Allen Park — Here are some notes and observations from Thursday’s Detroit Lions practice, the third of the team’s three-day mandatory minicamp.
► Remember the last day of school before summer break? Maybe you’d have field day or watch a movie? Regardless, those afternoons typically focused on fun ahead of school work.
In a lot of ways, that’s what the final day of mandatory minicamp is in the NFL. The rookies will be sticking around for another week of OTAs, but most of the veterans will head into a six-week break before entering the grind of training camp. So, instead of a grueling practice before vacation, the coaching staff put a little more emphasis on having a rare day with more fun than hard work on Thursday.
Early in practice, the team worked on a drill that had skill-position players throwing downfield passes out of two situations: a double pass after a quick throw to the opposite sideline and resetting on a wide run after taking a handoff.
As you might expect, most of the throws were wobbly, and more than half were either significantly underthrown over overthrown. But every once in a while, a player delivered a tight spiral in stride to the downfield target.
Tight end Shane Zylstra really got into things, throwing in a full-body shoulder fake on one of his reps.
One of the neat things about running this drill is it allows the staff to evaluate the potential of a player to execute such a throw in a game situation. Remember the Tom Kennedy touchdown pass in the finale last year, or punter Jack Fox working in a couple successful fakes? These are the moments that lay the early groundwork for something like that to be entered into the playbook.
► Practice also ended on a humorous note, as several trench players fielded punts off the JUGS machine while being surrounded by teammates. Impressively, not one ball hit the ground.
Rookie defensive tackle Demetrius Taylor kicked things off by scooping one off his shoe tops, followed by offensive tackle Penei Sewell fielding his attempt cleanly and punting the ball back, with respectable hangtime, in celebration.
Alim McNeil, a high school outfielder, and former Michigan State offensive lineman Kevin Jarvis also handled their reps, although Jarvis had to leave his feet to secure the grab.
With each successful catch, the other players celebrated wildly.
With the drill seemingly a draw between the offense and defense, the defensive players started loudly chanting, “We want Skip! We want Skip!”, imploring veteran offensive tackle Dan Skipper to take part in the festivities. Despite being heckled while the ball was in the air, he also fielded his opportunity cleanly.
► Another fun drill, which also had practical purpose, saw the quarterbacks trying to throw a ball into a net in the back corner of the end zone, simulating a back-shoulder fade.
What added to the afternoon was position coach Mark Brunell and senior offensive assistant John Morton taking some shots, with both showing they still got it, by dropping a pass into the target area.
► As for real football work, the team simulated another end-of-game situation, with the offense down nine points with 1:59 remaining and starting at its own 25-yard line.
Starting quarterback Jared Goff did a great job leading the first-team unit for a quick touchdown, connecting with Kalif Raymond for a big gain down the middle, before hitting Josh Reynolds for a 38-yard pickup down the right sideline to get inside the 10. Goff capped the quick-strike series with a touchdown to Zylstra, running a shallow crossing pattern that beat linebacker Alex Anzalone.
In total, the series took 41 seconds off the clock.
Simulating an onside-kick recovery, Goff got the offense into field-goal range to take the lead, but kicker Riley Patterson’s attempt wasn’t particularly close, sailing wide left.
► The second- and third-team offenses weren’t able to replicate that level of success. David Blough was slightly off target with his first two throws, overthrowing Tom Kennedy down the seam and putting a ball behind Trinity Benson on a post pattern.
After extending the drive with a short throw to Quintez Cephus, Blough beautifully placed a ball to Benson, between the corner and safety down the sideline, but the young receiver couldn’t maintain possession as he went to the ground.
The series ended when cornerback Bobby Price, while maintaining inside leverage on a downfield route, intercepted a pass intended for Cephus.
As for Tim Boyle’s series, the backup quarterback had one ball knocked down at the line of scrimmage, fumbled a snap and overthrew his target twice.
jdrogers@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @Justin_Rogers