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Lions rookie quarterback Jake Rudock is quickly improving.

(Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)

ALLEN PARK -- Jake Rudock had a really nice debut for the Detroit Lions.



He threw 11 passes, and missed on only three of them. He threw a touchdown. He didn't throw an interception. And, hey, he even led Detroit to a 30-17 comeback win against the Pittsburgh Steelers.



There's a lot to like there.



But the rookie out of Michigan still has a lot to prove before he'll make the team, let alone actually push Dan Orlvosky for the backup job, heading into Thursday's exhibition against the Bengals at Ford Field (7:30 p.m., Fox 2 in Detroit).



"I mean, definitely (did) some good things out there," Rudock said. "And obviously there's always room for improvement -- obviously. Things to improve upon. A little bit more accurate with some of the passes. Decision-making was pretty solid, but obviously there's things to work on and to keep learning."



In particular, it appeared Rudock was handed a pretty conservative game plan. They're all vanilla this time of year, with teams trying to hide what they'll actually do once the games start counting, but it seemed especially so for the first-year signal-caller.



His longest completion was a 27-yard touchdown pass to Jace Billingsley, though most of those yards were gained after the catch. After that, Rudock's longest throw was 9 yards.

Of his 11 passes, only one traveled at least 5 yards through the air. And that one fell incomplete.





Rudock said that was more a product of him taking what the defense gave him and checking down, but at some point, he will have to show he can become more vertical before he has any chance to unseat Orlovsky.



He had the game's highest QB rating, at 120.3, but also averaged just 6.5 yards per attempt. That was less than Orlovsky's 6.6.

"Playing quarterback in this league is incredibly hard -- I think sometimes people forget that," Orlovsky said. "You just try to continue to make progress, and when you feel a little more comfortable, maybe you start branching off and doing some more.



"He just needs to continue to grow. Like I said, it's hard. It's hard for a rookie quarterback to come in and run an NFL offense against an NFL defense with NFL languages and whatnot. So keep progressing. He's smart, and he'll continue to progress."



Rudock's arm strength was a perceived weakness during the draft process, but those fears seem to be overblown. His arm has been just fine throughout training camp, and he says he's comfortable looking downfield.



"Oh yeah, I'm completely fine with that," he said. "Just kind of the calls come in, and what we have to check too, (depending on) what they're playing."

If Rudock does continue to develop, the Lions could have an interesting decision to make at the position. Matthew Stafford hasn't missed a start since 2010, so it's not like a third quarterback is needed. But they could risk losing Rudock if they try to put him on the practice squad.

General manager Bob Quinn has been noncommittal about his plans at quarterback, saying over the summer he has no philosophical preference toward keeping two or three quarterbacks. He said that decision would be made at a later date, depending on how the quarterbacks fared in camp.

It seems Rudock is faring increasingly well. And if he continues to progress, showing an ability to get downfield and grasp more complicated concepts, then that could be an increasingly difficult decision to make.

"He's got a long way to go, but you can see that he's coming along," coach Jim Caldwell said. "He's operating a system that's not very easy, he's taking chunks of it and pieces of it and putting it together. He's one of those guys that has a real uncanny ability not to get nervous. He kind of takes it in, can digest the information, and he looks like he's performing pretty well for a young guy.

"He's not functioning like an older guy at the line of scrimmage, but he's doing well for a young guy."