Anthony Borbely
Footballguy
The links below are mlive.com, which is where you can see the opinions of local beat writer Tom Kowalski (who is the best of the locals IMO) and freep.com, which is the online Detroit Free Press, with Nick Cotsonika.
mlive.com link
freep.com link
Below are my impressions of the Lions practice on August 1, 2008. I saw the Lions morning practice (without pads) and a few things stood out:
Around here, the reports on Calvin Johnson (both local and national media) have been glowing to say the least. After seeing him practice, they aren't kidding. He was abusing the DBs. They try to press him; he pretty much tosses them aside and proceeds to his route. He blew by the secondary and caught a long TD from Kitna. He ran good routes and cuts in and out of them like a smaller WR. He looks much better than at any time last year. I don't recall any dropped passes. The DBs had decent coverage at times, but he still caught some balls because of his physical dominance.
Roy Williams also had a great practice and was catching everything. I thought the DBs covered him well too, but, like Calvin, he caught everything. These guys are going to be a tough matchup for DBs because of their physical gifts.
All of the QBs looked pretty sharp, especially Kitna. They had the QBs rolling out for a few plays during one drill and Kitna looks very good doing that. Kitna seems comfortable with the shorter drops too. Stanton also loked pretty good. There have been concerns about his accuracy, but he seemed to be on target for the most part. He left some air under one long pass, and misfired on another, but all in all, I thought he looked solid. He has a strong arm and made a couple of nice passes to the sidelines. He looks good rolling out and was accurate in those few plays. Orlovsky was solid and pretty accurate too, although he doesn't look as comfortable rolling out as the other two.
Kevin Smith had a couple of really nice cutback runs. One play was going right, he went right, cutback quickly to the open lane, and blew downfield. He looks fast. He has good vision, but a couple of times, he did not hit the hole with authority. He looked very good and patient running behind a fullback, notably in short yardage. He also made two very good blocks picking up blitzes. He does not look like a rookie in that aspect of the game. Take it with a grain of salt because they played without pads. But I thought he looked pretty good overall, but needs to be more decisive and faster hitting the hole. When he did, he looked like an NFL starting RB. I'm anxious to see him run when they are in pads. Calhoun looked average and not especially fast. He does have good hands. Cason looked solid catching passes out of the backfield. I did not see Tatum Bell, no idea what was up with that.
Michael Gaines has pretty good hands and they went to him a few times. I can see him being involved in the passing game.
The offensive line had several false start penalties. That reminded me of last year. They need to fix that. The coaches weren't thrilled about that. Other than that and a handful of other plays, the offensive line looked pretty solid.
The defensive line looked average to me. Cliff Avril blew through the line on one play and was in the QBs face before he could blink. I did not see the move he made because it was on the opposite side of the line, but it was easy to see his speed. I did not notice anyone else much on the D line.
Jordon Dizon has a nose for the ball and always seemed to be around it, but still was up and down a bit as he learns the defense. He was out of position on occasion. He reminds me of Zach Thomas.
Leigh Bodden made a nice interception. The secondary looks much better than last year. They have their work cut out for them trying to cover Calvin and Roy every day, but that can only make them better. There were several plays where they had solid coverage, but the pass was still completed.
I'm hoping to go to the controlled scrimmage tomorrow and another practice next week.
They looked a lot better than last year at practice, but there were still some moments of sloppiness.
mlive.com link
freep.com link
Below are my impressions of the Lions practice on August 1, 2008. I saw the Lions morning practice (without pads) and a few things stood out:
Around here, the reports on Calvin Johnson (both local and national media) have been glowing to say the least. After seeing him practice, they aren't kidding. He was abusing the DBs. They try to press him; he pretty much tosses them aside and proceeds to his route. He blew by the secondary and caught a long TD from Kitna. He ran good routes and cuts in and out of them like a smaller WR. He looks much better than at any time last year. I don't recall any dropped passes. The DBs had decent coverage at times, but he still caught some balls because of his physical dominance.
Roy Williams also had a great practice and was catching everything. I thought the DBs covered him well too, but, like Calvin, he caught everything. These guys are going to be a tough matchup for DBs because of their physical gifts.
All of the QBs looked pretty sharp, especially Kitna. They had the QBs rolling out for a few plays during one drill and Kitna looks very good doing that. Kitna seems comfortable with the shorter drops too. Stanton also loked pretty good. There have been concerns about his accuracy, but he seemed to be on target for the most part. He left some air under one long pass, and misfired on another, but all in all, I thought he looked solid. He has a strong arm and made a couple of nice passes to the sidelines. He looks good rolling out and was accurate in those few plays. Orlovsky was solid and pretty accurate too, although he doesn't look as comfortable rolling out as the other two.
Kevin Smith had a couple of really nice cutback runs. One play was going right, he went right, cutback quickly to the open lane, and blew downfield. He looks fast. He has good vision, but a couple of times, he did not hit the hole with authority. He looked very good and patient running behind a fullback, notably in short yardage. He also made two very good blocks picking up blitzes. He does not look like a rookie in that aspect of the game. Take it with a grain of salt because they played without pads. But I thought he looked pretty good overall, but needs to be more decisive and faster hitting the hole. When he did, he looked like an NFL starting RB. I'm anxious to see him run when they are in pads. Calhoun looked average and not especially fast. He does have good hands. Cason looked solid catching passes out of the backfield. I did not see Tatum Bell, no idea what was up with that.
Michael Gaines has pretty good hands and they went to him a few times. I can see him being involved in the passing game.
The offensive line had several false start penalties. That reminded me of last year. They need to fix that. The coaches weren't thrilled about that. Other than that and a handful of other plays, the offensive line looked pretty solid.
The defensive line looked average to me. Cliff Avril blew through the line on one play and was in the QBs face before he could blink. I did not see the move he made because it was on the opposite side of the line, but it was easy to see his speed. I did not notice anyone else much on the D line.
Jordon Dizon has a nose for the ball and always seemed to be around it, but still was up and down a bit as he learns the defense. He was out of position on occasion. He reminds me of Zach Thomas.
Leigh Bodden made a nice interception. The secondary looks much better than last year. They have their work cut out for them trying to cover Calvin and Roy every day, but that can only make them better. There were several plays where they had solid coverage, but the pass was still completed.
I'm hoping to go to the controlled scrimmage tomorrow and another practice next week.
They looked a lot better than last year at practice, but there were still some moments of sloppiness.
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It was too rough for Bettis he had to get out.
all joking aside, Thanks for the thread, AB...
