Author: Paula Pasche

ALLEN PARK >> Nine years ago, Matthew Stafford was 21 and about to enter his first training camp with the Lions. The young quarterback with the multi-million dollar arm had a little weight on his shoulders. First, he was the NFL’s top overall draft pick. Second, the Lions were coming off an 0-16 season.

Pressure? A bit.

Still, one of the first questions he had to answer back then was whether he prefers to be called Matthew or Matt.

On Thursday, Stafford stood at the podium at the Lions practice facility with many of the same goals — making himself a better quarterback and leading the team to success. At heart, the quarterback remains the same, now it’s just the questions that are different.

Year 10 starts with the opening of training camp on Friday.

“You learn every year, last year was no different. Just excited to be back, excited to have all the guys in here. We got here a little early and had a chance to get settled in,’’ the 30-year-old Stafford said. “I’m excited. Every year is a different year — new players, new coaches, all of that stuff. Always happens in this league this year is the same.’’

Five more thoughts from Stafford:

1. One running thread from his media session on Thursday was how last season means nothing in the grand scheme of the NFL. It’s good that he has familiarity with most of his offensive teammates but they all know they have to put in the work. “Just because we had a good year throwing the ball last year or a guy had a great season running the ball or whatever it is, doesn’t mean it’s going to happen again. We understand that,’’ Stafford said. “You’re in this business long enough you understand that year to year you have to prove it. We’ve got a bunch of really competitive guys, guys who will work extremely hard to go out there and prove it.’’

2. He’s got a good feeling about this season but that is not unusual. “I’m optimistic every year, I know the work I put in, I know the work that my teammates put in, our coaching staff puts in, in the offseason. I know it’s not going to falter now. It’s going to get ramped up even more. You can look around and see the guys working next to you and feel pretty good about it,’’ Stafford said.

3. While the Lions have a new head coach in Matt Patricia, offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter brings continuity entering his fifth season. “As a player, as a leader on the team, it’s on me to adapt to that and get us going in the right direction as soon as possible. Coach Patricia is no different, he and I have great dialog and talk quite a bit. I’m doing everything I can to lead these guys in the right direction,’’ Stafford said. Cooter acknowledged that he and Stafford continue on the same wave length with good and easy communication.

4. Stafford’s 10th training camp will be easier in many ways, but tougher in others. “Just experience in this league, obviously you’re comfortable with the way training camp is going to go and the way preseason is going to go and you know what regular season is all about — just those experiences,’’ Stafford said. “There are probably a couple things are harder too. Just getting up and moving around and doing all that is more difficult as you play more years. … I think none of it is easy. I’m always trying to find a way to be better. I don’t see myself as a finished product. When I was 21 years old I felt pretty good most days. Now, I don’t feel bad but it’s different, a little bit of a new normal but I feel as good as I’ve felt going into camp for a long time. I feel really healthy and ready to go.’’

5. He’s thrown for 34,749 yards in his first nine seasons but readily admits he is not a finished product. He’ll go from year to year picking out areas of his game that need improvement. “You’re trying to create as good of habits as you can possibly. Our game is so reactionary you can’t think about a lot of the stuff you’re doing out there. It has to be good habits and good reactions. And the more times you can put yourself in those situations on the practice field it’s going to translate to the game,’’ Stafford said. “That’s what I do try to put the hard work in, so when we’re playing on Sundays I’m doing the right thing.’’

ALLEN PARK >> Lions linebacker Jarrad Davis has been counting the days to get into pads at training camp.

“It’s almost here, that’s what I’ve been saying this whole break. Everybody’s been asking me, ‘How are you feeling? What’s going through your head?’ I’ve been saying, ‘I’m itching, I’m itching.’ Every single day it’s getting closer,’’ Davis said on Thursday, the day players report to the practice facility.

Camp gets into full gear on Friday morning. The players will have a few days to work out in shorts before they practice in pads.

Every snap, every day is important but practicing in pads is so much closer to the real thing.

“I think it’s real football. The only thing is I’m not getting hit, but just windows to throw the ball into, seeing between linemen, how a pocket is really going to hold up or it isn’t,’’ quarterback Matthew Stafford said on Thursday. “If you don’t have pads on it’s tough — tough for the guys on defense, tough for the guys on offense. They’re not going to bull-rush each other and all that kind of stuff without pads on. That’s part of it and really on the outside too. Receivers if you don’t have pads on it’s hard for the DBs to jam you, you put the pads on it’s real now it’s real football, it’s what it’s all about.’’

Offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter looks forward to the first day of padded practice too.

“I’m excited about a lot of things. I’m excited for our first opportunity to get pads on that’s a much more realistic representation of football,’’ offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter said on Thursday. “You go through OTAs, there’s no pads, obviously you’re running the football, you’re pass protecting, you’re running with the football that’s a different thing. It’s different having pads from not having pads.

“Some of the techniques can change, some of the players are a lot better when they put the pads on, maybe not built for non-padded football but at the end of the day we’re going to play padded football,” Cooter said. “It’s a good opportunity for us to get better at some of those things that are best made to get better with pads on.”

While Cooter is back for his fifth season in Detroit, he’ll have a few new players on offense including draft picks Frank Ragnow and Kerryon Johnson along with free agents LeGarrette Blount, Luke Wilson and Matt Cassel.

He’s also expecting a few unknowns to step up.

“There will be young players we don’t know a lot about in pads. That’s really exciting this time of year. Somebody always stands out when you put the pads on that you maybe didn’t expect when you don’t have the pads on,’’ Cooter said.

For the Lions, improvement of the running game is atop the offensive to-do list. Pads will make it easier to see where the offense stands in that area which includes the offensive line.

(Photo from Lions training camp a year ago.)

ALLEN PARK >> New defensive coordinator Paul Pasqualoni is itching to get to work in his first training camp with the Detroit Lions.

He has gotten to know the players through OTAs and minicamp, but when training camp starts on Friday it all gets real.

“I want to see tough, I want to see smart and I want to see really well-conditioned guys,’’ Pasqualoni said on Thursday. “What do I mean by tough? Tough is working at a very, very high dependable level on a very consistent basis regardless of what we’re doing — meeting, lifting weights, practice, watching film — every single day. To me that’s tough. Smart from a defensive standpoint – no penalties, knowing what to do, knowing situational football. … So that smart thing is really really important. And condition is condition being able to play hard every single snap, not having to take less effort because you’re so tired you can’t go hard.’’

Players report Thursday and hit the field on Friday morning.

Five thoughts from Pasqualoni on the eve of camp:

1. For him, the scheme is not the most crucial element to a successful defense. He started his career as an elementary school teacher and worked his way up through the coaching ranks. He’s still a teacher at heart and that’s what excites him. He loves developing players and helping them be the best at what they do. “I think there’s a lot of ways to climb a mountain, a lot of ways to skin a cat. I don’t think the scheme is always the most important thing,’’ Pasqualoni said. “I think it’s the attitude and the improvement of the guys who have to do all these things.’’

2. While defensive end Ziggy Ansah starts camp on the physically unable to perform list, Pasqualoni is not concerned that he will miss much about the new scheme. “I look at all injured players the same, there is no reason the attention and the passion to prepare in the meetings and mentally in practice is not at a very high level, the same level,’’ the defensive coordinator said. “So the approach with an injured player is you don’t miss a rep, you do not miss a rep. Regardless of whether you can do the walk-through, can do the practice, you can always, always mentally get the rep. When you’re a pro and at this level of football that is your job, you’re responsible for the information.’’ Of course, he didn’t offer any details on Ansah’s health.

3. He’s taking a wait-and-see approach while he gets a better idea of what kind of unit he has. “I’m going to find out about what I like about our depth on our defense. I’m not prepared right now to be prepared to say we have depth or we don’t have depth,’’ Pasqualoni said. “We have to get going, start working our way through preseason camp – practice hard, work hard let the cream rise to the top.’’

4. He also would not talk about certain players. He was specifically asked about linebacker Jarrad Davis whose growth from a rookie to Year 2 could be critical to the success of this defense. “Again I’m going to say this I think we have a lot of terrific guys on this team. Preseason camp is a different time. I’ve been in this long enough to know that this is a grind. I want to see how each and every player on this team reacts to this next phase of the program which is preseason camp,’’ Pasqualoni said. “I’m going to reserve my comments until we’re into it.’’

5. He’s known Matt Patricia since he opened the door for Patricia as an offensive grad assistant at Syracuse where Pasqualoni was the head coach in 2001-2003. “Obviously I always knew Matt was high-energy very bright guy. Always knew that. He is extremely well organized. The details regardless of what we’re doing whether it’s meetings or practice, or offseason program or conditioning or taking care of the players, hydration, nutrition, he really does an outstanding job. You know the guy but until you work with him there’s no way of knowing that. I think he’s very very well organized a very detailed guy,’’ Pasqualoni said.