Pride of Detroit
The Detroit Lions have the day off on Tuesday, as they prepare for a week with the Miami Dolphins. It begins with a pair of joint practices on Wednesday and Thursday. After a day of rest on Friday, the two teams will face off again on Saturday at Ford Field for Detroit’s third preseason game.
But the joint practices provide something the preseason games rare do: a bunch of starters vs. starters reps.
Thus far, the only players who are expected to be starters who have gotten preseason action for the Lions are rookie Tyleik Williams and Tate Ratledge, along with the three specialists. So Wednesday and Thursday should be exciting on a very basic level to see the Lions’ first teamers compete with someone other than themselves.
Let’s dig a little deeper, though. Today’s Question of the day is:
My answer: Personally, I’m just ready to see the Lions offense compete against another defense.
All training camp, there have been (very) mild concerns that Detroit’s offense is running behind their defense. It’s hard to know if that’s a good sign for the defense, a bad sign for the offense, both, or neither. And while joint practices with the Dolphins won’t tell us anything definitively—the Lions offense looked lackluster against the Giants last year in joint practices and proceeded to lead the league in scoring—it should at least give us a new barometer.
Last year, the Dolphins defense ranked 10th in scoring defense, 10th in yards per play allowed, and eighth in EPA/play. So, theoretically, Detroit could face a pretty tough challenge this week. That said, Miami did lose a few key contributors on that side of the ball, including defensive end Calais Campbell, cornerback Jalen Ramsey and safety Jevon Holland. And promising young cornerback Kader Kohou has already been lost for the season with a knee injury. The Lions wide receivers could be a big mismatch for Miami’s secondary.
Still, there are some lesser-known names on the Dolphins defense who could give Detroit trouble. Defensive tackle Zach Sieler is coming off a 10-sack saeson, which could be a handful for the Lions’ shaken-up interior offensive line—particularly lined up next to first-round rookie Kenneth Grant. Defensive end Chop Robinson started to figure things out late in his rookie season last year. And while the secondary is certainly more depleted than last year, the reunion with Minkah Fitzpatrick gives the Dolphins a playmaker in the secondary that Jared Goff will have to account for.
What are you looking forward to with joint practices? Is there a particular matchup you’re excited to see and/or hear about? Scroll down to the comment section and let us know!
