Inside Ford Field: 3 Observations from Practice in Detroit

Wednesday presented an opportunity for the Detroit Lions to return to Ford Field -- the site of their NFL season opener Sept. 13 against the Bears.

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"We’re going to head down to the stadium and give a little bit of a trial run through our normal gameday operation and get through the pre-game stretch routine," Lions head coach Matt Patricia said in his pre-practice media session Wednesday.

As he explained further,

"It’ll be a great change of scenery for us, which will be nice. But, there’s a lot of logistics here (that) it seems we want to make sure we handle from the standpoint of what a gameday operation will look like -- so that when it comes up for the first time against Chicago, we’re not dealing with anything other than just concentrating on the game.”

Here are three observations from Wednesday's practice held at Ford Field.

1.) Wide receiver Danny Amendola and Darryl Roberts were limited at practice.

Amendola and Roberts did not actively participate in the practice drills Wednesday.

Rookies Julian Okwara and Hunter Bryant were also non-participants for most of the drills.

Jeff Okudah seemed limited Wednesday as well, simply participating in individual drills.

2.) D'Andre Swift participated in individual drills

A certain level of concern had started to impact supporters of the Detroit Lions.

Swift had missed several consecutive days of practice, as he was nursing a muscle strain.

On Wednesday, both Swift and fellow running back Bo Scarbrough were active participants in all the individual drills from Ford Field.

3.) Detroit general manager Bob Quinn and team president Rod Wood were present.

This week will be a challenging one for decision-makers. There are a couple of close battles that will be waged for the final few roster spots.

Will Detroit carry three quarterbacks and six wide receivers? Which running back will be placed third on the depth chart behind Kerryon Johnson and Swift?

All key questions that upper management will have to answer within the next 72 hours.

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