James Houston, Mekhi Wingo Among Highest PFF-Graded Lions

A review of preseason Week 3 Lions PFF grades.

Detroit Lions defensive tackle Mekhi Wingo. / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Detroit Lions closed the preseason with a 24-17 comeback win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

With the Steelers playing several of their starters through the first quarter, the Lions' lineup made of a majority of reserves quickly found themselves in a 14-0 deficit. However, thanks to a timely takeaway and two late touchdown drives, the Lions evened the game heading into the locker room.

Defensive end James Houston was a standout defensively, as he recorded a sack. Houston was the highest-graded Lion in Saturday's game via Pro Football Focus with an 89.7 overall defensive grade. He had three total pressures.

Hendon Hooker got the start under center and finished 12-of-20 for 114 yards a touchdown, an interception and a lost fumble. He showed some dynamic ability, scrambling 10 times for 93 yards. He led the go-ahead scoring drive in the second half, which ended with Jermar Jefferson's touchdown run.

Defensively, the Lions held the Steelers to just three second half points. Ty Summers led the defensive effort with eight tackles and 1.5 sacks.

With roster cutdown approaching, Saturday's game was likely the last in a Lions' uniform for the 2024 season for several players. Coach Dan Campbell praised the effort that the players have brought throughout training camp.

"I was proud of the guys. It didn't start real pretty but we finished strong. We got ourselves back in that game, the guys really fought hard," Campbell said. "To see that group, just the way they've adjusted and really doing things the way we do things around here and continuing to grow and coming away with a W. I was really proud of those guys. I told them in the locker room you wish you could keep everybody but that's not the way it works. They have mine and this coaching staff, Brad's respect for everything they've done. Man, I respect the hell out of them and we appreciate it very much."

Here are the highest and lowest Pro Football Focus-graded Lions players from Saturday's win over the Steelers.

Highest PFF-graded offensive players

• OL Jake Burton -- 76.9
• WR Maurice Alexander -- 76.7
• OL Duke Clemens -- 75.5
• TE Shane Zylstra -- 75.1
• OL Colby Sorsdal -- 74.9

Lowest PFF-graded offensive players

• OL Michael Niese -- 56.8
• OL Giovanni Manu -- 50.5
• WR Donovan Peoples-Jones -- 45.6
• OL Kingsley Eguakun -- 41.2
• TE James Mitchell -- 33.2

Highest PFF-graded defensive players

• DE James Houston -- 89.7
• LB Ty Summers -- 89.0
• LB Joel Iyiegbuniwe -- 79.6
• DE Isaac Ukwu -- 76.6
• DT Mekhi Wingo -- 69.8

Lowest PFF-graded defensive players

• DE Josh Paschal -- 52.0
• CB Javelin Guidry -- 48.7
• S Brandon Joseph -- 46.2
• DT Brodric Martin -- 40.3
• CB Steven Gilmore -- 38.7