Camp Notes: Offense bounces back on Day 2 of joint practices
East Rutherford, New Jersey: Lions head coach Dan Campbell preaches to his players all the time about being a resilient football team, and tackle Penei Sewell thinks the offense was a great example of that over the last two days of joint practices with the New York Giants.
Sewell admitted after Tuesday’s second joint practice the offense didn’t live up to their standards in Monday’s practice. Tuesday was much better for that side of the ball and that was the biggest takeaway Sewell had from the two days of work in New Jersey ahead of Thursday’s preseason opener against the Giants.
“I think the most important thing I’ve learned about our offense is that we have the ability to bounce back,” Sewell said. “We didn’t have the best first day and we were able to come out here today and be better. That’s what I like to see.”
Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs all made big plays for the Lions’ offense Tuesday in team periods, and quarterback Jared Goff was pressured to the point of it probably being a sack just once in a team period, from Kayvon Thibodeaux vs. Sewell.
Sewell, 23, is arguably the best tackle in the NFL in just his fourth season. He won’t play in Thursday’s preseason game, but he got some great work over the last two days going against talented Giants edge rushers like Thibodeaux and Brian Burns.
“It’s definitely something different,” Sewell said of the different skillsets of Thibodeaux and Burns vs. Lions edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson, who Sewell goes against every day in Lions practice. “He (Thibodeaux) has added more power to his game. I definitely felt that out there. He’s gotten better and it was great work both days.
“I go against Hutch every day and at times you kind of lose your progress a little bit just because you’re going against the same guys for like a couple months now. To see our work against another team you can really see how far, not only myself, but the team and the offense as a whole how far we’ve grown.”
