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ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- The Detroit Lions were in a familiar spot, down a few points with time running out -- only this time, they couldnt get the ball back.Thats the problem with putting yourself in that position too many times.There would be no Matthew Stafford-led comeback at the end of Sundays 20-13 loss to the Houston Texans. Instead, the Lions fell back to .500, which seemed appropriate given how many of their games could have gone either way. Detroit hasnt had a game decided by more than seven points this season.Despite last weekends loss, the Lions (4-4) are certainly in a better spot than at this time last season, when they had dropped seven of their first eight games. This season, Detroit has recovered from a 1/3 start, so the second quarter of the schedule went considerably better than the first.We had a 3-1 quarter. We had a little hiccup at the end, coach Jim Caldwell said Monday. Were getting ready to start all over again just in terms of our next quarter coming up against obviously a very tough opponent. So what I tell you is that weve made some improvement.The Lions play at Minnesota on Sunday, the last game before Detroits open date. At the midway point, the Lions are certainly in the playoff race, but in all four of their victories, the winning points came in the final two minutes. They were certainly cutting it close.Against the Texans on Sunday, Detroit kicked a field goal with 2:53 left to pull within a touchdown. After an unsuccessful onside kick, the Lions couldnt stop Houston, allowing two first downs that let the Texans run out the clock.Obviously, we wanted to get on the field, it just didnt work out, wide receiver Golden Tate said. Weve got to do a better job of not putting our team in that situation, where we need to be playing from behind like that.The Lions held Houston to only 23 yards rushing in the first half before allowing 82 in the second, and although the Texans didnt score much after taking a 14-0 lead in the second quarter, they moved the ball enough to hold on for the win.I just think there were some situations there where they just did a little bit better job at the end than we did, Caldwell said. They blocked us up in a couple situations and maybe a couple situations where we missed a tackle here or there. There were a few things, there wasnt just one thing. They did a better job down the stretch.Detroit beat Indianapolis in its season opener on a field goal with 4 seconds left, and its victory over Washington two weekends ago came on a touchdown with 16 seconds remaining. The Lions have had some close losses as well, but their defeat against Tennessee was the only one in which the lead changed late. Theyve been on the right side of most of their exciting finishes so far, and it was always fair to wonder if that would be sustainable.Stafford has been very good, and the addition of receiver Marvin Jones has helped Detroit withstand Calvin Johnsons retirement, but its going to be hard for the Lions to reach the postseason if they need last-minute comebacks in so many of their games. That was one of the main lessons from the loss to Houston.Youll have games like that against good defenses that play well against you, Caldwell said. You know, you may not light it up every single time, but we certainly expect to be a little bit more potent than we were.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFL James Johnson Jersey .ca! Hi Kerry, Heres an interesting one. I know its common knowledge that all players are responsible for their sticks. 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Russias Vladimir Grigorev was third. In the relay, Canada took control six laps from the finish line to beat Russia and the Netherlands. The reaction said it all. James Vince stood frozen in horror after steering one to slip. He knew he needed a score here. He knew his career could depend upon it.Instead, after three hours of resistance, he had been drawn into a familiar error. Seduced into feeling at one angled across him against the new ball, he had edged to second slip for the second time in the match and the third time in the series. Like a former smoker who cant resist, the habit he had tried to cut out had done for him once more. The slow trudge off the pitch, head shaking in dismay and disappointment, spoke volumes.But if this was a familiar end, it was not an entirely familiar innings. It felt like a step forward. It wasnt just the score - 42 equalled his best Test effort so far - but the maturity he demonstrated in steering England away from trouble after the loss of Alastair Cook and Alex Hales. He had left more deliveries, he played a little straighter and he picked his aggressive strokes more selectively. Not too many batsmen are dropped after contributing 81 runs in a game. Not under this regime, anyway.There had been some nervous moments along the way, though. On 22, Vince was beaten as he attempted to drive one from Sohail Khan that left him just a touch and, on 23, he pushed at one from the same bowler and was fortunate to see the ball bounce just in front of Mohammad Hafeez at slip. On a quicker wicket - and that is just about every wicket - it would have been a chance.This wicket is unusually slow. While it is not easy to score quickly - it is, in truth, a pretty disappointing wicket which does nothing to sustain the viability of Test cricket - it is the sort of wicket on which dislodging batsmen is tough.That is when bowlers even attempt to dismiss them. But, while Vince was at the crease, Pakistan instead concentrated on damage limitation and attempted to frustrate the England batsmen into making errors as they sought to accelerate the run-rate. Vince faced just one delivery from seamers in his entire innings that would have hit the stumps. Thats one delivery out of 65. So, its hardly surprising he managed to survive for longer; they were hardly blowing to dismiss him. And Vince, for all the runs he has scored, is the only man in Englands top seven not to have made a half-century in the match.All of which leaves Englands selectors with a tricky decision. They have invested heavily in Vince and they may well feel they could see signs of progress here. He clearly has time to play the ball and a wide range of strokes. The raw talent is pretty obvious.But at the same time, Trevor Bayliss has said several times that batsmen will be judged not by how they make their runs but by how many runs they make. Vince has now been given six Tests and nine innings. How would other leading contenders - the likes of James Hildreth, Scottt Borthwick or Ben Duckett - fare if given such a run? Is it unrealistic to expect them to have supplied at least a half-century? A generation of former players - the likes of Paul Parker, Alan Jones, Alan Wells and Paul Terry among them - could only dream of such opportunities.ddddddddddddComparisons with more modern players are no more enlightening. While Sam Robson and Adam Lyth were given 11 and 13 Test innings respectively before they were dropped, both men registered centuries in their second Tests. Such early success naturally extended their run.We are getting to the stage, too, where Vinces issue may become mental as much as technical. The analysts working with the England teams over recent years have conducted research into the importance of players performing well early in their international career. Their conclusions, unsurprisingly, suggested that it becomes disproportionately more difficult to succeed if the early memories and associations of the England environment are not positive.Vince appears admirably calm at the crease and can only benefit for the backing he has received from the management. But it is only human nature that, with every setback, his self-confidence ebbs a little more. He is up against a fine attack in this series, for sure, but he will rarely play on more batsman-friendly wickets. It is probably provocative to point out that Vinces average over his first six Tests - 23.44 - is more than 10 lower than Kevin Pietersen in his final six - 33.83 - but it might also be illustrative of the suspicion that selection is not always entirely on merit.Vince has the great advantage over the likes of Wells, Terry and, yes, Pietersen, that he is playing in a relatively successful side. For that reason, his struggles can be overlooked and the investment period can be lengthened. He hasnt, by any means, looked completely out of his depth and the continuity of selection policy remains, even taken to an extreme, far better than the alternative extreme.But by persisting with him at this stage, the selectors are also denying themselves the opportunity to look at other players. They are denying themselves the chance to see how Adil Rashid could perform as a second spinner or to see how a left-arm spinning all-rounder could manage ahead of the seven Tests England play in Asia before Christmas. They are denying themselves the chance to see how a specialist wicketkeeper could be assimilated within the team or giving another batsman a chance to gain some experience ahead of the winter tours.But in order to experiment, the selectors first have to start coming to some conclusions. Their failure to do so with Vince is starting to look, not so much consistent, but soft. ' ' '