ALLEN PARK, Mich. — On the last true day of training camp, with the regular season lurking, Dan Campbell made sure to get his starters some much-needed work they wouldn’t otherwise receive in the preseason. It was scrimmage day.
“Today’s kind of the last big practice before we start to get ready for Pittsburgh this weekend,” Campbell said Wednesday. “We’ll have a lot of ones versus ones work, offense versus defense, and then we’ll have the twos kind of working in between. …We’re going to kind of scrimmage out the first offense, first defense, and then have special teams in the middle, so it’ll be good.”
It’s been a good summer for the team, as it looks to repeat as NFC North champions and win its first-ever Super Bowl. What started in the spring and continued into August is now winding down. This was the media’s final opportunity to watch practice at length before we’re limited to roughly 15-20 minutes of warmups and individual periods when the regular season rolls around. But until then, the Lions tested where they’re at with one final scrimmage.
Here’s what we saw.
Scrimmage recap
This was by far the longest and most extensive scrimmage of the summer for the Lions, who were live in full pads tackling to prepare for Week 1. It was the closest thing we’ve seen to a game-like environment for the starters, as the No. 1 offense faced off exclusively against the No. 1 defense — with the twos and threes mixed in — for nearly two hours. Here’s a series-by-series summary of those first-team matchups.
First series: Three-and-out for the offense. A six-yard run for David Montgomery, then a drop for Brock Wright and an incompletion to Kalif Raymond deep downfield.
Second series: The highlight was a 19-yard completion from Goff to St. Brown, but the rest of the drive was quickly contained by the defense. Alim McNeill recorded a TFL and a sack on back-to-back plays to end the drive.
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Third series: A pick-six on a pass intended for Montgomery, courtesy of Carlton Davis III. Both the first-team offense and first-team defense remained on the field to run it back since the interception came on the first play of the series.
Fourth series: Completions to Kalif Raymond and St. Brown helped the Lions get into the red zone, but the offense couldn’t finish. On third-and-9 from the 13, Aidan Hutchinson deflected a pass intended for St. Brown. It led to a 31-yard field goal for Jake Bates. The kick was good.
Fifth series: Three-and-out after a deep incompletion to Jameson Williams. Disastrous drive. Not good.
Sixth series: A 19-yard completion from Goff to Williams was the highlight for the offense, but the drive stalled when Kindle Vildor blew up a sideline throw to St. Brown for a loss of five. On the very next play, Alex Anzalone tipped a pass intended for Williams and intercepted it.
Seventh series: Finally, a positive for the offense. St. Brown came through with a 60-yard gain to put the Lions deep in the defense’s territory, and after a few goal-line stops, Goff found Parker Hesse for the offense’s first touchdown of the scrimmage.
Eighth series: Drive started on the 50. The offense moved in chunks, but Brian Branch put an end to it with a sack. Settled for a 24-yard Jake Bates field goal.
**HALFTIME**
Ninth series: Another score for the first-team offense, with Goff finding Raymond for a touchdown at the 2-yard line on fourth down. The tight ends did much of the damage here, highlighted by a Wright 22-yard gain and a 19-yard Shane Zylstra reception on the series.
10th series: Another score, after a 13-play drive. The offense had to work for this one, but it came through by setting up a first-and-goal and ending the drive with a touchdown to Wright.
11th series: Fourth quarter. Final series of the day, in need of a score to take the lead. Goff overthrew Williams on a deep ball. Then, Goff was sacked by Hutchinson. Then, a pressure from Alex Anzalone led to an incompletion. And finally, on fourth-and-18, Goff’s completion to St. Brown didn’t pick up the first — stopped well short. Good stand for the defense.
Takeaways: After a putrid start for the offense, the second half of the day was much, much better. It should be noted that the first-team offense was down multiple starters (Kevin Zeitler, Jahmyr Gibbs, Sam LaPorta), but the defense certainly held its own and made the offense work for everything it got. This unit feels confident it can go toe-to-toe with offenses around the league. We’ll find out soon enough.
Penei Sewell left practice with a foot injury. Brian Branch said he didn’t think it appeared serious. (Junfu Han / USA Today)
News, notes and observations
• Lions RT Penei Sewell left practice Wednesday and did not return. It was hard to tell what happened, but Sewell lingered on the ground after the play. After about a minute, he emerged and limped off the field without assistance. Trainers took his cleat off and appeared to be looking at his ankle. The Lions are officially calling it a foot injury. The next media availability will be after Saturday’s preseason finale vs. the Steelers. For what it’s worth, Branch said he didn’t think it was too serious.
• RB Craig Reynolds also left practice and did not return. The team is calling it a “lower-body injury.”
• Aiden Hutchinson had two pass deflections and a sack during the scrimmage. Alim McNeill had a sack and several TFLs. They’ll anchor Detroit’s defensive line.
• Kingsley Eguakun has repped with the first-team offense at right guard the last two days, in place of Kevin Zeitler. He’s in the mix for a roster spot, likely competing with Michael Niese and Kayode Awosika. However, it was not his best day. Going up against McNeill will do that.
• Kyle Peko played the majority — if not, all — of his snaps with the first-team defense. He’s a lock to make the roster at this point. The Lions could have one of the best interior defensive line rooms in the league when Reader returns and if Levi Onwuzurike is the player they’ve been hyping him up to be. They’ve been excellent all summer.
• Carlton Davis III picked off a pass intended for David Montgomery and returned it for a touchdown. Really nice play for the veteran outside corner, though he would later leave practice (but remained in pads on the sideline).
• Kindle Vildor got the start at outside corner opposite Davis III with Terrion Arnold still out. He’s had a good stretch the last week or so. If the final cornerback spot comes down to Vildor or Khalil Dorsey, it’ll be a tough decision.
• When the Lions were in 11 personnel, the first receiver with Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams was typically Kalif Raymond. No surprise. He’s the third-best receiver on the roster at the moment and made plays on Wednesday.
• Donovan Peoples-Jones was worked in with the first-team offense on occasion during the scrimmage. He had a couple of catches and one bad drop. The usual from him, but a good sign nonetheless.
• Brian Branch is ready for safety. During a goal-line handoff to David Montgomery, Branch stormed in for a TFL and blew up the play. Getting Montgomery on the ground is no easy task. It was for Branch.
• Hendon Hooker and G/C Michael Niese had some trouble on various snap exchanges. There were at least two fumbles off the snap. They were spotted getting in some extra work on the side when the first-team offense was back in the game.
• The receivers working with the second-team offense: Peoples-Jones, Daurice Fountain, Kaden Davis and Tom Kennedy. Didn’t see Isaiah Williams too involved.
• Jake Bates was 4-of-5 on PATs and 2-of-3 on field goal attempts. It looked like the missed PAT was the result of a bad snap. The missed field goal was from 48 yards out. Wide right.
(Top photo of Ty Summers, left, and Joel Iyiegbuniwe: Carlos Osorio / AP Photo)
