Detroit Lions Training Camp: Wednesday's Hump Day Edition

Ah, hump day. Today’s Detroit Lions practice was hot, and humid. The players were not in full pads for this, the only practice of the day.

Dave Birkett, the Lions new beat reporter for the Detroit Free Press stopped by my perch to say howdy. If you get the chance, you can catch his great stuff at freep.com. It appears that Dave is also a fan of Bleacher Report.

Prior to today’s warmups, Jahvid Best, Derrick Williams, Tim Toone, and Dennis Northcutt were receiving machine-generated punts. I was a bit surprised not to see Nate Burleson in this group. Jahvid Best? Hmm.

Head coach Jim Schwartz alluded earlier that Burleson might get a look as a punt returner. I think that having Best try his skills as a punt return specialist would be the next best thing.

Stephan Peterman was at practice, but didn’t participate in drills while the swelling in his knee subsides. It was widely reported that he was kicked in the knee during an earlier practice. The MRI was negative and he will return to practice on a day to day basis. That news was like Christmas in August.

The individual position drills ensued. These drills were short (10 to 15 minutes each), and were run at an extremely high tempo. The focus today was on intermediate pass routes for the QBs, receivers, RBs, and tight ends.

Next came short yardage red zone work. The QBs were sharp and the receivers performed well. On one play, Jahvid Best threw a halfback pass to TE Tony Scheffler. Touchdown! Woooo Hoooo!

The horn blew, and the players hustled into agility drills. There were several stations set up around the field. I was closest to the running backs who started their drill with their back turned to the coach. The coach yelled “Hut!” The player had to turn 180 degrees and catch a ball whistled at them from 15 yards away. The player had to do another 180 with the ball, and run through the gauntlet sled.

It was Kevin Smith’s turn. He dropped the hard pass and was compelled to do 20 pushups nearby. Despite the drop, it was good to see Smith getting more work, and taking some good-natured heat from his teammates.

The seven on zero drills focused on pre-snap movement, play action fakes, short pass plays to the tight ends and fullbacks (exclusively), end zone corner routes, and some red zone post routes.

Offensive coordinator Scott Linehan made a point to Tim Toone, and the others to protect the ball with your body in the red zone.

Next up was a five on seven drill. I can’t overstate the sharpness of Mathew Stafford and Shaun Hill. They were perfect. Nate Burleson put on a clinic for the fans. On one play, he split the coverage of CB Paul Pratt and safety Marvin White to snare a pass that Stafford threaded through the eye of a needle.

The eye candy didn’t end there. The seven on seven drill started with the offense facing a 2nd and six situation. Kevin Smith and Derrick Williams made nice catches. Calvin Johnson and Nate Burleson chipped in with a pair of grabs each. Jahvid Best made a nice deep catch.

Practice moved on to team drills. It was the defensive team’s time to shine.

On two consecutive plays, Sammie Lee Hill dominated. First, he batted down a Stafford pass at the line of scrimmage. On the next play, Hill beat Manny Ramirez and had daylight all the way to Stafford. I thought that Stafford was going to throw the ball into the bleachers, but he spiked it out of bounds.

Later, Stafford was flushed out of the pocket by a Zack Follett blitz. Gotcha!

Not to be outdone, KVB and Cliff Avril speed rushed Stafford for a certain sack.

Cornerback Chris Houston looked very good during the entire practice. He’s had to cover Calvin Johnson mano y mano. He got burned once, on a play that god couldn’t make against this ridiculous beast.

C.C. Brown looks to have the starting safety job locked up, but he’s getting pushed hard by Randy Phillips.

The linebackers were steady, if not spectacular on pass plays. Against the run, the LBs were actually a strength.

As practice wound down, Calvin Johnson did an on air interview with Karsch and Anderson of radio station 97.1 The Ticket. Johnson commented on the difference between practicing against last year’s defense versus this year’s defense. According to Johnson, the defense this year is vastly improved on the practice field.

Johnson also gushed about the QBs. He said that there’s a sense of real confidence and control that he’s never seen in Detroit.

Johnson praised the work of Nate Burleson and Tony Scheffler. Having these additional weapons, Johnson said, are making his job much easier.

When asked about Jahvid Best, Johnson admitted that he didn’t wish to race him any time soon.

Johnson was asked what his biggest surprise was on this team. I’ll save that for another article come Friday.

 

Miscellaneous impressions

Jahvid Best makes plays all over the field. The halfback pass play today was an example of his versatility.

Derrick Williams will have a breakout season. Not only does he return kicks and punts, he’s been a very reliable receiver.

Mike Moore, Jared DeVries, Stephan Peterman, and Amari Spievey continue to be sidelined due to injury.

Jordan Dizon had his right groin wrapped near the end of practice. Uh oh.

Nate Burleson continues to amaze the fans and his teammates with the kind of play that we haven’t seen in Detroit since the Moore, and Perriman days.

Shaun Hill has been extremely effective at QB. This is a huge leap over last season’s experiment with Daunte Cullpepper. Those who say that Hill has no arm are not watching what I’m watching.

Well, Lions fans, that’s all I have for today. I’ll be back with more tomorrow.

 

Mike Sudds is an analyst and correspondent for DraftTek.com.