The first joint practice between the Detroit Lions and Jacksonville Jaguars kicked off on a sun-soaked Wednesday morning in Allen Park. The stands were nearly full from the onset of the drills, with fans eager to watch the two cats claw at one another.
The teams did not disappoint. Both teams had great wins and humbling losses throughout the day. It was reflective of two teams that are emerging contenders and know it.
Here’s some of what made the notebook from Wednesday’s practice between the Lions and Jaguars.
Life without ARSB and Jamo
It was not by design, but we got a longer look at the Lions’ first-team offense without both Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams on the field. Williams left for the locker room after pulling up and grasping at his right hamstring early on, while St. Brown was on the sidelines with a taped-up ankle.
The primary beneficiary was Kalif Raymond, who made the most plays by any Detroit receiver. Raymond’s speed on crossing routes and in-breaking routes from the outside gave the Jaguars defense fits. Beyond No. 11, there wasn’t much positive from the offense minus the top passing game weapons.
The Jaguars defense deserves some credit here. Their LBs are fast, noticeably faster and more alert in coverage than the New York Giants were a week ago. Jacksonville took away the most obvious route pretty effectively, and Jared Goff wasn’t at his best in this one. Other than Raymond’s heroics, a nice swing pass to David Montgomery and a sizzling hook pattern to Sam LaPorta, the Jaguars top defense shut down the rest of the Lions first-team offense in team drills.
C.J. Gardner-Johnson vs. Calvin Ridley was must-watch
The matchup between Lions DB C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Jaguars wideout Calvin Ridley was a fun one. The two go way back as rivals, to at least their college days in the SEC and also in the NFC South with their old teams.
Both players had their wins. Gardner-Johnson had an early breakup on a pass that Trevor Lawrence held a count too long. Ridley got his revenge on a gorgeous deep throw that saw No. 2 rotate deep too late in split-safety help on a miscommunication with CB Jerry Jacobs, who stuck short to cover the RB flaring into the flat.
After practice, Gardner-Johnson was showing some respect to Ridley in his press conference when Ridley emerged to the side. They showed one another the “game respects game” love they each deserved after such an intense practice. Ridley did playfully chastise his old rival for talking too much.
Jack Campbell's good day
First-round rookie LB Jack Campbell was one of Detroit’s best players on Wednesday. Splitting reps between the first-team and second-team defense, Campbell was consistently in the thick of the action.
Three reps stood out:
–a backside run contain where No. 46 correctly read his keys and sprinted through the line to assist in the tackle,
–in trail coverage on a shallow crossing route, Campbell sprinted into the throwing lane and forced QB Nathan Rourke to double-clutch instead of throwing a would-be INT. Rourke had to throw the ball away to the other side.
–great form tackle on a stretch run where he didn’t bite on the stutter step and flattened RB Travis Etienne near the sideline.
Quick hits
–Many Lions who didn’t practice on Monday were back in action, including Aidan Hutchinson, Craig Reynolds and Cam Sutton. Still notably missing: WR Denzel Mims, who has not practiced in two weeks, and undrafted rookie RB Mohamed Ibrahim.
–Didn’t get to see much in the way of line play for either team; the one-on-one drills took place over 100 yards away from where media access is allowed. Hopefully that changes for Thursday…
–Nate Sudfeld-to-Dylan Drummond produced several big plays for the Lions second-team offense. They hit on at least two TDs in a red zone 7-on-7 drill and also had a nice connection in team drills. Drummond continues his torrid camp. The UDFA from Eastern Michigan keeps outperforming veterans above him on the depth chart.
–This was the worst Jared Goff performance of the nine practices I’ve been to in camp. As noted earlier, the Jaguars defense deserves some credit for that, but Goff missed a handful of throws he normally makes. He overshot a wide open TE Daniel Helm on a deep seam shot that was an easy TD most days. Goff threw one INT to LB Devin Lloyd and had another one dropped.
–Halapoulivaati Vaitai and Graham Glasgow rotated as the first-team RG throughout the day. Neither had much success in run blocking a very active Jaguars front.
–TE James Mitchell had one rough series. He was guilty of a false start and then dropped a pass on the subsequent play.
–Former Lions WR/RS Jamal Agnew made a sweet red zone catch over Lions LB Malcolm Rodriguez, who just doesn’t have speed in coverage. After practice, Agnew made sure to visit with many Lions staffers and security folks. Good person.
–The teams ran a punt/return drill where at least 50 percent of the plays earned penalty flags. Both teams were equally guilty of sloppiness.
