Lions tune up with scrimmage periods before joint practice with Giants

ALLEN PARK, Mich. — In a few days, the Lions will depart for New Jersey for what they hope will be a week of good work.

Old friends Dan Campbell and Brian Daboll know each other well. This will be the second year in a row Campbell’s Lions take on Daboll’s Giants for joint practices with a preseason game to follow. It’ll give us a good look at where the Lions stand, a nice change of pace after two weeks of battling it out against teammates.

But not before one last session, doing just that.

“Little more of a scrimmage format today,” Campbell told reporters this morning. “We’ll spot the ball and just move it. Nothing scripted here, so that’s what will be going on today. I’d like to put about 35 or 40 reps on them and we’ll go, and we’ll compete, so we’re pretty excited about this day.”

It was a good day of work for the Lions. Aside from some special teams drills in between, it was almost exclusively scrimmage periods.

Here are some highlights.

First team period: No. 1 defense vs. No. 1 offense. 

• David Montgomery rush middle. Emmanuel Moseley with the TFL.
• Goff pass complete to St. Brown. Out route to the sideline.
• Goff lofted ball down the sideline to Jameson Williams. Too far out in front. Moseley in coverage.
• Goff toss left to Montgomery. Jack Campbell and Derrick Barnes on the tackle.
• Goff sacked by Alim McNeill.
• Goff pass complete to Sam LaPorta, who found a zone in the middle of the field. Flag on the play. Holding, Taylor Decker. Aidan Hutchinson generated pressure and was held.
• Goff pass complete to Gibbs. Motion screen pass. Nifty look with blockers in front.
• Goff pass complete to St. Brown. Inside-out route. That’s money.
• Goff pass complete to St. Brown. Deep post route. Tackled by Amik Robertson.
• Montgomery rush middle. Picked up seven yards. Tackled by Ifeatu Melifonwu.
• Montgomery rush right. Hutchinson shed a block from Brock Wright, set the edge and tackled for a short gain.
• Goff pass complete to Daurice Fountain. Touchdown. Deep post. Slipped behind Melifonwu for the score.
• Jake Bates PAT good.

Takeaway: Solid battle. Note the Fountain touchdown. When we say he’s getting first-team reps, we mean it.

No. 1 offense vs. No. 1 defense — Ball at the 25

For one portion of practice, the Lions had their No. 1 defense take on their No. 1 offense from just outside the red zone. It featured three series, with the offense scoring touchdowns on two and settling for a field goal on another. There was excellent coverage by the defense on both touchdowns, though.

Here’s the first series:

• Practice reporting guidelines prohibit us from describing the first play of this series, but the ball began in Goff’s hands, then went to [redacted], then [redacted]. Very fun play.
• Goff pass complete to Gibbs. Touchdown, Lions. Caught a one-hander perfectly lofted by Goff, right over the outstretched arms of Levi Onwuzurike. One of those throws where you wonder how it was completed. Gibbs walked in for the touchdown. Onwuzurike visibly was mad at himself, which speaks to how seriously he’s taking things this camp. Kyle Peko tried to calm him down.
• Bates PAT good.

Here’s the second series:

• Montgomery rush middle. Anzalone perfectly filled the gap and tackled for a short gain.
• Goff pass complete to St. Brown. Tight-window throw on an out route. Melifonwu was right there. Another one where you struggle to figure out how it was completed. St. Brown walked in for the touchdown.
• Bates PAT missed.

And finally, the third series:

• Montgomery rush middle. Stuffed by McNeill, who beat Penei Sewell. McNeill looks like a DUDE.
• Goff pass complete to Fountain. Slant route over the middle. Terrion Arnold in coverage.
• Montgomery rush right. Tackled by Marcus Davenport and Hutchinson.
• Montgomery rush middle. Stopped by Peko.
• Goff pass lofted to the back of the end zone to Shane Zylstra. Incomplete. Moseley was closing in on a nickel blitz. Fourth down.
• Bates 29-yard FG good.

Takeaway: Honestly, some good work by both sides.

Second-team action

It was Hendon Hooker’s turn to get the first backup reps of the day. Here was his first series in its entirety, going against the second-team defense.

• Craig Reynolds toss left for a gain of 15 yards.
• Hooker pass complete to Kalif Raymond on a hitch route. Short gain.
• Davenport jumps offside. Hooker recognized. Threw a jump ball to Antoine Green. Nearly picked by Khalil Dorsey. Flag.
• Hooker pass complete to Kaden Davis.
• Hooker pressured by James Houston. Led to a throwaway.
• Hooker quick sideline pass to Jermar Jefferson incomplete. Too far in front. Pressure by Houston.
• Hooker pass incomplete to Raymond. Pressured by Houston.
• Bates missed 51-yard field goal. Flag. Five-yard penalty.
• Bates missed 46-yard field goal.

Here was Hooker’s series from the 25 against the No. 2 defense.

• Reynolds rush left. Pushed out of bounds by Ennis Rakestraw Jr.
• Hooker pass complete to Reynolds on the run. Pressured by Morice Norris on the DB blitz.
• Reynolds rush stuffed by Mitchell Agude. Excellent play. Agude has been very good.
• Hooker pass intercepted by Dorsey. It was a pylon throw that needed to be further outside toward the sideline, but one he hung for Dorsey to undercut. Nearly was identical to his pick to Malik Jefferson on Thursday.
• Sione Vaki rush middle. Stuffed by a wall of players.
• Vaki rush middle stuffed by Mekhi Wingo and James Houston.
• Hooker pass complete to Vaki. Wheel route over Jalen Reeves-Maybin. Touchdown.
• Bates PAT good.

Takeaway: Hello, Houston.

Jake Bates is the only kicker in camp and had a rough week. (Kimberly P. Mitchell / USA Today)

Bates struggles

It’s time to have an honest conversation about Bates. It was a rough day. There was little predictability to his kicks. The ball sort of jumped off his leg differently every time, almost as if he was in his head, trying to overcompensate or overcorrect. You never knew where it would land, and you could hear groans whenever he’d miss.

Here’s how I had Bates’ kicks charted.

• PATs: 6-for-7.
• Field goal makes: 29, 33, 38, 43, 48, 51, 59,
• Field goal misses: 40, 46, 46, 46, 51, 54, 64
  Overall: 7-for-14 on FGs, 6-for-7 on PATs

For all the hype Bates received, I did try to caution that he’d need to show consistency to beat out a proven NFL kicker in Badgley. The Lions have tried kickers with big legs before, only to waive them in favor of someone more reliable because the consistency wasn’t there. Even with Badgley injured, Bates hasn’t done himself any favors. He’s been all over the place this week. On Thursday, he’d miss an extra point and then make a 59-yarder. It was very strange to watch. A roller coaster of a day.

Maybe the fatigue and pressure of being the only kicker in camp and taking every rep has affected his performance. Maybe the Lions are intentionally putting a lot on his plate to see how he reacts. But he needs to improve. If not, he won’t be the guy here.

Scrimmage notes 

• Vaki’s wheel-route touchdown was the stuff that gets you excited. Reeves-Maybin read it all the way and couldn’t do anything about it. He’s still raw, and the sense is he’ll need time. But he flashes every now and then as a receiver.

• On a four-throw sequence, Hooker threw that beautiful wheel-route touchdown to Vaki, a short check-down to Mitchell (one that drew praise from Mark Brunell for making a quick read under pressure) and two interceptions — one to Dorsey and another to Rakestraw. You take the good with the bad, as he learns.

• Rakestraw worked with the second-team defense on the outside and played nickel on the third-team defense for extra reps. He continues to make plays.

• Williams made an excellent catch downfield against Rakestraw. But it wasn’t your typical Williams downfield win. There wasn’t much separation. Rakestraw was physical at the catch point and Williams shed the contact and came down with the ball. Great play, and one Williams wasn’t making last year. That Goff had the confidence to throw it speaks volumes about their budding chemistry.

• Montgomery is so impressive. Some might think his big year in 2023 was a product of Detroit’s offensive line, but they make each other better. His ability to generate positive yards even when nothing is there is his best trait.

• Zylstra received some first-team reps during the scrimmage. Good sign for him.

• Campbell essentially said he didn’t want to jinx it when asked about Jermar Jefferson, but said this of the fourth-year back who’s made some plays in camp: “He’s in a really good spot.” Three times. Jefferson then went out during the scrimmage and froze Brian Branch with a move in the open field and scored a 50-yard touchdown. Excellent day, and week, for him.

• McNeill is very good at football. Hutchinson, too. My goodness. They’ve been absolute wrecking balls all camp.

• Agude might mess around and push for a roster spot. I had him with a sack and a run stuff on Thursday. He’s playing some good football, and when I asked him about joint practices next week, a smile instantly flashed. He’s ready to show what he can do.

Players who need to do more

• It feels like Mitchell needs to make a push soon. LaPorta and Wright is your top duo. Zylstra is playing well and getting some more looks. Campbell went out of his way to praise Parker Hesse on the second day of pads. Mitchell? Nada.

• Donovan Peoples-Jones is very firmly on the second team, inching closer to the third than the first. Campbell said he expects more from DPJ and that he needs to take another step. On one particular rep with the backups, he got clamped by Kindle Vildor.

• Brodric Martin began camp getting a ton of first-team reps with DJ Reader out. He has since seen reps taken by Peko. Speaking of Peko, he recorded a sack against the second-team offense with the first-team defense. He’s coming on.

• On a play-action rollout to the right, Hooker threw a good pass to an open Antoine Green, who bobbled it and recovered it, but not before the refs ruled him out. The coaches are looking for more consistency from Green.

• Giovanni Manu is raw, and we knew that. But he looked like a statue on a rep against Agude. My notes: “No. 59 — really poor rep.”  Led to a Sudfeld sack for Agude. He’s got time to figure things out, of course. But he was a project tackle for a reason.

(Top photo of Jared Goff: Kimberly P. Mitchell / USA Today)