The Detroit Lions welcomed the Houston Texans to the Meijer Performance Center for a joint practice session on Thursday. On a seasonably cool morning, Dan Campbell’s Lions and Demeco Ryans’ Texans went at it ahead of Saturday’s preseason finale in Ford Field.
My focus was on the Lions defense against the Texans offense when the units were divided in team drills.
Creating takeaways
All summer, the defensive emphasis for Detroit has been on creating takeaways. The Lions defense did that four times on the day, starting with Kerby Joseph jumping in front of C.J. Stroud’s second pass of the practice. Amik Robertson later picked off Stroud with a sliding INT while covering Christian Kirk, thanks in part to a strong interior surge from Tyleik Williams and Marcus Davenport crashing inside.
One of the more opportunistic moments came when CB Luq Barcoo hauled in a tip-drill INT off a Davis Mills pass that was too hot to handle for the Texans wideout. Safety Loren Strickland did a nice job making sure that throwing window was closing fast, too.
Avonte Maddox pulled down the other interception in the red zone drill. Give rookie safety Ian Kennelly an assist for a perfect read-and-react to force the throw to be a count later and a couple feet higher than designed. Kennelly had some nice coverage reps with the second-team defense, though it was not his best day on special teams.
Split decision overall
The Lions defense and the Texans offense each had several wins, a sentiment echoed by Lions CB D.J. Reed and Texans wideout Nico Collins after practice.
Collins and Reed were matched up quite a bit, and it was fun watching two very good players going at it. When the Texans went to a quick-paced set, Collins working the short middle was a big problem for Reed and for the safeties, who had to respect the tight ends streaking up the seam.
Amik Robertson had a nice day in coverage, primarily working in the slot. The Texans use their slots as a second option and frequently running clear-outs for Collins and Christian Kirk, and Robertson did a fine job of properly leveraging his coverage and taking away angles. Robertson nearly got a pick in blanket coverage on Kirk, with Stroud intentionally throwing the ball short due to pressure from Aidan Hutchinson, a play that might very well have been a continuation of the “Hutch rule” where 97’s quick sacks don’t end a play.
Terrion Arnold also scored a nice PD on a deep throw to Collins that Stroud hung up in the air a tad too long. On the next rep, Stroud sizzled an out to Xavier Hutchinson in front of Arnold, who quickly pushed him out after correctly bailing on a thought of trying to pick it off.
The Texans did get Reed and Robertson caught on a missed switch once in the 7-on-7 drill, resulting in an easy TD for Collins. Stroud also hit Kirk with a beautiful throw to the back corner of the end zone, beating Arnold for the TD. Later, he hit RB Dameon Pierce for a TD on a play where LB Derrick Barnes got lost inside in coverage.
On the deeper secondary, it was not a good day for Allan George or D.J. Miller in coverage. Not that either depth CB is seriously contending for a roster spot, but today would seem to extinguish any hope.
Player of the day: Alex Anzalone
Anzalone had one of the best practice sessions I’ve seen from No. 34 in his years in Detroit. He was incredibly active and anticipatory in coverage, roaming all over the field and getting his hands in on a couple of passes. The instincts really were clicking. He destroyed a designed bootleg by Stroud, forcing a quick throwaway early in team drills. On a red zone 7-on-7 rep, Anzalone’s quick depth took away what appeared to be Stroud’s primary read, making him check down to a well-covered (by Barnes) RB in the flat.
Anzalone needed a good day, because running mate Jack Campbell was not at his best. He looked slower than his typical self; Anzalone streaked past him in pursuit on a run play to the wide side of the formation. Campbell sat out some reps, with Zach Cunningham filling in next to Anzalone and Derrick Barnes at LB.
Health report
Starting center Graham Glasgow left practice early with a lower leg injury. Glasgow was very slow to get up after a rep in team drills, but he did get up and then left the field (slowly) on his own without any assistance. Kinglsey Eguakun took over as the first-team center when Glasgow exited, which was near the end of the day.
Kerby Joseph was back at practice and took a fair amount of reps. When the safety sat, Rock Ya-Sin filled in for Joseph at safety. I don’t recall anyone else taking first-team reps there, but I won’t claim to have studied the alignment every rep on a field where we didn’t have the benefit of video replays.
Cornerback Khalil Dorsey participated as well, wearing a full leg sleeve on his now-healed fractured leg as he returned to action. Dorsey looked rusty on both defense and special teams, where he completely whiffed on a kick return block.
Quick hits
–Before practice, Lions head coach Dan Campbell indicated that EDGE Josh Paschal won’t be ready as early as previously stated. Read as: it seems extremely unlikely the Lions activate Paschal from the NFI list before the regular season starts.
–Hutchinson had at least two “Hutch rule” sacks on the day, though in general the Texans OL did a better job on him than Miami’s did last week in joint practices. Texans RT Tytus Howard scored some wins in their battles in team drills.
–Former Lions sackster Robert Porcher was at practice. He looks like he’s still in playing shape:
–Tyleik Williams and D.J. Reader weren’t in the backfield as much as they were vs Miami, though Williams did get one (for sure) sack on Stroud with a quick spin move and likely another with a sweet swim move. Reader got his hand in a passing lane that forced an incompletion and was involved in a couple of strong interior run stuffs.
–In the first practice since LB Grant Stuard talked about focusing on ball security as a return man, he coughed up a return on a really nice play by Texans special teams ace Dare Ogunbowale.
–Running back Jacob Saylors had two outstanding blocks on kick return reps. LB Trevor Nowaske also had a great block on a Tom Kennedy return.
–Rookie DL Keith Cooper took some first-team DT reps in place of Tyleik Williams and was quite active as a 3T/4i, getting into the backfield a couple of times. He did get completely washed out in a run lane, however. That Cooper continues to get first-team looks should be considered a good sign for his chances to make the team.
–The mutual respect between the coaches and the players extended to the field. This was a great matchup of two teams who know they’re good without having to say it. Lots of post-play head taps and helping one another up.
–This was the final practice of training camp and the final time the team practices in front of fans.
This article originally appeared on Lions Wire: Lions camp notebook: Joint practice with the Texans notes and observations
Reporting by Jeff Risdon, Lions Wire / Lions Wire
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