"Lions running back Kevin Smith had his biggest workload of the exhibition and responded with his best game.

Smith, the starter the past two seasons, is coming off surgery that repaired a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. He has been managed carefully in training camp and in two previous exhibition games.

In a 28-23 victory over Buffalo in Thursday's exhibition finale at Ford Field, Smith showed some flashes of the promise he showed as a rookie when he fell just shy of a 1,000-yard season.

Smith started and played the entire first half. He had four carries for 18 yards, good for a 4.5-yard average. He also contributed in the passing game with a team-high three catches for 21 yards.

Coach Jim Schwartz talked recently about wanting Smith to trust his knee again and not worry about it in the game.

"I can see him saying I trust my knee and I trust everything," Smith said. "But it's going to take work. This is my third preseason game and actually my first preseason game I didn't have that many snaps.

"I've just started getting into the groove of football, tackling, making moves. So I'm looking forward to getting better."

Smith would not declare satisfaction with performance until he got a chance to examine the game film."