Lions training camp notebook, Day 9: Intrasquad scrimmage to end the week

It’s been true all summer, but it really stood out with the first-team units going against one another on a charged morning:

The Detroit Lions defensive line is playing consistently strong, impactful football.

In the first few reps of team drills, we saw:

–Alim McNeill beat Kevin Zeitler for a sack

–Aidan Hutchinson sacked Jared Goff while being held (the flag came out) by TE Brock Wright

–McNeill bursting past LG Graham Glasgow to get an instant pressure on Goff, with Hutchinson also beating RT Penei Sewell for a quick backside pressure.

On that last play, Goff and the offense responded. No. 16 stepped to his left and hit WR Daurice Fountain breaking outside the seam for a touchdown with a perfect strike that caught S Ifeatu Melifonwu flat-footed in coverage. It’s the sort of counterpunch that Ben Johnson’s offense and Goff specifically does so well.

When the first-team defense squared off against the second-team offense, Hutchinson and DT Kyle Peko each had sacks off straight pass rushes. LB Derrick Barnes got another easy one by exploding past rookie OG Kingsley Eguakun before the left guard was even out of his stance. They completely eliminated the passing game other than quick swing passes, though RB Jermar Jefferson scored on a well-blocked long TD run when safeties Brian Branch and Melifonwu each took terrible angles to the point of attack and got burned.

Second-year QB Hendon Hooker has been riding something of a roller coaster all camp. On Friday, he sped down to the bottom of the hill.

Hooker threw three INTs in practice, though one was nullified by a defensive penalty away from the ball. The most disturbing one was when the second-team offense was battling the second-team defense, with CB Khalil Dorsey stepping in front of Tom Kennedy near the end zone for a too-easy pick-6. It was identical to an interception Hooker threw on Thursday to CB Ennis Rakestraw.

Mistakes are going to happen for Hooker, who didn’t play last summer due to knee surgery that ended his college career. But repeating the same mistakes is the opposite of progress, and this carbon-copy INT wasn’t the only lesson from prior days that Hooker couldn’t show he’s learned from. That’s been a point of emphasis from the coaching staff.

It wasn’t all bad for Hooker. He feathered a perfect pass to rookie RB Sione Vaki on a well-covered (by Jalen Reeves-Maybin) wheel route. Hooker flashed the arm strength on a couple of tight-window throws, one of them on the run to his left where he didn’t have a chance to reset his feet and delivered a strike to Tom Kennedy. Alas, he later missed an open Kennedy on a crossing route that ended the same drive, throwing too far in front of the smallish slot receiver.

Two prominent newcomers to the Lions had especially rough days. It’s not a practice Giovanni Manu or Jake Bates will want to remember.

These sorts of days were expected for fourth-round rookie offensive tackle Giovanni Manu. Coming from Canadian college football with a limited gridiron background, the Lions knew coming in that he was a long-term project. Still, there had to be expectations that Manu could at least challenge to be the No. 4 offensive tackle as a rookie.

RIght now, he’s not close to being ready for that level of responsibility. He had two separate plays today (and two on Thursday) where he literally did not touch the person he’s assigned to block. One of those led to a Mitchell Agude sack where No. 50 “hit” the QB on the third step of his dropback with a simple inside shoulder dip move.

Manu is incredibly green in terms of technique and understanding of the basic offensive scheme operations. To compare to last year’s rookie developmental project, Manu is well behind where Brodric Martin was as a defensive tackle prospect in his first training camp. It is more akin to when the Lions brought in rugby superstar Carlin Isles a few years ago and tried to make him into a wide receiver.

Bates has had two very rough days in a row at converting field goals. In Thursday’s practice, I had Bates going 7-of-12 on field goals, all from between 50 and 54 yards and with no defense on the field. In the primary field goal session today, going against a live defense, Bates was 6-of-9. He missed from 46 (wide right), 54 (wide left) and 64 (about 5 yards short).

Unfortunately, his struggles continued. Bates missed two more field goals during the team portion, notably doinking a 46-yarder off the right upright. He hit almost the exact same spot on the upright on an extra point attempt too, one of two XPs he missed on the day.

Don’t be surprised if the Lions bring in another kicker to compete with, and perhaps mentor Bates before the team leaves for New York.

All offseason, every Lions coach who has stepped to the podium has brought up the importance of special teams in terms of depth players making the final roster. The team gave players a chance to prove themselves in a rep-heavy punting and punt coverage drill early in practice.

A few players thrived in the format, but none more than cornerback Kindle Vildor. The speedy CB very nearly blocked two punts as a rusher off the edge; one of them was an assured block if he had been allowed to dive into the path, he had a very fast, clean run at Jack Fox.

As part of the drill, special teams coach Dave Fipp had 1-on-1 coverage vs. blocking on the outside running down the sideline. Vildor won all three reps he did, two on the coverage side and one on the blocking side of the ball.

It’s hard to see any DBs making the roster solely for special teams, and Vildor proved he has some defensive acumen too. He had a very nice interception off Nate Sudfeld, knifing in front of a receiver as Sudfeld threw on a scramble away from a Josh Paschal pressure. Vildor also forced an intentional overthrow by Hooker with excellent positioning on inside technique on WR Donovan Peoples-Jones, who did not have a great day.

Honorable mentions for today:

RB Jermar Jefferson

CB Khalil Dorsey, both on defense and special teams

S Brandon Joseph

C Michael Niese, a quietly effective run blocking day as the second-team center

–Yesterday’s secret superstar, undrafted rookie DE Nate Lynn, had another solid day. He swallowed RB Zonovan Knight on a run play where Lynn smartly sidestepped a TE block attempt and then attacked.

–Speaking of Knight, he was back in action after missing a couple of days with an unspecified injury.

–OL Kayode Awosika was the only player on the active roster who did not participate. It’s the second missed practice in a row for Awosika, who is battling for the top interior OL reserve spot. Team sources did not reveal the reason for his absence.

–The Lions typically have music playing through some large speakers, but this practice was silent aside from the near-capacity crowd and the players and coaches.

–Jared Goff’s accuracy is never in question, but Goff proved just how pinpoint he can place a ball on a swing pass TD to Jahmyr Gibbs. DL Levi Onwuzurike read the play and got out impressively in coverage with his arms (mostly) up. Goff lofted the ball just over Onwuzurike’s fingers and hit Gibbs in perfect stride. Very good defense, but the offense was just a little sharper.

–On that Goff-to-Gibbs TD, tight ends Sam LaPorta and Brock Wright both had outstanding downfield blocks to give Gibbs an easy path to the end zone. Wright erased Melifonwu from the area with a fantastic pin block.

–Without going into great detail, Tre’Quan Smith and Daurice Fountain stood out amongst the depth wide receivers as helping themselves today. Both made nice catches and did well in special teams drills, which is not an area where Smith has thrived this summer.

–We probably take it for granted that Amon-Ra St. Brown will have a great day, and that’s because he does it every day. Today was no exception. He’s still as competitive and detail-oriented as he was before his lucrative new contract.

–Rookie Mekhi Wingo bagged a sack and had a nice run stuff in team drills, both working with the third team DL.

–The NFL officiating crew of referee Shawn Smith was at practice the last three days and met with the Lions team to go over rule changes. Smith also met with the media after practice.