The second day of the Detroit Lions’ mandatory minicamp focused heavily on late-game situational drills. So this observation recap will be a recap of how each of these scenarios turned out and will end with some general thoughts on the players’ performance.
Note: For a injury breakdown and participation reports, check out this article.
Scenario 1: Full drive starting at the opposing 40 yard line
The first-team offense had no problem moving down the field to open team drills. Jameson Williams caught a pair of passes from Jared Goff that probably totaled about 25 yards, including a perfectly placed post route that Williams caught and kicked inbounds.
The Lions were struggling in the red zone, but on third-and-goal from about the 7-yard line, Goff rushed in, bought extra time after Williams wasn’t open and threw a nice ball from his back foot towards a wide. opens Antoine Green for the touchdown.
This was a much bigger struggle for the second team’s offense. Hendon Hooker’s day started with two misses and a sack (of Levi Onwuzurike) on his first four plays. They continued their efforts to attract reps and, to his credit, Hooker began to warm up. He found Maurice Alexander for a short touchdown after calmly running through his reads and throwing a nice pass. And on the next play — also serving as third-team quarterback — Hooker dropped a perfect 40-yard bomb to OTA All-Star Kaden Davis, who seemingly made a big catch on every drive.
Unfortunately for Hooker, they reset the ball, and while he continued to drive the offense downfield, the series ended with Hooker throwing another pick-six to Khalil Dorsey, and it was very reminiscent of the one Tuesday.
Scenario 2: 29 seconds left, down 1 point, starting at own 30 yard line with 2 timeouts
Goff went to Amon-Ra St. Brown on four straight plays here. The first was interrupted by Amik Robertson who, after initially lining up in the wrong spot (and hearing it from the coaches), read Goff perfectly and knocked the ball out of St. Brown’s hands with brilliant anticipation.
That said, Goff found St. Brown on the other three completions for a total of 31 yards, setting up the Lions for a 56-yard field goal attempt to “win.”
Michael Badgley missed the kick wide left, while James Turner did.
Scenario 3: 7 seconds left, down 1 point, starting at own 42 yard line with 1 timeout
Hooker split two defenders with a nice pass to Alexander for 21 yards. This allowed the Lions to score a 55-yard field goal after the timeout.
Again, Badgley pushed it wide left, while Turner did so.
Scenario 4: 8 seconds left, down 1 point, starting at own 45 yard line with No waiting times
Goff checked the ball to St. Brown for about a 9-yard gain, stopping the clock after the Lions All-Pro went out of bounds. That would have allowed for a field goal of about 64 yards, but the Lions moved the ball upfield to attempt 54-yard field goals. Both kickers were successful, but Turner’s kick, in particular, probably would have been good from 64.
Scenario 5: 14 seconds left, down 1 point, starting at the opponent’s 40-yard line with no timeouts
Hooker made some bad decisions during this two-part drive. In the first game, he didn’t find anyone open, so he rushed up the middle and eventually found his way to the sideline to stop the clock. This was a dangerous move because if he was “sacked” he probably wouldn’t have had enough time to throw the ball.
Unfortunately, he made things worse on the next play with just eight seconds left. After holding the ball too long, he threw the ball to a receiver who was not near the sideline and was “tackled” inbounds, allowing the clock to expire. Let’s just say Hooker got an earful from the coaches after that.
The Lions elected to kick field goals at the end of this drill, and Badgley and Turner managed to go for 52 yards.
Scenario 6: 20 seconds left, down 3, starting at the opponent’s 16-yard line on third-and-7.
Goff targeted — guess who — St. Brown for what would have been a first down, but rookie cornerback Terrion Arnold was all over him and broke up the pass. The coverage on the play was excellent and it forced a field goal attempt. Both Badgley and Turner were good from 34 yards.
Hooker ran out and did the same drill with the second-team offense, and immediately threw a beautiful touchdown pass up the seam to Kalif Raymond for the win. They still got both kickers out for a 33-yard attempt, and both were successful.
Scenario 7: 15 seconds left, down 6 points, starting at the opponent’s 16-yard line, no timeouts
On a nice play design, Goff hit Williams in stride for a moving route that picked up 9 easy yards, stopping the clock as the third-year receiver went out of bounds. After a throw over the end zone (with St. Brown the closest receiver), Goff returned to St. Brown, who split coverage between Arnold and linebacker Jack Campbell for a touchdown. St. Brown threw the ball a good 30 yards in celebration.
Scenario 8: 10 seconds left, down 6 points, starting at the opponent’s 24-yard line, 1 timeout
Hooker, once again, kept the ball after finding no one and ran about 6 yards. After calling a timeout, the Lions had time to run just one play and Hooker threw the ball into heavy traffic for a mini salute. Malcolm Rodriguez should have taken it away, but it bounced through his hands, straight into Brock Wright’s hands…and out of his hands to the ground for an incompletion.
Remarks:
- As you may have noticed, Amon-Ra St. Brown was a favorite target of Goff. If you’re keeping score, after the opening storyline, Goff targeted St. Brown on six straight passes, resulting in four catches for 40 yards. Throw in his 10-yard touchdown pass, and it was a dominant day from him.
- I would call Wednesday the best Hooker practice I’ve seen so far, especially when it comes to his accuracy. He hit passes at short, medium and deep distances and all with appropriate speed. However, mental errors are far too common. He continued to hold the ball too long and his time management error was unacceptable.
- Levi Onwuzurike had two early pressures, including a sack. On the sack, the Lions ran a play-action rollout, and Onwuzurike played it perfectly, holding his advantage, not taking the play-action bait and being there for the easy sack. Dan Campbell praised Onwuzurike before practice, and it appears there is some relative optimism surrounding his game, even though the pads aren’t on yet and he’s facing an offensive line of the Lions who are missing three of their starters.
- I also recorded a few pressures from Josh Paschal. Solid day from him.
- For easier reference, Michael Badgley had marks of 54, 52, 34 and 33. Misses of 55 and 56.
- James Turner made all his situational kicks (56, 55, 54, 52, 34, 33)
- The Lions finished practice with some 7-on-7s, and it showed both the good and the bad of Jameson Williams. On one play, Amik Robertson was too physical with Williams, and he couldn’t fight back, stumbling when the ball was thrown by him. On the next play, Goff targeted Williams with a deep shot, and despite close coverage and hand battles with Carlton Davis, Williams located the ball and grabbed it for a big gain. (Then I threw the ball Amon-Ra style.)
UPDATE: Here’s video of Williams’ big play:
- In the 7-on-7, Hooker had his best ball of the day, hitting Tom Kennedy on a deep post for a big gain. The ball was perfectly placed and a good example of the raw talent he possesses as a passer.