Allen Park — Here are some notes and observations from Monday’s training camp practice.
► There was a heavy emphasis on situational work during the session, with the defense getting the better of Detroit’s offense more often than not.
The first scenario saw the offense start with the ball at midfield, 16 seconds on the clock, no timeouts, needing to get in field-goal range. The first-team offense’s attempt ended quickly when edge rusher Charles Harris beat the block of left tackle Taylor Decker for a sack.
The second-team, lead by David Blough, got a completion to Tom Kennedy down to the 40-yard line, but the long field-goal attempt came up short.
The first-team offense fell short again in the next scenario, starting 18 yards out with 20 seconds remaining, needing a touchdown. Quarterback Jared Goff quickly got his group down to the 3-yard line with a pass across the middle to running back D’Andre Swift. After a spike and quick incompletion, the QB tried to hit DJ Chark in the back of the end zone, but the ball was tipped away by safety C.J. Moore.
Finally, starting at midfield with 45 seconds remaining, again needing a touchdown, Goff advanced the offense to the 32 with a couple of short throws before stalling out. Cornerback Amani Oruwariye broke up a pass intended for Chark on first down and Goff misfired on throws to Amon-Ra St. Brown and Chark on third and fourth down, ending the series.
Blough, back leading the second unit in the same situation, picked up a first down on a third-down throw across the middle to Kennedy, only to see a deep shot to Kalif Raymond intercepted by rookie cornerback Chase Lucas, who did a nice job tracking the ball from a deep zone and finishing with the turnover.
► The Lions got some good news, but also some potentially bad news, on the injury front. On the plus side, wide receiver Quintez Cephus returned to practice after missing more than a week because of a hip/back injury.
Conversely, right guard Halapoulivaati Vaitai discretely exited in the middle of practice, He was replaced by second-year man Tommy Kraemer. Admittedly, none of the reporters on the sideline noticed the moment Vaitai exited, so it’s not necessarily injury-related, but it’s worth monitoring as the team heads to Indianapolis for joint practices with the Colts on Wednesday and Thursday.
Not practicing were defensive tackle Levi Onwuzurike, linebacker Julian Okwara, receiver Josh Johnson and defensive backs Ifeatu Melifonwu, Brady Breeze and Saivion Smith.
► The Lions spent the morning aggressively rotating a number of players into first-team reps on both sides of the ball. Among the players to see a bump up the depth chart to take reps with the top units were Shane Zylstra, Tom Kennedy, Devin Funchess, Isaiah Buggs, Mike Hughes and Anthony Pittman.
Linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez also saw playing time with the first-team defense. In fact, he took most of those reps in place of Derrick Barnes, as the coaching staff continues to test the rookie’s abilities.
Rodriguez flashed his instincts on one running play, beating a block and stuffing Swift at the line of scrimmage. At this point, Rodriguez winning a starting job is starting to feel more and more realistic.
► The arrow also continues to point up for Funchess, who is finding a groove a couple of weeks into his time with the Lions. The converted receiver is catching almost everything in his direction and had a slick touchdown route working against Will Harris during a red-zone segment.
► The catch of the day belonged to Trinity Benson. The speedy outside receiver hauled in an over-the-shoulder deep ball in the end zone, also beating the coverage of Harris. At the end of the play, Benson ran into a “Hard Knocks” cameraman, so here’s hoping that footage makes the cut for this week’s broadcast.
► Harris, who briefly exited the preseason game against Atlanta this week, had a couple of fingers taped up on his right hand, but didn’t appear to be limited in any way.
► It wasn’t the best day for the kickers, but Austin Seibert didn’t cede any ground to Riley Patterson in the competition. Both came up short on a 57-yarder into the wind, while Patterson also missed from 47 and 54 yards, with the latter coming off his foot like a squib.
jdrogers@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @Justin_Rogers