This is my 13th training camp covering the Detroit Lions for the Free Press and I can’t remember a single one where the background noise wasn’t filled with pleas of, “Stay off the ground,” by coaches.
There’s some of that this year, too, certainly. Pile ups lead to more player injuries, and that’s the last thing coaches want, especially in early August.
But Dan Campbell has embraced physicality in the Lions’ first two padded practices of the summer and Tuesday’s two-hour session was as spirited as I can remember any being last summer in Campbell’s first season as coach.
I tried to count the bodies on the ground during one team period late in practice and I swear there were more players on the ground in what seemed not to be a live-tackling period than there were players still on their feet.
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“It’s good. It’s definitely needed,” Lions center Frank Ragnow said. “You really need to do that to get ready and get ready to roll for the season. Obviously, it can wear on you. It’s just kind of human nature. It can definitely wear on you as camp can go on, but it’s definitely needed.”
Campbell knows well enough to pull back on the hitting at some point in training camp, and there’s a risk-reward to live tackling in August, but the football coach in him had to love some of the collisions he saw Tuesday.
Malcolm Rodriguez, whose physical play has stood out the past two days, had two huge hits Tuesday, pummeling lead blocker Nolan Givan on one running play early in practice (the run actually went for a big gain as there was no one behind Rodriguez to clean up the play) and blasting Godwin Igwebuike after Austin Bryant narrowly missed a sack late in the session.
Rodriguez wasn’t the only one channeling his inner hammer, either. The Lions have gotten physical play from Ragnow and his cohorts on the offensive line the past two days, and Jarrad Davis and Derrick Barnes are among the defenders who seem to be salivating at every chance to hit.
“That’s one thing that we’re emphasizing this year for our defense is tackle,” Barnes said. “We got to be able to tackle. The teams who can tackle are the teams that win, so when Coach Campbell, when we have live periods and Coach Campbell tells us it’s going to be live, that’s time to lock in and work on your technique and tackle because it is very important.”
The Lions are in the midst of six straight days of practice, so I imagine they take the pads off soon. But their preseason opener against the Atlanta Falcons is just over a week away and then it’s off to Indianapolis for what surely will be a couple physical joint practices with the Colts.
Observations from Lions’ Tuesday practice:
• Campbell said he felt like the energy was “a little low” Monday on Day 1 of pads, then he watched the tape and “it was a lot better than I kind of felt.”
Part of the reason could be the guardian caps linemen, linebackers and tight ends are wearing at practice this summer, and how the soft-shell helmet covers muffle some of the noise that generally comes with hitting. It’s a phenomenon both Campbell and Taylor Decker have noted in recent days.
“It’s kind of strange because you don’t hear any pops,” Decker said. “You’re so used to when the pads are on, the pops. And there’s like none of that. And it’s like, ‘I’m coming off the ball, but am I soft now or something?’ But that being said, I do notice a difference as far as head collisions. I know they said there’s research to support it. I don’t always believe that stuff, but I was out there with that on, hitting people and I was like, ‘Wow, I actually notice a difference.'”
Said Campbell, “We had the combination drills with the tackles over there and the tight ends, doing some stuff, and that was one of the first thoughts I had was, ‘Man, I don’t hear anything. ‘Cause you’re just so in tune with hearing the helmets hit. And so yeah, it does take away a little bit of that sound, but that’s just perception cause they’re still coming off it’s just taking the impact of some of that, so I guess they’re doing their job if you’re not hearing as much of a thud with the helmets.”
• Quintez Cephus left Tuesday’s practice with what appears to be a left leg injury. He had to be helped off the field by trainers after getting tangled up with Jeff Okudah on a sideline route.
Alim McNeill gave Lions fans a scare Tuesday when he briefly limped out of a drill. McNeill spent a few minutes on the ground as trainers appeared to work on or stretch his right leg, then jogged off whatever injury he was dealing with to return to practice.
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Asked what happened on his way off the field, McNeill said, “I’m all good. Just got rolled up on a little bit.”
• A couple standouts in the one-on-one pass protection drills the Lions did Tuesday with running backs, tight ends and linebackers: Craig Reynolds had a nice rep against Anthony Pittman, standing up the linebacker much to running backs coach Duce Staley’s delight; Kerby Joseph was too quick for tight end Brock Wright; Jarrad Davis and Chris Board both got the better of Igwebuike; and new running back Justin Jackson had a good rep against Shaun Dion Hamilton.
Reynolds also had a nice blitz pickup in team drills to give David Blough time to throw, though Joseph made a diving pass breakup on a throw to Givan along the sideline.
• I was watching the pass-pro drills (as was Campbell), so I didn’t see much of the receiver/defensive back one-on-ones going on, on the opposite field, but I did see Chase Lucas come up with an interception a few minutes before Cephus’ injury.
In the running back-linebacker pass drills, Swift had his way with Board on an out-and-up route, and Wright ran a really nice option route to get open against DeShon Elliott.
• For as physical as Tuesday’s practice was, the Lions have not had any fights. Amon-Ra St. Brown, who put the over-under at two training camp fights the other day, did take a swing at Will Harris during an early-practice run period after the two got tangled up, then backed away from a skirmish as Harris took a step or two in his direction.
Savion Smith tossed Kalil Pimpleton to the ground in what might have been an extra-curricular later in practice, but Pimpleton seemed to enjoy getting under the cornerback’s skin and responded only by laying on the ground and clapping.
• In the field goal battle, Riley Patterson was 4 for 4 with a long of 53 yards, while Austin Seibert made his first three kicks but clipped the goal post with his 53-yard miss.
• The Lions closed practice with another two-minute drill Thursday, starting first-and-10 from their own 48-yard line with 52 seconds left in the would-be first half. Jared Goff moved the offense 25 yards in the first three plays and had 41 seconds on the clock, but Aidan Hutchinson and Julian Okwara got pressure for a would-be sack on the next snap and the offense was called for delay of game two plays later.
Seibert made a 48-yard field goal to end the possession after Hutchinson forced a Goff throw-away on third-and-13 from 30, but overall I’d say it was a disappointing showing for the offense, the third time in as many two-minute drills that’s been the case in camp.
• Two crowd notes to end it: Lions owner Sheila Hamp walked over to talk to a few fans beckoning in her direction early in practice; I can’t recall many times ownership has stopped to engage with fans in all those previous camps I’ve attended.
And one teenage fan at Tuesday’s practice held up a sign that read, “We drove 9 hours just to watch Tim Boyle.” Turns out the fan, Brianna Bangroll, from northeast Iowa, befriended Boyle as a 13-year-old in 2019, when she messaged the then-Green Bay Packers quarterback to see if he wanted to ride her bike at Packers training camp (a rite of passage in Green Bay). Boyle took her up on the offer and has stayed in contact ever since.
Bangroll said her and her family passed on their usual trip to Packers training camp to visit Detroit for a day and see Boyle, who stopped to say hi while he was signing autographs after practice.
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.