Author: Paula Pasche

Paula Pasche, a veteran sports writer, covers the Detroit Lions for her Lions Lowdown blog. She has written two books, "Game of My Life Detroit Lions" and "100 Things Lions Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die" which are available at bookstores and on Amazon.com. She won first place for column writing from the Society of Professional Journalists in Detroit (Class B) in 2011, 2012 and 2013 and was The Oakland Press 2010 Staffer of the Year.

Lions’ T.J. Lang says he’s being cautious; if this was regular season he’d be playing

Goal is to play in season opener vs. Jets

ALLEN PARK >> Lions right guard T.J. Lang has been held out of the first two preseason games and much of training camp.

His injury remains a mystery, but he said his goal is still to play against the N.Y. Jets in the season opener on Sept. 10.

“All I can really say is there’s nothing serious going on, I’m being cautious with the training staff — trainers, doctors — my plan this year right now is to take it day by day, get healthy and do my best to get out there for Week 1 which I think is definitely the goal right now,’’ the 30-year-old Lang said on Wednesday.

Lang, who played in 13 games last season, said earlier this offseason it was the best he had felt in a long time. So obviously it’s a little frustrating for him now.

“Luckily for me I’m in a spot where there aren’t any drastic changes just the point where we are in the preseason and training camp I think it’s more caution than anything,’’ Lang said. “I think if it was regular season right now I”d be out here doing everything.’’

He doesn’t seem too concerned about the chemistry with right tackle Rick Wagner and center Graham Glasgow.

“I’ve played a lot of football with Rick and Graham so I think we do our best to kind of simulate what we do on the field in the meetings and the walk-throughs and things like that,’’ Lang said. “We do a good job of communicating even when I’m out there.’’

Coach Matt Patricia turned the tables when asked if it was harder to judge the chemistry on the offensive line with Lang not participating.

“I would say, actually, it’s a great opportunity for us to get a look at a couple of different situations and put some guys in some different spots. Whenever we have somebody that’s not practicing — it doesn’t matter if it’s the offensive line or the secondary or whatever it is, those are all just opportunities for other guys to have reps and to move some people around. Which, we’re going to have to do in order to play during the season,’’ Patricia said on Tuesday.

“You’re going to have to have guys that can play in different positions. And again, now is the opportunity to get a look at that. We can go out and practice at a high level every single day to compete — you get a better feel for those guys than really trying to wait until something happens Week 6, where now you’re trying to find out if a guy can switch positions,’’ Patricia said.

Lang was signed as a free agent in the spring of 2017 when he was coming off hip surgery. He had missed only nine games in eight seasons with the Green Bay Packers.

The Lions play their third preseason game at the Tampa Bay Bucs at 8 p.m. on Friday.

 

Detroit Lions notes: Getting in regular season mode in preparation for Bucs

No panic about the 0-2 start

ALLEN PARK — Matt Patricia made it clear that while it said Monday on the calendar it was a Wednesday for him.

The Lions coach has scheduled this week, leading up to Friday’s preseason game at Tampa Bay, as close as he can to a regular season week as far as practices and meetings.

“It feels more like a normal week, kind of get into a routine, it’s a little different you’re still in training camp but not in training camp. You’re looking at it as a regular season game as far as preparation,’’ safety Glover Quin said.

With a new coach, the day-to-day workings will change at the Lions practice facility.

“I think it’s very important to figure out a routine, this is as close as we can simulate Week 1 as we possibly can,’’ wide receiver Golden Tate said. “It’s imperative we figure out our routine, the game plan, how we’re going to study film because it’s something we’re not familiar with.’’

While the Lions are 0-2 in the preseason, there didn’t seem to be a sense of panic in the locker room prior to Monday’s practice.

“It kind of depends on how you look at it, obviously we go out to win every game we don’t put in all this work to lose, so yeah we would like to be 2-0, unfortunately we’re 0-2,’’ Quin said. “A lot of it has been self-inflicted things we know we can do better at and clean up to execute at a high level.’’

The offense has looked better than the defense so far. It’s hard to tell without the starters playing consistently.

The offensive line, which should be improved this season, has not looked all that strong. Left tackle Taylor Decker said as a line they will improve and get better.

“Me as an individual I’ll be just fine I’ll improve and get better. Going into this next week however much we play, we play, and I think it’ll be good for us to grow moving forward,’’ Decker said.

“I think moving forward I’ll be a lot better. I’m comfortable with saying that. Overall I’ll be OK.’’

The Lions starting offense hasn’t been together much on the field. Matthew Stafford played on Friday night in 17 percent of the offensive snaps.

“For me personally, there are some things we need to fix for sure but I’m confident with the personnel we have in here and the coaching staff we have in here that we’re going to get better and get better fast,’’ Tate said. “We have a very high standard, it’s not going to be lowered. We have to dig deep, fix what we need to fix and come out and play. The good news is that it’s a new week.’’

Defensive backs added

The Lions have signed three defensive backs and subtracted one in the last two days.

On Monday they signed free agent cornerback Dexter McDougle, cornerback Sterling Moore and offensive lineman Beau Nunn. They have placed linebacker Steve Longa (torn ACL) on reserve/injured, released vested veteran defensive lineman Cornelius Washington and waived cornerback Antwuan Davis.

On Sunday, they announced the signing of safety Marcus Cromartie.

 

 

Detroit Lions: One veteran not afraid to speak out on defensive woes

Ricky Jean Francois says what is on his mind

Apparently Ricky Jean Francois didn’t get the message that Lions players are to be seen and not heard.

While there is no hard evidence, that the new coaching staff has silenced the players, it certainly appears that way.

They all talk the same now. We’ve heard the tired old phrase — “We’re just trying to improve every day” every day. “Last year is last year.” We get it.

It was stunning when Darius Slay talked to the media on Tuesday: “Blah, blah, blah.” Nothing. Big Play Slay has personality galore and used to enjoy talking to the media, not just about his game, but also about his guy, Kobe Bryant. He’s a character and there’s nothing wrong with that. Coaches and his teammates have always said Slay is all business out on the field. This week he wouldn’t even bite on going against Odell Beckham Jr., in the joint practices.

So on Friday night, when veteran defensive tackle Ricky Jean Francois spoke from the heart after the preseason loss to the Giants, it was stunning in its own way.

Francois, who played in New England for Matt Patricia for half of last season. He’s 31 and nearing the end of his career so perhaps he has nothing to lose.

Certainly the defensive line, which is mostly comprised of younger guys, needs a teammate who will tell it straight.

Here’s a bit of what he said in the locker room after the game: “It’s disheartening to see us not perfect our technique. It’s disheartening to see us not execute what we executed the whole week. It’s hard not to see certain things that you sit in a building from morning to night going over, then when we get on the field, we don’t see it done. But like I said, we got two more weeks, and we have tomorrow, the first day to start—to start correcting these situations and start correcting to stop that run. Because if you don’t stop the run, you have a lot of great NFL teams in the League that have good running backs and O-lines that can just move that ball whenever they choose to.”

Francois played 17 snaps or 29 percent of the defensive plays in the 30-17 loss to the Giants. In the preseason opener at Oakland he didn’t play.

While he was tough on his teammates, he was careful to say he needs to improve his game too.

On a media conference call on Saturday, Patricia said he trusts Francois because he knows him. He also hinted that Francois is not a lock to make the 53-man roster.

“He has a great value from that (leadership) aspect,’’ Patricia said. “He understands different teams, different programs and organizations and understands what it takes, but in particularly with me in the scheme and what we’re looking for. He has a lot of good insight to give to some of the players, some of the things that he had to do or has gone through, from the aspect how to play some of the situations, he can hand the knowledge down to those guys which is great.

“(He’s) certainly a guy though that has a lot of work to do. He’s working hard to get caught up, we got him here right as training camp got going. Working very hard, he’s a guy I trust and rely on a lot,’’ Patricia said.

Will he make the cut? Stay tuned.