Inside Allen Park: David Blough Dominates Backup Competition
Outside of the fact that this week is mandatory for members of the Detroit Lions' roster, not much will change regarding what will take place out on the field.
The team returned to the practice field on Tuesday for Day 1 of mandatory minicamp, with the aim of cleaning up mistakes and working on situations that will arise in the regular season.
"The practices will be the same," head coach Dan Campbell explained. "The only thing is we'll have them in the building a little bit longer. Now, we can watch practice afterwards. Clean up the corrections here in the building, and then we'll have a couple of meetings after that. But, really the practices are pretty much the same. Really, just trying to clean up everything that we've had the first couple of weeks and what we've had in phase two. We're looking to eliminate mental errors. That's the big thing. That'd be the focus for our guys."
David Blough dominates in pressure situations
Early this offseason, the competition at backup has been fairly one-sided, as David Blough has performed much better than Tim Boyle.
On Tuesday, Blough zipped the football accurately and on target for the majority of second-team drills.
In a pressure situation the offense was put in, Blough launched a successful deep toss to Trinity Benson on first down.
On the ensuing play, Blough found Quintez Cephus on another deep pass, which was crisply thrown.
The offense found the end zone quickly, as Blough successfully connected with Cephus again -- this time beating rookie Kerby Joseph.
"He's always been like a steady Eddie," Goff explained to reporters. "Always done his job right. A guy that -- he has playing experience. I've seen his playing experience on film. Always did his job. Obviously, he had a great day today, and has continued to play well. A guy that is always good in the room. Is helpful for me. A guy that I've seen get more accurate and (is) getting pretty good."
Boyle was not as sharp, and has been out of sorts and out of rhythm the past couple of weeks.
There was a night-and-day difference between the presence and command of both quarterbacks.
Tracy Walker makes his presence felt
In first-team drills, Walker was all over the field causing disruptions.
The talented safety expressed following practice that the team has been able to benefit from the coaching staff cleaning up a variety of wrinkles from last season.
Being able to benefit from having many of the same coaches as last year has benefitted the execution out on the field.
"We're at a higher level right now," Campbell said. "We're kind of beyond some of the more remedial things that we had to do last year, because we had just come in. It's a new system. That's everything. We're all trying to figure each other out. So and so, it's now that you guys know what we're doing. These players know what we're asking them to do. It's just, man, we're just at a higher level intellectually, as it pertains to football, which is a good thing, really on both sides of the ball. That's where I definitely feel it right now."
Linebackers working to develop chemistry
Malcolm Rodriguez appears to have the early leg-up among the rookies. He caused a pass breakup when he swatted a pass intended for tight end Shane Zylstra in the red zone.
The ability of linebackers to read and recognize developing plays was on display from several members of the roster, including veteran Jarrad Davis.
Notable
- Austin Bryant returned from what was ailing him, and took part in a number of drills.
- Trinity Benson continues to haul in pass after pass. Many could make an argument he has been the standout player at the wide receiver position, along with Josh Reynolds.
- Quintez Cephus recorded a solid one-handed catch, but struggled at times with awareness. He had multiple receptions ruled incomplete, since he was out of bounds.
- Will Harris continues to perform well playing alongside Amani Oruwariye. He has been fairly consistent with his coverage in man-to-man situations.
- Aidan Hutchinson started the day with the first-team defense, and looks like he belongs alongside the other talented members of the defensive line.
- Tight end T.J. Hockenson returned Tuesday, and is very satisfied Ben Johnson has been named the offensive coordinator.
