ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- It was early enough Monday morning there was still dew on the ground. The time clock for the Detroit Lions players was a little bit different as well, working out in the morning instead of the typical afternoon practice.
This is how second-year Lions coach Jim Caldwell likes to run his training camps. Use a mix of times and locations to both keep his players from finding too much of a comfort zone while also preparing them for the various times Detroit plays this season.
It is all about being able to adjust for the Lions -- and this season it could be critical considering Detroit has Thursday, Sunday and Monday games and five different time slots over 16 games. So while being comfortable in any situation is important, it is also another way to break up the monotony of camp.
Here are some things I caught while watching Monday’s morning workout:
1. Left guard is still up in the air: The second week of training camp began with both Laken Tomlinson and Manny Ramirez seeing first-team work at left guard, depending on the drill. Listening to Caldwell speak about the competition after, it sounds like the Lions are comfortable with the experience of Ramirez until Tomlinson starts to put things together more. It’s still early in camp, relatively, but every day that Ramirez still gets work with the first team is another day he’s closer to starting. Ramirez also received some first-team work at center Monday morning, but it was just for one period.
2. Players are starting to return: DeAndre Levy and Joseph Fauria both practiced Monday -- a sign that they are starting to really get over their first-week tweaks. But as guys come back, others depart. Ryan Broyles sat out Monday with an injury. Caldwell said he didn’t believe it was a long-term injury but considering both Broyles’ injury history and that he’s in a tight competition for a roster spot with a plethora of receivers, he should hope to be back as soon as possible.
3. Strong day for the offensive line: Overall it was a pretty good day for the offensive line. The line won almost all their first-team one-on-one pass rush drills against the defensive line, including six straight to start the drill. They also did a better job protecting the quarterbacks on a whole. Darryl Tapp -- again, he’s having a strong camp -- got a couple of pressures that might have led to sacks in a real game, but it was improvement from the entire unit.
4. Kyle Van Noy has had two good practices in a row: He’s playing mostly second-team defensive snaps right now behind Tah ir Whitehead, but the 2014 second round pick has done a little bit better recently, particularly in coverage. He followed up Saturday’s practice with another decent coverage day Monday, including breaking up a Matthew Stafford pass intended for Eric Ebron with his shoulder pad.
5. Stephen Tulloch is ready to hit somebody: The linebacker has come off as one of the most aggressive players in training camp this year. In almost every padded practice, he has made significant contact with an offensive player. He hasn’t tackled them often -- Caldwell is trying to keep his players from going to the ground as much as possible -- but he has been reading and reacting extremely well. On Monday, he would have blown up George Winn, had the Lions been playing at true game speed, and would have had another tackle for loss on Desmond Martin. More than any other Lions player, he seems ready to actually hit somebody full-on at this point.
