Since the Lions strapped on the pads last weekend, there's been a growing sense that the defense is ahead of the offense, especially in the trenches. Tuesday's scrimmage left little doubt: the starting O managed a total of two first downs on its first four drives against the starting D. Aidan Hutchinson was a problem. So was Brian Branch.
"Things didn’t start well," acknowledged center Graham Glasgow. "There were some breakdowns in run-blocking, breakdowns in protection."
A couple series illustrate what Glasgow is talking about. After starting their fourth drive with a first down when Jared Goff play-faked and rolled out to his right and hit Sam LaPorta in stride near the sideline, the offense quickly went backward.
Brian Branch powered past LaPorta, who otherwise had another strong day, on a blitz that would have resulted in either a holding penalty on LaPorta or a sack. Goff swung a pass to Montgomery for a short gain on the next play. And on third down, Hutchinson danced past left tackle Dan Skipper and got home for the sack.
Later in the day, with the offense starting in plus territory, DJ Reed snuffed out a wide receiver screen to Jameson Williams. Reed identified the play, darted through the traffic and dropped Williams for no gain; the Lions' big free agent acquisition hits harder than you might think for a 5'9 corner. On second down, Jahmyr Gibbs burst through the middle and looked headed for a first before Marcus Davenport chased down the play and hammered Gibbs a couple yards shy of the sticks. On third, Hutchinson abused Skipper again for a sack.
We should pause to point out that the Lions clearly miss starting left tackle Taylor Decker, who's recovering from a clean-up procedure on his shoulder and is expected to return to practice on the other side of the Hall of Fame Game. But Hutchinson wasn't just exploiting Skipper on Tuesday. He also beat Penei Sewell for a sack and has won enough of his reps in pads against the All-Pro right tackle to dismiss the idea that he's merely feasting on a backup. Hutchinson finished the scrimmage with three sacks, if not four, and at least another quarterback pressure, all on third down.
"That man is the same Hutch, if not better," Sewell said a few days ago. "He's done a great job with rehab and putting himself and his body in position for camp."
Indeed, if not for a black compression sleeve on his left leg, you wouldn't know that Hutchinson snapped his tibia and fibula in two last October and spent of the reason on the sidelines. All that time off might actually be working in his favor. As Hutchinson noted at the start of camp, "When you’ve been training for nine months, you can imagine that I’m probably in the best shape I’ve ever been in the NFL."
"I feel strong, I feel fast, I feel conditioned and I’m out here with another year of mental experience," he said. "In your brain, it's just like, the game is so slow now. And I really feel like in this fourth year, there’s another level to it."
"I see a player that is very confident in his abilities," Dan Campbell said the other day on NFL Network. "I see a player that appears to bend even better than last year. And I see a player who was hungry that's even hungrier. It's good to have him back, and he's going to have a hell of a season for us."
On the other side of the ball, "the standard is the standard," say the offensive linemen. They have some work to do to maintain it. That was to be expected with the losses of Frank Ragnow and Kevin Zeitler, which loom large a little more than a month from Week 1. Glasgow has taken over at center for rookie Tate Ratledge, who has been bumped pack to his natural position of right guard, while second-year pro Christian Mahogany is finding his way at left guard. The communication and execution -- the chemistry -- on the interior still has a ways to go.
The offense, particularly the line, did pick up its play as Tuesday progressed. They began their fifth drive on their own 20 and went 80 yards in nine plays, topped off by two powerful runs up the middle by David Montgomery. The pass protection held up on a key third down early in the drive where Goff hit Amon-Ra St. Brown on a stop-and-go over the middle to move the sticks, and LaPorta laid a strong block on Derrick Barnes to spring Gibbs on a long run around the left edge. Goff used the play-action roll-out to hit LaPorta and St. Brown for big gains.
"It took us a little while to get moving and get going today, for one reason or another, but we ended up figuring it out, which was nice," said Glasgow. "Things could have gone south pretty quickly, and stayed south."
The first-team offense closed the scrimmage with a crisp drive from the plus-40. Montgomery got it started with a pair of strong runs, sandwiched around another easy, chain-moving grab by LaPorta, who looks poised for a highly-impactful season. Williams made the catch of the day with a one-handed snag on a slightly-high throw by Goff on a shallow drag, though it only went for a couple yards. St. Brown ran a typically precise route over the middle to create just enough separation from Branch and pick up another chunk. Gibbs carried the drive toward the goal line, though Reed kept him out of the end zone with a great tackle in run support.
Goff capped off it by going back to the well on a play-fake, rolling out to his left and throwing against his body to hit Tim Patrick in the back of the end zone.
The offense "got things ironed out" by the fourth or fifth drive, said Glasgow, "and from there we were just moving the ball, we were scoring (touchdowns), we were kicking field goals and everything was good. When you get put into a situation like this, it’s like a normal game: just because the first few drives are bad doesn’t mean the whole game has to be bad. Seeing some resilience out of the offense and the O-line today was awesome."
But make no mistake: in a camp where the defense is leading the way, it also won the day.