O-line vs. D-line: I had the privilege of watching O-line vs. D-line drills with Lions all-time great offensive tackle Lomas Brown at practice Monday. It was really interesting listening to Brown on all the little intricacies of O-line play. I had Brown decide the winner of every rep, offense or defense, and the final tally came out to 18 wins for the defense and 17 for the offense. Here are some highlights:
- The starting offensive line of Penei Sewell, Tate Ratledge, Graham Glasgow, Christian Mahogany and Taylor Decker began the period with five straight wins for the offense.
- Sewell and Aidan Hutchinson had three reps together and Brown gave two wins to Hutchinson, who has looked dominant all camp.
- Rookie Keith Cooper Jr. has also impressed and he won all three of his reps including two against Mahogany. One was a terrific tug and pull move to get Mahogany off-balance to get by him.
Nice day for offense: Head coach Dan Campbell ran a mini scrimmage for the last 45 or so minutes of practice and the offense ended up winning 12-4 with a touchdown and a couple field goals vs. two stops, awarding two points each for the defense.
Quarterback Jared Goff and the first-team offense had a nice eight-play drive to open the period to get kicker Jake Bates into field goal range. We saw David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs in the backfield together a couple times in that series which was fun to watch. Offensive coordinator John Morton can get pretty creative with that personnel group. Wide receiver Jameson Williams had a nice touchdown catch on the third series for the starting offense as he got behind safety Kerby Joseph, and Goff put a perfect ball right on him in the end zone.
Kick return opportunity: One of the four players returning kickoffs Monday in team periods was veteran Kalif Raymond, who has consistently been one of the best punt returners in the league the last few years. Raymond has only returned three kickoffs in four years in Detroit. That's always perplexed me a little bit because of his speed and the fact that he's so dynamic in the open field. It was good to see him back there Monday.
Bates' day: Detroit's second-year kicker missed a couple field goals and an extra point wide left during the scrimmage. Bates was perfect in the preseason game on Friday making both his extra points and a 56-yard field goal. The offense could have really extended their lead over the defense in the scrimmage had Bates added seven more points to the total.
Situational football: Campbell likes to put his players in tough situations throughout practice and one Monday had the offense trailing 24-21 with 58 seconds on the clock with the ball at midfield with two timeouts. An incompletion to Gibbs and a short pass to wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown on second down set up a 3rd & 6 at the 44. Goff had an open tight end Sam LaPorta down the left sideline on third down but overshot him. The offense went for it on fourth down and an incompletion on a throw to Raymond gave the defense the win.
Situation No. 2: Kyle Allen took all the second-team reps Monday fresh off his terrific performance against the Falcons in the second preseason game last Friday. He was given a situation where the offense was down 24-21 with 28 seconds left at their own 30-yard line with three timeouts. Allen was really good completing passes to wide receiver Jackson Meeks (2) and tight end Shane Zylstra using the sideline to stop the clock and mixing in timeouts along the way. He got Bates into field goal range but it ended up being one of his misses to the left. Still, good job by Allen and the second-team offense navigating a tough situation.
Catch of the day: The skill position players on offense and members of the back seven on defense had a two-on-two pass coverage drill early in practice. Zylstra made a great catch with linebacker Alex Anzalone running step for step with him along the left sideline. Zylstra also made a few nice catches in team periods and is making a good case to be the No. 3 tight end on the roster.
Injury update: Rookie edge rusher Ahmed Hassanein left practice early with a lower left leg injury.
