Situational football: There was a good situational 11-on-11 period at the end of Thursday's practice. Offense was trailing 31-27 with the ball at the defense's 44-yard line with 40 seconds on the clock and one timeout. A false start tacked five yards on before the first snap and put the offense at 1st & 15 to start at the 49-yard line. Quarterback Jared Goff found wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown for a 19-yard connection along the left sideline with St. Brown able to get out of bounds at the 30-yard line and stop the clock.

Goff then hit running back Jahmyr Gibbs in the flat, but linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez made a nice play to get a hand on Gibbs for a three-yard gain to the 27-yard line. Goff rushed the offense to the line and threw an incompletion on the next play to stop the clock at 13 seconds.

Goff hit St. Brown on a crosser for 17 more yards down to the 10-yard line with seven seconds left and used their timeout. The next play was a near touchdown in the back of the end zone on a reaching toe-tap catch by wide receiver Jameson Williams that was called incomplete as his first foot down looked to just clip line. A holding penalty on the defense gave the offense the ball at the five-yard line with one second left. An interference penalty on cornerback D.J. Reed on the next play gave Goff and the offense one more untimed down at the one-yard line. Goff saw an opening and pulled an unpadded quarterback sneak. He chucked the ball onto the other field and the offense celebrated.

Branch update: Pro Bowl safety Brian Branch was an observer at Thursday's practice as he continues to rehab the Achilles injury suffered last December. Lions head coach Dan Campbell was asked about Branch's timeline for return before Thursday's practice. Campbell said Branch's rehab is going well and there have been no setbacks. He also said Branch could be a candidate to start the season on the PUP list but they won't know for sure until we get into training camp and closer to the start of the season. The Lions are going to be cautious with Branch, per Campbell, and make sure he's 100 percent healthy before letting him return.

Punt returns: The Lions worked a lot of kickoff and kickoff return scenarios during last week's OTA practices and this week there was more focus on the punting aspect of special teams. The four players back returning punts Thursday were wide receiver Greg Dortch, running back Isiah Pacheco, wide receiver Tom Kennedy and St. Brown. Pacheco returned kickoffs for the Chiefs in 2022, averaging 20.6 yards per return. He's never returned punts in college or the NFL.

Planks on the line: The offense and defense had a friendly punt catching competition to end practice with the losers having to do a one-minute plank. After catches by Dortch and Reed, the defense won the drill when wide receiver Dominic Lovett failed to secure a catch. The defensive players seemed to take a lot of pleasure watching the offense - along with HC Dan Campbell - do their planks.

Coach Skip: Skipper has transitioned from the playing field to the coaching staff and Campbell said Thursday he's doing a really nice job so far with the transition.

"Love Skip, he's a natural, he just stepped into it," Campbell said. "But he fits us like a glove you know, just his temperament and the way he goes about his business, he's a professional, he was that way as a player, smart, wants to know all of it, the big picture. He's been trained in it, so he knows exactly the way it's supposed to look so Skip is doing a really good job."

OL groupings: As we head into next week's minicamp, the first-team offensive line consists of Penei Sewell (LT), Christian Mahogany (LG), Cade Mays (C), Tate Ratledge (RG) and Larry Borom/Blake Miller rotating at right tackle and swing tackle.

The second unit on Thursday consisted of Giovanni Manu (LT), Miles Frazier (LG), Juice Scroggins (C), Mason Miller (RG) and Devin Cochran (RT).

Safety depth: With both Branch and Kerby Joseph not taking part in OTAs, it's given veterans Chuck Clark and Christian Izien a lot of run with the first unit. Clark in particular is emerging as a leader in the back end of the defense. He's started 80 games over his NFL career. He's picked up Kelvin Sheppard's scheme really well so far. The next part of his evaluation will come when the pads come on in camp.

QB opportunity: No Teddy Bridgewater at practice Thursday meant undrafted rookie Luke Altmyer got a lot of run with the second-team offense. Can he do enough in training camp to push Bridgewater for the backup role? Altmyer certainly doesn't lack confidence and it will be interesting to see him develop throughout camp.