris Houston, however.

(Follow me on Twitter @PaulaPasche. Get Lions news delivered directly to your phone by texting the keyword "Lions" to 22700.)