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Someone in Michigan really believes in the Lions as a Super Bowl contender

Posted by Mike Florio on August 2, 2021, 9:33 AM EDT

Maybe kneecap-biting will take the Lions where they’ve been trying to go for decades.

At least one person in Michigan believes that the Lions will make one of the most stunning turnarounds in league history. Via David Payne Purdum of ESPN.com, BetMGM in Michigan has taken two big bets based on the Lions’ chances in 2021.
One bet entails $500 at 250-1 odds for Detroit to win the Super Bowl. Another bet puts $1,000 on the Lions, at 100-1, to win the NFC Championship.

That’s $125,000 if the Lions win the Super Bowl, and $100,000 if they get there.

Maybe the bettor (I figure it’s the same person making both wagers) knows something we don’t. Maybe the bettor is just a rabid fan. Maybe the bettor got really drunk or really high, and opted for this in lieu of a face tattoo.

Regardless, someone believes in the Lions. Which is one person more than the number that believed in the Lions in recent years.
 

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Dan Campbell was “fired up” by fight at Tuesday’s practice

Posted by Josh Alper on August 4, 2021, 9:36 AM EDT

Before the Lions’ first padded practice on Tuesday, head coach Dan Campbell shared a story from his first training camp as a player that involved him getting in a fight on the first play of practice.

Campbell said the point of the story wasn’t that he was looking for players to fight during Lions practice, but it wasn’t particularly clear that’s what he meant and he muddied those waters a bit more at Wednesday’s press conference.

Wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and cornerback Ifeatu Melifonwu — two of the team’s draft picks — exchanged punches during a special teams drill on Tuesday, which led to a question for Campbell about his reaction to the fisticuffs. His reaction wasn’t one of dismay.

“Yeah, I mean, I was fired up,” Campbell said, via Kyle Meinke of MLive.com. “Because they were competing, man. It was good to see both of them, two young bucks, go after it. They were, uh — look, we had a pretty good idea of Amon-Ra, you know? The Sun God? What he’s capable of? His aggressiveness shows up — it would show up on tape — in college. Look, this guy will mix it up. And there’s things you see with Iffy in school, but I didn’t quite know. And to know he’s got, ‘Hey man, I’m not your punching bag,’ that encouraged me, it really did.”

Campbell added that he’s not in favor of full-squad brawls that disrupt the entire practice session, but that smaller scraps “make you practice better” because it makes you want to go as hard as you can to beat the other guy. He also said he wants players to remain “under control” because you can’t win if you aren’t, so Lions players will have to figure out just where the line is for their new coach.
 
Thats probably not an ideal thing, you need QBs who arent afraid or coached to avoid splash plays or clutch throws. Eg, take Tuas rookie season and all the criticism

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Anthony Lynn: I like the decisions Jared Goff’s making on the field

Posted by Myles Simmons on August 5, 2021, 1:17 PM EDT

Among the noticeable differences between Matthew Stafford and Jared Goff at quarterback is the way they approach deep passes.

That was at least the observation of Nick Baumgardner and Chris Burke of TheAthletic.com, who wrote this week that Goff at times appears to settle for an underneath or intermediate pass instead of firing the ball down the field. The two writers pointed to an example where Goff elected to hit Kalif Raymond for about 10 yards instead of throwing to Breshad Perriman, who was about 40 yards away and had a step on his defender. If Stafford had been the QB, they write, he would’ve tried that deep ball 99 out of 100 times.

Offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn was asked about Goff and deep passes after Thursday’s practice. Lynn didn’t seem concerned about it at all. Instead, he praised Goff for playing within the scheme.

“I mean, all we’ve been doing is passing the ball. We’ve been doing this back in OTAs. I’ve seen plenty of deep balls down the field,” Lynn said in his press conference. “I know Jared has a very talented arm. But out on the field, I like the decisions that he’s making. He’s taking what the defense is giving him. And that’s what good quarterbacks do, they’ll just take what you give them and then they’ll go over the top when they’re supposed to. And that’s kind of the way I see us operating.”

Lynn was then asked if he thinks the Lions can be explosive on offense, to which he replied, “Absolutely.”

“I think some of these young guys so far — Kalif and Amon[-Ra St. Brown] — these guys are stepping up,” Lynn said. “These guys have got speed [and can] get down the field with good run action. I think we can get behind some people.”

Last season, Goff was 32nd among 35 qualified passers with an average pass length of 6.5 yards, indicating he wasn’t throwing deep all that often (Stafford was No. 5 at 8.76 yards). So Goff and the Lions likely have some work to do in that area. But at some point, Goff will have to take some chances down the field to at least keep defenses honest.
 

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According to the report, the Lions wouldn’t be able to just fork over the money to Johnson without requiring promotional appearances or some other work from him, because the league audits teams’ payments to former players to ensure teams aren’t circumventing the salary cap.

So it appears that the Lions think they’ve made the most generous offer to Johnson that league rules will allow, while Johnson thinks that’s not sufficient. And so it’s not clear that the Lions’ relationship with one of their greatest players can be mended.
 
Dan Campbell loves grit of Detroit Lions: ‘There’s no turds here’

Today 8:41 AM
By Kyle Meinke

ALLEN PARK -- The Detroit Lions are coming off three straight last-place finishes. Teams like that usually have roster issues, and the Lions certainly do too.

But once again, head coach Dan Campbell has raved about the character of the roster assembled by his predecessors, even though it also produced one of the worst ever eras of Lions football.

“I think we’re fortunate because I do believe we have some talented players on this team that have grit, and that’s a good thing, you know?” Campbell said. “I said this when I walked in -- there’s a number of guys that were here, and I think (Matt) Patricia and (Bob) Quinn did a great job of, there’s no turds here. There’s no bad guys. These guys work now. We don’t have lazy (guys). We don’t have those (lazy) guys, and that’s a good thing.

“That’s not always the case when it hasn’t been a successful program. Usually that’s not the case. (But) these guys work, and they are. They’re pretty tough-minded. It’s just a matter of, ‘Hey, this is how you got to win. This is what it takes to win. This is what it takes to be a winner. This is what it looks like.’ That’s all it is. Sometimes you just don’t know what you don’t know. That’s all.”

Campbell has touted the importance of grit since the early stages of his hire in Detroit. Asked on Tuesday what’s the most important thing he’s looking for when assembling the 53-man roster, Campbell touted, you guessed it, grit. And now that training camp has advanced to Week 3, he’s getting a much better idea of where he can find it.

The players have been in pads for more than a week, and in camp for two. They’re tired. They’re sore. Now they have to work through it heading into the first preseason game on Friday against the Buffalo Bills, where plenty of jobs -- starting and otherwise -- will be up for grabs. And which players are able to continue to play tough and consistently through the aches and pains of camp will be a deciding factor in roster cuts later this month.

The Lions have to trim the roster to 85 players by Aug. 17, then 80 players by Aug. 24. The final cut to 53 will be on Aug. 31.

“You’re resilient,” Campbell said, when asked about the most important trait he’s seeking for his roster. “You’re tough, you’re hard-nosed, you’re a guy that your body demeanor never changes (no matter) what happens to you, you’re dependable, you’re accountable. It’s everything that you would want in somebody if you said, ‘I need one guy to do a job for me, this is the guy, because I trust you, I know who you’re going to be every day. You’re not up and down. You’re the same guy every day. We know who you are.’

“Even if that maybe is not quite at the very tip-top (of importance), I’d rather have that because I know what I’m going to get every day, rather than the guy who is, ‘Wow, what a flashy player!’ And then the next day he’s down in the dumps and we don’t know what he’s doing, or something hurts. It’s not worth it. So that would be my No. 1. Now certainly you got to have talent on this team. Not everybody is going to be perfect. But man, you got to have some mental resiliency, some mental fortitude, to play for us and the Detroit Lions. You just do.”
 
TIM AND MIKE: Training camp Day 9 observations

Aug 10, 2021 at 12:42 PM
Tim Twentyman & Mike OHara

Good and bad: There was both on a drive in the one-minute drill led by quarterback Jared Goff. Goff's first pass of the possession was batted away for an incompletion. After that he completed three passes, stopped the clock twice on spikes and had a throwaway on the final throw with the offense safely in field-goal range. The bad: Randy Bullock was wide right on the field goal attempt. – Mike O'Hara

Sled work: Chris Spielman may be working in Detroit's front office now, but the former Pro Bowl linebacker still has plenty of knowledge to share with young players. Before practice Tuesday, Spielman was taking a few young linebackers, including rookie Derrick Barnes, through some sled work. – Tim Twentyman

Quick trigger: One thing in David Blough's favor in the competition with Tim Boyle for the backup quarterback job is that he does things quickly. Blough sets up quickly and gets rid of the ball quickly. – Mike O'Hara

Good rush: The Lions are hoping some of their younger rushers can give them a boost off the edge. Third-year outside linebacker Austin Bryant has been showing he has the potential to be one of those players, if he can stay healthy. Bryant had a terrific practice Tuesday. He had a couple really nice rushes in team periods that resulted in sacks. There was one in particular where he and Charles Harris met at the quarterback and blew up the play.

Bryant also had a nice 1-on-1 rep against right tackle Penei Sewell. Outside linebackers coach Kelvin Sheppard said after practice that Bryant is catching his eye, but he's preaching health and consistency to him. – Tim Twentyman

Camp sign: With two weeks of training camp completed, one sign that things are moving along is that decals were put on the helmets this week. Before that, the helmets were bare. – Mike O'Hara

Running back work: With D'Andre Swift dealing with a groin injury and Jermar Jefferson sitting out practice Tuesday with an ankle injury, some of the players a little bit down the running back depth chart are getting some quality reps. Jamaal Williams leads the pack with the first-team offense, but after him, Dedrick Mills, Godwin Igwebuike and Michael Warren are getting quality work in. – Tim Twentyman

Kicking battle: Kickers Randy Bullock and Matthew Wright each had three attempts to end a team period Tuesday ranging from 41-to-47 yards out. Bullock was 3-for-3. Wright was 2-for-3. However, Bullock missed a 49-yard attempt to end a two-minute team period for the first-team offense. Bullock made his attempt with the second team. – Tim Twentyman

Injury news: A few things to monitor moving forward. Defensive end Da'Shawn Hand, just a day after talking to reporters about finally being healthy, left practice early with what appeared to be a lower leg injury. Tight end T.J. Hockenson got up a little slow after cornerback Jeff Okudah fell on him breaking up a pass in a team drill. Hockenson never left the field, but he didn't take part in team periods to end practice. Defensive tackle Kevin Strong and wide receiver Chad Hansen also left the field. Stay tuned Wednesday for updates. – Tim Twentyman
 
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