It was a race to the quarterback and Derrick Moore won.
And with Aidan Hutchinson playing the other defensive end spot, that’s not an easy thing to do.
Moore, the Detroit Lions’ second-round pick, had his most productive practice of training camp Wednesday, Aug. 19. He beat rookie first-round pick Blake Miller for a sack in one team period, when Hutchinson got pressure against Penei Sewell on the other side, had another rush inside against right guard Tate Ratledge and was generally disruptive playing off the edge in one of the Lions’ third-down rush packages.
“You got Hutch on the opposite side so you got to get there before he get there,” Moore said. “Sometimes that be my mindset when I’m out there with Hutch or anybody else, just get back there before they
can because we got a deep D-line room that can get to the ball.”
Moore had a slow start to the summer when he suffered a mild groin strain in practice Aug. 2.
He missed nearly two weeks of practice and the Lions’ preseason opener against the Cincinnati Bengals, but if Wednesday’s practice is any indication it won’t prevent him from having a role on defense when the Lions open the regular season Sept. 13 against the New Orleans Saints.
Moore probably will open the season as the Lions’ No. 4 defensive end, with Hutchinson and Tyler Lacy as the base-down starters and D.J. Wonnum the first edge off the bench.
He’s an imposing figure who’s athletic enough to play on special teams – he took reps with the second-team punt cover unit Wednesday – and the Lions even dropped him into coverage on one play Wednesday against electric running back Jahmyr Gibbs.
Jared Goff had trouble navigating Moore’s size in the open field and threw incomplete to Gibbs, though Moore wasn’t happy with his pass drop on the play.
“That was my first time going against Gibbs like that open field,” he said. “Next time I know to get out there a little sooner, so I’ll be ready for it next time.”
Despite missing time early in camp, Moore said he’s happy with where he’s at in his development and looking forward to making his preseason debut this week against the Washington Commanders.
As Moore talked to reporters, rookie defensive tackle Skyler Gill-Howard walked to the locker room about 20 feet away and noticed the crowd.
“Tell them, D-Mo,” Gill-Howard yelled. “He had like 20 sacks today, my goodness. … He’s not faster than me, though.”
In a race to the quarterback, Moore might disagree.
Here are more observations from Wednesday’s practice:
Defense is cooking
The defense had another good day in team drills, keeping the offense out of the end zone on several end-of-game and end-of-half situations.
Moore beat Ratledge for a sack to end the first set of situational downs, but Dan Campbell re-spotted the ball in a first-and-10 from the 27. Gibbs broke a 29-yard run off Miller’s back side on the first play and Goff picked up another first down with a pass to Isaac TeSlaa two plays later to give the offense first-and-10 at the 20.
Alim McNeill drew a holding penalty on the next snap – the flag appeared to be on Ratledge – and Derrick Barnes had good coverage on a third-and-11 play to Gibbs to leave the offense in a field goal situation.
Luke Altmyer took every second-team rep again in team drills ahead of Josh Dobbs, but the offense failed to pick up a first down in a similar situation – first-and-10 from the 32, 3:31 on the clock and the scored tied at 10 in the second quarter – on thee plays. Ennis Rakestraw Jr. sacked Altmyer on a cornerback blitz on second down and Altmyer scrambled in the face of pressure on third-and-19.
Jared Goff and Amon-Ra St. Brown finding their connection
In the second situational period, the first-team offense started first-and-10 from the 49-yard line, down 21-17, with 59 seconds on the clock and no timeouts. Amon-Ra St. Brown had a 12-yard catch on second-and-10 to pick up one first down and another 23-yard gain on fourth-and-long after Moore’s second sack.
With no timeouts, Goff had to spike the ball with 5 seconds left to give the offense one play from the 18-yard line. Alim McNeill beat Juice Scruggs for a sack, though Campbell let the play continue and Goff threw complete to St. Brown short of the end zone.
Altmyer completed a couple short passes inbounds to start his second situational period, but Erick Hunter got his fingers on a pass to Jackson Meeks and Eric O’Neill looped inside past center Seth McLaughlin on the next play for a sack to stall the drive.
O’Neill’s had a nice week – he had a pick six in the Lions’ scrimmage Monday, Aug. 17 – and looks like surefire practice squad candidate, along with fellow undrafted rookie edge rusher Anthony Lucas.
In the final situational period, a first-and-10 from the 48 with the first-team offense down 31-24, 3:15 on the clock and three timeouts, Goff methodically drove the offense downfield to the brink of the end zone.
Jameson Williams caught a fourth-and-10 pass for a first down, when Ratledge made a big block on Hutchinson to keep Goff clean, Gibbs ran for another on a third-and-1 and TeSlaa followed with a nice route on Rock Ya-Sun a 23-yard gain that gave the offense first-and-goal at the 4.
Lacy brushed off a block from Brock Wright to throw Sione Vaki for a 2-yard loss, and after an incomplete pass to TeSlaa, Goff threw a quick pass to Gibbs on Malcolm Rodriguez that Campbell ruled a touchdown but nearly everyone watching thought was down at the 1.
With the scoreboard showing 31-30 and 5 seconds left, the offense stayed on the field for a 2-point attempt but Hutchinson came blitzing through the left side of the line for a would-be sack to end the downs.
Quick hitters
- On his final drive of team drills, Altmyer appeared to draw Campbell’s ire for taking too long to spike a ball with the second-team offense trying to preserve clock. I’m not entirely sure why Altmyer has taken most of the second-team reps ahead of Dobbs, but it’s plays like that why the Lions prefer to keep veterans as their backup quarterbacks.
- Gibbs beat Keith Abney on a quick out for a third-down pickup on the Lions’ first team period of the day. It was notable because Gibbs lined up wide like a receiver while Vaki stayed in the backfield and had a nice blitz pickup on the play. I doubt the Lions will use Gibbs too much as a receiver this fall, but that’s in the playbook if needed.
- Scruggs took most of the first-team reps at center, though McLaughlin replaced him at some point in the final situational period. The Lions continue to rotate cornerbacks D.J. Reed, Rakestraw and Ya-Sin pretty heavily with the first-team defense. Rakestraw, coming off his best practice of summer, had a pass breakup on the second snap of team drills on a throw to Williams. On special teams, new linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga worked on the line with the first-team punt cover unit along with Barnes, Rodriguez and Trevor Nowaske. Khalil Dorsey and Christian Izien continue to take first-team gunner reps, with Abney and receiver Tay Martin working second in the gunner rotation.
- In one-on-one pass rush dills, Ahmed Hassanein got some knockback against Penei Sewell on the final rush of the period. It wasn’t enough for a sack necessarily, but it was still jarring to see the young pass rusher do that against one of the best tackles in football. Sewell did give way to Larry Borom for one team period, though that appeared to be a rest period as he took part in the rest of practice without issue.
- Hassanein also had a nice rep against Devin Cochran, Hutchinson drove Blake Miller back like he was pushing a box and Lucas had a nice rush on Miles Frazier at left tackle.
Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Lions observations: Derrick Moore's big day adds optimism to pass rush
