matthew-stafford-jaguars.JPG

Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford tries to shovel a pass while falling to the ground during a preseason win against Jacksonville.

(Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)

DETROIT -- Patience.

The Detroit Lions have preached it all offseason about their new offense. Just give it time, and it'll come around.

Matthew Stafford is preaching it again, after a slow start bogged down the offense Friday night in a 13-12 exhibition win against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

"I think we could have been more patient early on, and just kept us a little bit ahead of the chains," the quarterback said. "I think the big thing that kind of hurt us tonight were penalties and turnovers. You have those, that makes it tough on yourself. We can't do that."

Stafford was pleased with the protections he got from the offensive line, and noted Reggie Bush's brilliant 86-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. But that would prove to be the lone score from the starting offense, despite playing into the third quarter.

Stafford completed just one of his first five passes. Two of those incompletions were nearly intercepted, and a third one was by defensive end Andre Branch.

"That was a hell of a play," Stafford said of the pick. "That kid needs to play some tight end."

Stafford's outing was a sharp departure from his first two games, when he completed 11-of-14 passes. And two of those misfires were drops.

Asked if the first-unit offense was as polished as he would like, coach Jim Caldwell replied simply: "No, it was not."

Stafford did bounce back, completing nine of his final 11 passes. They didn't net any points, but there were several positive takeaways.

He twice found Calvin Johnson, who was making his preseason debut, and connected with first-round draft pick Eric Ebron while rolling right on a naked bootleg for 15 yards.

But the group managed just seven points, and there's no way to spin that positively. The offense was at full strength for the first time, with Johnson back, and getting its most significant action of the preseason.

This was supposed to be the unit's coming-out party. It instead was a disappointment.

"I think we did a pretty good job when you look at the overall numbers," Caldwell said. "Completion percentage, pass protection I think was pretty solid, we ran the ball effectively I think. But we could have been better in that area as well.

"We weren't as sharp. And primarily because of the fact there were first-and-20s and things like that we had to overcome on a number of different drives. That makes it harder, obviously."