ALLEN PARK -- The Lions brought Matt Cassel in this spring to battle Jake Rudock for the right to back up Matthew Stafford, a quarterback who tends to never miss any time. They set a veteran up against a young player who knew the system, and they let the preseason split the difference.

Cassel won, though not through statistics. His 247 yards, 55 percent completion, one touchdown, two interceptions and 58.8 rating this preseason trailed Rudock's 425 yards, 68 percent completion, three touchdowns, no interceptions and 91.5 rating.

But in the same way that the coaches didn't scheme to win exhibition games, they also didn't use the numbers as a raw judge of who would come out in front. They knew the plays they called, so they evaluated both and came to the conclusion that the veteran would help more immediately than the third-year player, whom they were able to get back onto the practice squad.

"I think Matt did a great job of coming in here from the spring and really learning the system and the communication in the offense itself," Matt Patricia said. "It's definitely I would say a little bit different than what he has run in the past from a standpoint of the communication at the line of scrimmage and some of the tempo. Things like that that he has been used to.

"So, I thought he did a good job of really getting that under control and he has a good presence about himself out on the field also."

Patricia also cited Cassel's sheer experience. With 81 career starts across five organizations, the 36-year-old has seen the variety of systems and defenses that made Patricia more confident that he could help in the plan to shake things up from week to week based on the weaknesses they identify in the opponent.

The Lions looked for something a little different out of the quarterback room this year after moving George Godsey from defensive projects over to the position coach. Godsey is another coach from the Patriots tree, and his goal was to add some of that influence, which helped explain Cassel's arrival and why he always had the internal edge.

The ability to get Rudock back on the practice squad was key because it became less about picking one over the other for the roster, even if Cassel is still the primary backup. Rudock will get to continue to learn from Matthew Stafford, Cassel and Godsey while he's on the roster. The strides he wasn't able to make to keep the backup this year are ones he can continue to try to show while in the building.

As Rudock is developing behind the scenes and trying to help mimic the quarterbacks of opposing teams in practice, Cassel can work with Stafford in breaking down film, sharing the tidbits he's learned over years of playing while also trying to spot different tendencies and weak points.

Stafford remains the primary investment of the organization, the key to everything they do. Adding a different veteran to his room is the latest step in trying to help him out.