The Detroit Lions returned to practice after their Thursday night preseason opener against the Cincinnati Bengals. But on Saturday, it was a short, unpadded practice. Still, the intensity was up pretty high, there were plenty of competitive drills, and an interesting focus on late-game scenarios.
We’re going to break down each segment of practice in our Detroit Lions Day 12 training camp observations. It kicks off with some one-on-one drills.
Offensive line vs. Defensive line
OL/DL observations were written by Erik Schlitt.
In one-on-ones,
it appeared coaches wanted to reward a few of the players who performed well in last Thursday’s game. That meant Ahmad Hassanein got the first rep of the drill and got to try his hand at beating Penei Sewell. Hassanein attacked the outside shoulder, but the All-Pro handled him with ease, getting a clear win. Sewell would also clearly win his second rep in the drill, locking up Derrick Moore. Meanwhile, Hassanein rebounded with his next rep, kicking inside and executing a swim move over guard Mason Miller.
With Sewell taking on others, that meant Aidan Hutchinson was forced to shift his dance partner, and he kicked over to the other side of the line and faced off against Blake Miller. The rookie handled the All-Pro well on a speed arc move, but when they rematched, Hutchinson sold the speed and swam back inside for the easy win.
Juice Scruggs returned to practice and stepped into a starting center role and split his reps against Tyleik Williams, getting ahead of Williams’ power in the first rep, but succumbed to a power bull rush on the second.
Other players who won both reps convincingly included Tate Ratledge, who beat Alim McNeill and Levi Onwuzurike; Christian Mahogany, who also beat McNeill and Onwuzurike; and Ben Stille, who convincingly beat Seth McLaughlin and Michael Niese.
DBs get physical against WRs
Isaac TeSlaa has been dealing with feisty, physical cornerbacks all of camp, but on Saturday, everyone was getting a dose of handsy, rough defensive backs.
Let’s start with Ennis Rakestraw, who was looking to rebound from a tough preseason opener. On his first rep, he punched the ball out late agianst Jameson Williams, something he’s done a few times this training camp. Then, on a rep against TeSlaa, he jammed the second-year receiver so hard that he ended up tossing him to the ground before he could develop a route. But when the two re-repped a play later, TeSlaa broke free on a crossing route for a big gain.
Nick Whiteside also tested the limits of defensive contact—and, in my opinion, crossed the line several times. He probably would’ve been called for pass interference on two reps he “won” (vs. TeSlaa and Jameson Williams). But to his credit, Williams was jammed so hard he slipped on one rep, and on the rematch Whiteside (right on the edge of defensive holding) got his hands on the ball for a near interception.
It was another strong series for Rock Ya-Sin, who got a pass breakup on Williams, ripped the ball out late from TeSlaa, and was right on top of Cedrick Wilson Jr. when he caught a short pass.
Other quick standouts:
- Decent couple reps from WR Tay Martin, who nicely adjusted to a deep shot, hauling in a huge gain opposite Roger McCreary. And it’s worth noting it was Jared Goff throwing to him.
- Khalil Dorsey clocked four wins during this session. He had tight coverage on Malik Cunningham, broke up a sideline shot to Tarik Black, then elevated to knock away another pass to Black, before getting the better Black one more time on a comeback route.
Seven-on-seven standouts
This session included a lot of checkdowns, offering little insight into play. However, there were a few interesting notes on personnel. For one, while there were a lot of substitutions and uncommon players in unfamiliar spots (ie: Sam LaPorta with the third-team), one thing that was relatively consistent during these drills was Thomas Harper getting some time in both first-team safety spots, replacing both Avonte Maddox and Chuck Clark, at times. Christian Izien, Keith Abney, and Roger McCreary all rotated in the nickel.
The most notable play of this section was a great throw from Luke Altmyer (the No. 2 quarterback on Saturday), who dropped a nice ball to Dominic Lovett on a post for a significant gain. Lovett made a nice play on the ball by leaping and snagging the ball with his fingertips.
Situational drills
Detroit closed the team period of practice with a series of six, quick situational drills. The offense cleanly won three, the defense won one, and two were a little more abiguous. Here’s what happened.
Situation #1:
- Score: 21-23
- 0:06 left
- Starting on opponent 44-yard line
- 1 timeout left
The goal here was simply to get a few yards to improve the field goal attempt. Detroit ran the ball right up the middle—with notably Juice Scruggs as the starting center—and Jahmyr Gibbs picked up about 4 yards. Detroit called a timeout with a couple seconds left, and did not attempt the field goal, leaving the “winner” of this drill ambiguous.
Situation #2: (second teams)
- Score: 21-23
- 0:14 left
- Starting on own 48-yard line
- 0 timetous
The purpose here appeared to be using the entire field late in the game and hurrying to the line to spike the ball if stopped in bounds. The second-team never got a chance because a shot over the middle to Greg Dortch was overthrown by Altmyer and fell incomplete. That was the end of the attempt, even though there was still time on the clock.
Situation #3: (first teamers the rest of the way)
- Score: 21-23
- 0:07 left
- Starting on own 41-yard line
- 1 timeout left
Jared Goff hit Jameson Williams up the middle for a big 28-yard gain, and they were able to call a timeout with one second left. Like the rest of the drills, no field goal was attempted, but this seemed like a clear “win” for the offense.
Situation #4:
- Score: 21-23
- 0:08 left
- Starting on own 42-yard line
I can’t get into the specifics of this play, but let’s just say it was a very unorthodox screen pass that picked up 18 yards and stopped the clock for another offensive win. (Detroit, again, did not attempt what would’ve been a 58-yard field goal).
Situation #5:
- Score: 20-21
- 1:12 left
- Starting on opponent 9-yard line
- Defense has two timeouts left
This was an interesting situation. Essentially, the offense could run about 50 of the 72 seconds off the clock with three straight runs, but the defense had incentive just to let the offense score to get the ball back with ample time left. So, despite Gibbs initially getting held up, Tyleik Williams—then several other defenders—hilariously lifted Gibbs off the ground and carried him into the end zone.
Situation #6:
- Score: 20-24
- 0:05 left
- Fourth-and-3 on the opponents’ 9-yard line
- 1 timeout
Goff was given a decision: check down quickly to get a first down and take one shot at the end zone, or just take the shot on fourth down.
Ultimately, he hit Williams on an out route for the first down, and he stepped out of bounds with 1 second left. On the subsequent play, Goff found Amon-Ra St. Brown for the 3-yard touchdown as time expired, although Keith Abney pleaded his case about an offensive pass interfernce call.
