Lions Lowdown

ALLEN PARK >> It’s not sexy — and it’s hardly new — but apparently Detroit Lions head coach Matt Patricia’s basic message to the team is to improve each day.

Also, don’t look back on last season.

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The Lions opened training camp on Friday. It’s always a day that is starred on NFL calendars. It’s like Christmas in July. Add a new head coach to the equation and the interest grows. It’s all good for a team coming off a 9-7 season.

But know this, Patricia is looking to coach these guys up much more than he’s looking to fill reporters’ notebooks with juicy tidbits. Apparently the team is taking that same approach.

Check out these two quotes from post-practice on Friday:

Safety Glover Quin: “We’ve got to stack good days on top of good days and try to get better all across the board. We’re very detailed in what we’re doing. Understanding the system, understand the concepts of everything. Just try to get better, stay healthy, try to take care of your body and keep your head down and just grind it out, grind through training camp, get to the season and grind through the season. Look up at the end and you’re in the playoffs, hopefully making a run for it.’’

Left tackle Taylor Decker: “Looking forward to stacking one day on top of one another and it’s pretty simple, I know it sounds cliche but try to get better every day and improve constantly.’’

Right out of the handbook. It’s similar to the approach taken by coach Jim Caldwell who tried to work his magic on this bunch for five seasons.

“We talk to the team every day. I try to coach them up every single day on specific details or putting emphasis on what we’re trying to accomplish that day. I think it’s always good to sit in front of a group, football team, whatever it may be and say, ‘Hey, here are our goals for today.’ And try to keep it on the short term. And they change day by day,’’ Patricia said on Friday.

“There are obviously long-picture goals and things like that — you know, for us with training camp, our biggest focus is to try to have the best practice we can have right now and we’re not really going to look past that,” Patricia added.

The coach hasn’t mentioned the playoffs or getting to the Super Bowl, a regular event when he was with the New England Patriots. It’s all about the day-to-day grind.

“Big picture goals for us—and it’s going to be another generic kind of overview—is going to be to improve as we go through. And how do we grade and evaluate that improvement. So, certainly right now where we are we should be better in a week and hopefully a month, and then as we look at September through October, our whole goal—big picture goal—will be to improve as the course of the season goes,’’ Patricia said Friday morning just before he took the field for camp.

It’s early but it appears the players have bought in. Will it continue?

“We’re just out here working, that’s what (Patricia) talks about a lot. Just make sure we put in the work,’’ Quin said. “At the end of the day you’ve got to put in the work whether you’re thinking short-term or thinking long-term you have to put in the work. This is Day One practice of hopefully 100-something.’’

The grind continues on Saturday.

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.)