The Detroit Lions Dominate the New York Giants In Joint Practice Today

Today was the first day for joint practices around the league and the Lions showed out against the New York Giants in scrimmages. The offense did a fantastic job and the defense was arguably the better unit today. Here are the takeaways of how Detroit dominated this practice. 

The Lions’ Dominate Offense

By far the most impressive player on the field today was Amon-Ra St. Brown, he was practically unguardable and was making all the plays the Lions needed him to. He was repeatedly leaving defenders in the dust with his crispy routes and continued to show why he is projected to be one of the best receivers in the NFL this season. If St. Brown performs at this level during the season then the Lions will have no problem moving the ball this season, even with the loss of D.J., Chark.

The second most impressive factor was the passing game as a whole, which went 8/8 during 7-on-7s. Jared Goff is a huge reason for this, as he was putting the ball in the perfect spots every throw no matter the difficulty. However, the underrated part of this joint practice was the Offensive line. Now, we know the offensive line is one of the league’s best, but today they excelled against one of the best defensive lines in football whether it was pass protection or run blocking they exceeded expectations. While this was a fantastic part of the practice, it is worth noting the Giants’ secondary was not up to par today.

Before we move on to the defense, there are certain players that deserve a shout-out for how well they performed today on offense. The first player that showed out today was Jahmyr Gibbs who was electric in every aspect today during 11 on 11s where he had a receiving touchdown. Another player that showed out, who has been an incredible story throughout training camp, is Dylan Drummond, as an undrafted free agent Drummond has been showing starter-level skill in Lions practices and has a pretty good chance of making the final roster.

The Lions’ Unstoppable Defense

The Lions’ Secondary was incredible today and showed how big of an upgrade they really are compared to last year’s secondary. They held Daniel Jones to 5-12 in an 11 on 11 games along with throwing an interception to C.J. Gardner-Johnson and being sacked twice. Kerby Joseph and C.J. Gardner Johnson were all over the field and showed fantastic energy together. In terms of Cornerbacks Cam Sutton and Starling Thompson were locking up on the outside, which for Thompson is a fantastic sign of what he could end up being in potentially making the roster for how much he has been showing out.

The pass rush was the second-best unit out there, but not by a large margin because they showed almost as much greatness as the secondary did. Aidan Hutchinson was obviously the star of the show, recording two sacks in the 11 on 11 drills and getting pressure on Jones every passing down. James Houston was another big factor in this pass rush just like he was last year, tons of pressure and a monstrous tackle for loss for James Houston during the scrimmages, the Lions have really found a dominant designated pass rusher for the future. 

Just like the offense, there are certain players that deserve a shout-out for their own individual performance. The first player that deserves the shout-out is Josh Paschal, he is not an elite pass rusher, but his run defense is immaculate, the Lions really struggled last year with run defense but getting Paschal back will complete this Lions’ EDGE core for the future. The final player that deserves a shoutout is Alim Mcneil, he has been a dominant force in the middle of the defensive line, no interior lineman has been able to stop him from stuffing the run recently and if he takes a leap, the Lions will have a much better run defense than last year.