Lions News

[CGVT]

This offense runs through St. Brown. No doubt about it in my mind.
when he was hurt last year or not 100% the team struggled scoring.

Yep. He is the Lions' Cooper Kupp

[jaadam4]

While St Brown is out it'll give Goff and LaPorta more time to work on their chemistry. Don't rush him back

[jaadam4]

If we learned nothing else from a preseason game 1, it was that Jameson Williams is nowhere near ready....It just seems like one thing after another with him.

The jugs machine doesn't need a healthy hammy. Work on catching balls

[Trickalicious]

Asking for a friend; how does one order a jugs machine? Assuming they come in pairs?

[Cody_Russell]

No worries. My dude Kalif Raymond will carry us when it comes to a deep threat. St. Brown possibly being more versatile too as he ascends.

Lions resting starters vs Jags on Saturday. I was WRONG about that!
Could be the first preseason where Campbell doesn’t elect to play starters in the preseason. Have doubts that they will play at Carolina given the complaints from Lions players about that shitty field turf.

[froot loops]

When St. Brown is out they give Raymond those snaps and there isn't much a dropoff. The POD guys said that Raymond has been getting a lot of snaps outside, but when St. Brown went out, Raymond assumed the slot duties.

[Topweasel]

It hurts. Jamo needs to be available and develop. Consistently missing time is part of the reason why he has been shaky when on the field.

Now he’s missing another few weeks of practice and two live games of reps vs Jags and Panthers.

Dude in two seasons is turning out to be less available than Charles Rogers. It's not fair to lump his ACL injury there but it's looking like a pretty big wiff on a first ground pick. Not on him but Holmes.

Luckily he is more than talented enough to rebound. I just wonder how much more opportunity he will have before Athe Lions decide they need to find a different tall and speedy receiver.

[LightninBoy]

If we learned nothing else from a preseason game 1, it was that Jameson Williams is nowhere near ready....It just seems like one thing after another with him.

Dan emphatically stated that Jamo needed reps and a lot of them in preseason. And that is *exactly* what he *won't* be getting now. I think we are looking at the back half of the season before Jamo is integrated into the offense in any meaningful way, if at all.

[Nick Pappageorgio]

Sometimes you eat the bar and sometimes the bar eats you.

I think we all need to lower our expectations around jamo and just appreciate what we have from a team perspective. For the first time in as long as I can remember the team's success doesn't rest on a potential 1st rd savior.

Just win baby. Anything Jamo can do to help run up the score will be great...but if he doesn't pan out, the team (and the WR core) won't be broken.

With as many good picks as Holmes has delivered, he's bound to have a couple of misses. And maybe we can't call Jamo that yet, but he's certainly trending down...I can't think of a player in recent memory who spent his first 2 seasons hurt or suspended and came back to be a superior player.

[jaadam4]

Sometimes you eat the bar and sometimes the bar eats you.

I think we all need to lower our expectations around jamo and just appreciate what we have from a team perspective. For the first time in as long as I can remember the team's success doesn't rest on a potential 1st rd savior.

Just win baby. Anything Jamo can do to help run up the score will be great...but if he doesn't pan out, the team (and the WR core) won't be broken.

With as many good picks as Holmes has delivered, he's bound to have a couple of misses. And maybe we can't call Jamo that yet, but he's certainly trending down...I can't think of a player in recent memory who spent his first 2 seasons hurt or suspended and came back to be a superior player.

Pretty much agree with it all

[ghandi]

Dan emphatically stated that Jamo needed reps and a lot of them in preseason. And that is *exactly* what he *won't* be getting now. I think we are looking at the back half of the season before Jamo is integrated into the offense in any meaningful way, if at all.

It might be just like last season where he is more of a gimmick receiver than a staple in the offense....That may have been why the Lions like Gibbs so much because he can also play in the slot

[Cody_Russell]

Agree, Nick.
The organization appears to be heading in the right direction as a whole. Everything won’t go perfectly as planned.
This latest hamstring situation might have tipped the scales when it comes to my opinion of Jamo. At the same time, he has plenty of time to bounce back. Such as Onwuzurike the year prior. I assumed Onwuzurike was done and look at him now. Healthy and competing for DT4.

[chemiclord]

I can't think of a player in recent memory who spent his first 2 seasons hurt or suspended and came back to be a superior player.

I can. Dude recently won a Super Bowl with the Rams, in fact.

[Nick Pappageorgio]

And you also have to consider that maybe this injury happened because Jamo is acutely aware of all of the same things we are....and he's pressing too hard

[-Deborah-]

Observations: Campbell Sparks Tension, Gardner-Johnson Shines

Day 16 Detroit Lions training camp observations.

JOHN MAAKARON
2 HOURS AGO

The Detroit Lions competed at a high level over the course of two days against a football team was had clearly scouted one of the rising teams in the NFL.

"I was pleased with the way our guys showed up. I thought we competed. I thought it wasn't perfect, it never is," Dan Campbell said before practice. "They did some really good things up there. But, I thought we really showed up and we competed. Everything I was looking for from our guys, I saw yesterday."

Thursday provided another opportunity for the defense to go out and attempt to make plays, as Wednesday was one of the defenses most productive performances of training camp.

Participation

Wideout Trinity Benson, who was limited to individual drills Wednesday, returned to action on Thursday.

Frank Ragnow was spotted at practice, but he was limited during the second day of joint practices. He was not observed participating in individual or team periods.

Jameson Williams was spotted before practice standing next to Campbell, while St. Brown was not spotted.

Similar to Wednesday, Mohamed Ibrahim, Maurice Alexander and Denzel Mims were not spotted at practice.

On the defensive side, veteran Romeo Okwara was also not spotted during practice.

Observations

1.) The two teams squared off in a non-padded practice Thursday. All Lions focused heavily on the defensive side of the football, with occasional observations of what was occurring on the offensive field.


2.) Safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson grabbed an easy interception off Jacksonville quarterback Trevor Lawrence on a pass intended for Calvin Ridley during the first team period. It was almost a fair catch, as the young signal-caller overthrew his intended target. Later at practice, the veteran safety soared threw the air, Michael Jordan-esque, and broke up a Lawrence pass intended for tight end Evan Engram.

Safety Kerby Joseph had a solid pass breakup defending against Ridley early at practice.

3.) During 7-on-7 red zone drills, which drastically favors the offense, Zay Jones had multiple touchdowns for Jacksonville during the early period.

4.) Riley Patterson and Parker Romo both began with a 33-yard kick and moved back five yards each attempt, culminating in a 53-yard boot. Both kickers made all four attempts.

Romo had an extra try from 60 yards that he nailed to cap off a 5-for-5 performance.

Patterson was able to connect from nearly 48-yards during a situational period at the end of practice, while Romo missed to the right into the wind from distance to end practice in his situational setting.

5.) Jared Goff connected on a deep touchdown pass to Josh Reynolds. He also tossed scoring passes to Kalif Raymond and Sam LaPorta in red zone drills.

6.) Undrafted rookie wide receiver Chase Cota continued his strong camp with an outstanding one-handed catch Thursday that drew cheers from the crowd in attendance.

7.) As expected, tensions started to rise as the practice went along. Multiple skirmishes broke out involving the Lions' defense. Gardner-Johnson and Malcolm Rodriguez were at the center of them. Jerry Jacobs did not shy away from returning the trash talk and even escalated matters during a skirmish.

Rookie linebacker Jack Campbell made a play on running back JaMycal Hasty, but the Jaguars didn't like the team's reaction to it. Tensions boiled over and teams gathered all near the Jaguars sideline. Detroit's rookie clearly got under the skin of the Jaguars over the course of two practices.

"It was nothing, man, just football," Hasty told All Lions following practice.

8.) Pro Football Focus was at practice at the team's Allen Park facility. Naturally, players were quite curious how the scoring actually went. Some players wondered how they could be graded higher, earlier in their careers, when they were presently playing the best football of their career. Staffers stood by their grading, especially for the offensive line, but expressed the linebacker spot is among the toughest position to grade.

9.) The two players on the Jaguars' offense who caused the Lions the most trouble were Ridley and Zay Jones. During one team period, Lawrence was able to connect with Ridley for three completions out of four plays ran. Tight end Evan Engram got into some trash-talking with the Lions' secondary after securing a reception.

10.) John Cominsky and Aidan Hutchinson were effective in their ability to pass-rush and clog the middle. For the second-year pro, the final situational period saw him bull rush the opposition to force a sack and a six-yard loss.

11.) Brian Branch has had a stellar camp, but that does not mean he isn't prone to an error out on the practice field during team periods. A slight lapse in awareness put the young rookie out of position and gave the Jaguars tight end an opportunity to secure the reception.

12.) The final situational period saw both team's first- and second-team offenses and defenses take the field. The score was 10-10 with 1:18 left on the clock from the 35-yard line and one timeout.

The Jaguars first-team offense went three-and-out. Detroit's first team offense recorded multiple first downs, as Goff connected with Sam LaPorta twice to extend the drive. A connection with Kalif Raymond and LaPorta again gave Detroit another first down. Goff would eventually take a sack that resulted in the next play being a spike to setup Patterson for a field goal try that was made.

Both second-team offenses drives ended up with missed field goals.

Q&A: Jerry Jacobs

Q: How'd you feel about the joint practices this week?

A: "Great, man. I feel like today we came out a little slumped. We gave up a deep ball, couple touchdowns in the red zone. I think we could've played better. Yesterday we came out with the fire on the foot. It was way better than today, so we've just gotta bounce back and learn about the things we messed up on today."

Q: How did you feel about your personal performance this week?

A: "The performance went great. I've been competing, I gave up one deep ball and a missed coverage, but other than that I feel like I'm excelling in what I'm doing. No rewinds, like I'm not going backwards, I'm going forward with everything. Even with my technique and making plays, so that's good."

Q: How do you feel about the development of the new secondary with players like Cam Sutton and C.J. Gardner-Johnson joining the fold?

A: "The communication's been going good since all those guys been back, like (C.J.) and Cam. To have an older guy that can communicate and talk to you about things and help you out on the field is amazing, so I think everything's been going good with that. We've got to tighten up a few more things, make sure it's A-1. Everything's not going to be perfect every day, but just to make sure we're always on the same page."

Q: What's impression has Gardner-Johnson left on this secondary during the start of his time with the team?

A: "Dog. Dog. When I say dog I mean that. He don't just talk, he goes out there and produces, too. He shows it. (Wednesday) he had one of the most amazing days ever. Two forced fumbles, just making big hits, he's a dog. When you're playing with someone like that on the back end, it just makes you want to turn your game up a little more. Yeah, I love playing with him."

Q: What was the mood like when things got physical late in practice Thursday?

A: "It's just trash talking. One of the guys said something. I had to say something back. You know how it is, when you're competitive with a person. I felt like that person was too. So, we were just going back there talking. It causes a lot of commotion when you're in each others face, your team and their team are going to see it like you're fighting. Wasn't nothing too major, just football."

Q: What have you seen from Brian Branch early in his career?

A: "Young dog, man. You know the school he came from and you know what they produce. He's from Atlanta, Georgia too, so hometown hero. He's a wonderful player, he's learning the game quick. He's doing an awesome job at nickel, he plays safety too, but they've got him at nickel right now. He's fantastic. He's coming in as a pro, approaching it as a pro. A lot of rookies come in, they get the start and they don't know how to take care. He's doing an amazing job with it. He's only getting better every day, so I love playing with him."

Q: How excited are you getting as the Chiefs game draws closer

A: "It's 20 days away. I don't want to go against nobody anymore. I'm just trying to go play the Sept. 7th game. Time to put on the pads, I'm excited."