The Detroit Lions hosted a pair of joint practices with the Miami Dolphins this week. If you checked social media to see how the team was doing, you would have had a hard time finding much to complain about as the Lions dominated sessions on Wednesday and Thursday.
Still, it’s hard to satisfy NFL coaches. Dan Campbell lamented his defense's ability to generate turnovers after the first practice with the Dolphins. After airing his grievances, the Lions took notice and had a strong response to their head coach’s criticism heading into next season.
Lions Bounce Back After Dan Campbell’s Plea for More Turnovers
The Detroit Free Press’s Dave Birkett noted that Campbell wanted to see more turnovers earlier this week. While the Lions didn’t come through with a takeaway in Thursday’s practice against the Dolphins, they did just about everything else with a strong effort.
Defensive players can’t hit the quarterback in joint practices, but Detroit made things difficult for Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Marcus Davenport “bumped into” Tagovailoa on the second snap of team drills on Thursday and Lions first-round pick Tyleik Williams followed up with a sack on the following play when Tagovailoa couldn’t get the ball to his first read.
Linebacker Alex Anzalone followed up with a sack on a blindside blitz and the first team defense forced a three-and-out and four-and-out on its first two series. The second team wasn’t going to be upstaged either as Pat O’Connor had a sack later in practice.
With Aidan Hutchinson causing havoc on a pair of would-be sacks, it was a strong day that Lions linebacker Jack Campbell believed had some room for improvement.
“I feel like we competed today,” Campbell told Birkett. “I feel like maybe came out a little bit flat, but I feel like we finished strong.”
While the Lions didn’t come up with a turnover, Campbell had to be optimistic about what he saw. Detroit’s defense had the sixth-highest yards per play (5.7) last season and ranked seventh in points allowed (342) there’s some room for improvement with generating turnovers. The Lions ranked 10th with 24 takeaways and seventh with a 13.3% turnover rate last season but another bump could help Detroit take home an NFC Championship.