The Detroit Lions had a big day on Wednesday when they had the Miami Dolphins in for the first day of joint practices. There was a lot to take away from this one. Here are our observations from the day:

The Lions’ defense is really good

There’s this thing about the Lions not drafting an edge rusher and that being the end of the world, and the injuries are supposed to be a big problem, too, but this defense is so good. We now know why the Lions’ offense has been struggling; it’s because it has to play this defense every day.

Tua Tagovailoa had a really bad day. Granted, Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle were not on the field all day, but I’m unsure how much of a difference that would have made given the pressure he was under. Aidan Hutchinson had multiple sacks, Trevor Noawske had a sack, and Marcus Davenport had a sack. When he wasn’t getting sacked, he was on the run and throwing the ball out of bounds.

In the red zone, it got even worse. There were a lot of overthrows and batted balls. The Lions did have some trouble with stopping the run in that area, but overall, it was an impressive day.

Jared Goff’s best day

Jared Goff was playing Madden on easy mode out there with all the sliders in his favor. He was throwing the ball into windows that were Matthew Stafford-like. It was just stuff you’re not always used to seeing him do. He hit Amon-Ra St. Brown for multiple touchdowns, and Jameson Williams on a big play as well. If you were worried about the offense, maybe don’t do that anymore.

Jack Jones probably doesn’t like Amon-Ra St. Brown much

It’s probably because he got beaten all day long by him. Wednesday was the St. Brown show, and it was mostly at the expense of Jones. He beat him like it was personal.

The catch of the day was a dime by Goff into the end zone, where St. Brown caught it over his shoulder in a small window. It’ll make the Lions’ highlight reel for sure.

Not the best day for Manu

We didn’t see Giovanni Manu a ton on Wednesday, but what we did see from him in drills was rough. There were multiple times where he was getting beaten, and it was like he never had time to set his feet to get in position to even touch the guy. Nobody is throwing up any red flags or sounding any alarms. It’s just the little things that you can see that he needs to fix. He’s got plenty of time to do it.

Chop Robinson probably won’t try that spin move on Sewell again

Chop Robinson got hurt on Wednesday, and that was not great to see for the Dolphins. But he might have had his pride hurt a little earlier in drills when he tried to hit a spin move on Sewell, and it just did not work at all. Sewell never bit on it, and it was like a wall that Robinson couldn’t get past. Hopefully, there’s a video of it.

Fights

With joint practices, there’s always competition, and sometimes competition comes with high emotions. There were a couple of scraps on Wednesday. Notably, Jameson Williams and former Lions safety Ifeatu Melifonwu got into it at the end of practice. Punches were thrown, and it was quickly broken up.

The other was on a David Montgomery play where Isaac TeSlaa was blocking and had his helmet ripped off. TeSlaa took exception to that and pushed back, and then a light scuffle broke out. So, nothing on the level of the Lions and Giants joint practices last summer, but there were still some scuffles.

Arnold seems fine

Dan Campbell said in his pre-practice press conference that the Lions were hoping to get Terrion Arnold back next week, but then we arrived at the field, and he was fully suited up and participating in some individual drills. He didn’t participate beyond that, but maybe he could return sooner. We’ll see.

2 Minute drills

Both teams got a scenario where they had 54 seconds and two timeouts left at the end of the half. Here’s how it worked out for both teams:

Dolphins:

• Tagovailoa to Dee Eskridge for a short gain
• Tagovialoa throws an incomplete pass
• False start on the Dolphins
• Robertson breaks up the third-down pass
• Davenport and Hallet team up for the sack on fourth down

Lions:

• Goff to St. Brown for 25 yards
• Goff to Brock Wright for 7 yards
• Goff to Ronnie Bell for 11 yards
• Goff to Zylstra for 8 yards
• Goff incomplete to St. Brown
• Illegal contact penalty on the Lions
• Time ran out

Emptying the notebook

• Sione Vaki had a really nice run, but it was called back for an illegal shift. Still, it was nice to see him out there.
• There was this cool moment in 1-on-1 drills where Kalif Raymond beat Ethan Bonner on a comeback route for a catch. Then, TeSlaa did the same exact thing to Bonner on his next rep.
• Derrick McClendon hit a nice spin move on Dan Skipper in drills. On the next rep, Skip pancaked him to the ground. It was a nice rebound.
• Ian Kennelly had an interception of Zach Wilson.

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