Saturday morning’s practice session at the Detroit Lions training camp featured fans in the stands for the first time. An enthusiastic capacity crowd watched a lot of team drills on a damp, occasionally sunny morning.
Here’s what stood out to me from the second padded practice session of the summer.
Defense dominated in team drills
From the very first snap of the full team 11-on-11 drills, the defense set the tone. And that tone was violence.
Rookie DT Brodric Martin started it off by knifing through the A-gap between Pro Bowl center Frank Ragnow and Pro Bowl left guard Jonah Jackson. He slammed into the running back almost before the handoff was complete. The tackle for loss fired up the defense and they did not relent one bit.
Aidan Hutchinson effectively ignored a block attempt from TE Brock Wright to destroy a stretch run to his side. CB Jerry Jacobs submarined WR Denzel Mims immediately after a quick out pass. Linebacker Derrick Barnes flew through the line to blow up rookie RB Jahmyr Gibbs for a big TFL that earned Barnes a flying chest bump with LB coach Kelvin Sheppard. Rookie LB Jack Campbell had a too-easy sack on backup QB Nate Sudfeld, which was closely followed by DE Josh Paschal devouring UDFA RB Mohamed Ibrahim in the backfield.
Even on some plays where the offense did find some success, the defense still made a play. Undrafted rookie CB Steven Gilmore stripped the ball from Ibrahim after the running back made a nice catch in space. Gilmore later intercepted a pass, too. Wideout Denzel Mims also had a ball stripped after a catch too.
Pass protect vs. pass rush
Perhaps one of the reasons the defensive domination in the team drills stood out so much is because it directly contrasts with the pass rush “pit” drill that immediately preceded it.
In short, the offensive line completely annihilated the defensive front in the one-on-one pass protection drills. Other than a very select few wins here and there, the offensive protection smothered anything and everything the pass rushers threw at them.
The starting left side of the OL, tackle Taylor Decker and guard Jonah Jackson, almost looked bored in parrying away challengers. Decker has not lost a rep in this drill in two days, including one against Aidan Hutchinson today. Jackson stonewalled Christian Covington on one rep, then actually pushed Levi Onwuzurike back beyond where he started on the next rep when the third-year DL tried to bull-rush him.
It wasn’t just the starting OL that kicked butt. Reserve guard Kayode Awosika was outstanding on all but one rep, as were tackle Obinna Eze and center Ross Pierschbacher. Eze did a great job keeping DE Josh Paschal from beating him to the inside on a pull/rip move that Paschal won with on Friday. Fifth-round rookie Colby Sorsdal showed good anchor strength in the drills.
Of the defenders, Paschal did have one clean win on reserve tackle Matt Nelson. Alim McNeill bested Awosika (his one loss) with an up-and-under move that showed off McNeill’s newfound svelte quickness. Third-round rookie Brodric Martin bulled through reserve guard Logan Stenberg, and big UDFA Cory Durden got a win around Darrin Paulo’s outside shoulder on a nice swim move.
Gardner-Johnson back, Sewell sits
On the participation front, defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson took some reps with the first-team defense. It was a welcome return to action for the team’s starting slot defender after he had been sidelined with a leg injury suffered in Monday’s session.
Starting RT Penei Sewell sat out for undisclosed reasons. He was in the offensive huddles but Sewell was in street clothes.
Wideouts Marvin Jones and Jameson Williams once again only worked with trainers off to the side. Rookie WR Antoine Green missed the practice after suffering ill-effects of the heat during Friday’s steamy session.
Plays of the day
My personal winner was the aforementioned Derrick Barnes TFL in team drills, but there were some other worthy nominees for play of the day.
Wideout Josh Reynolds made a great sliding catch in 1-on-1s with CB Jerry Jacobs all over him in tight coverage. Jared Goff put the throw where only Reynolds could catch it and he did just that.
Newcomer Trey Quinn hauled in an impressive over-the-shoulder catch on an Adrian Martinez throw that hung in the air a good long while. The body control and concentration from Quinn, wearing No. 18, was noteworthy.
Safety Tracy Walker imitated a water polo goalie to break up a Goff pass on a delayed blitz from the slot. Stefano Tempesti would have been proud of Walker’s full extension.
Quick hits
–The Lions continue to use first-round rookie RB Jahmyr Gibbs to dictate matchups. On one rep, he played the X receiver role and drew LB Malcolm Rodriguez in coverage when slot WR Amon-Ra St. Brown motioned across and pulled safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson with him. Two plays later, Gibbs motioned into the slot and bumped St. Brown outside, forcing a late shift by the coverage that put St. Brown on safety Tracy Walker.
–Gibbs did have the only dropped pass of the early throwing session, letting a short ball from Adrian Martinez get into his shoulder pads.
–EDGE Julian Okwara had a second straight practice session where it’s hard to see any reason why he’s still on the team. Undrafted rookie Zach Morton looks better on the third team than Okwara, who consistently shows no plan as a pass rusher and late recognition in team drills on defense.
–John Parker Romo had a slight edge on Riley Patterson in the kicking battle today. Romo was perfect in kicks from 33 to 50 yards, while Patterson missed his first attempt at 33. Romo’s final kick would have been good from at least 60 yards. The two informally dueled on the second practice field during team drills and Patterson twice missed kicks in the 40-yard range, with all his misses coming wide right. Romo had one very wide left miss from the 45-yard range (couldn’t see the exact line) but was perfect otherwise.
–Gardner-Johnson gave one of the fieriest post-practice pressers I’ve ever been around. It’s a different tone and not an unwelcome one. More on that in a separate story later…
–Lots of national media were in Allen Park, including Peter King of NBC Sports. Charles Davis from the NFL Network and former Cowboy coach Jason Garrett, now with NBC, were also in attendance. Garrett and head coach Dan Campbell were teammates in Dallas in their playing days.
