Morning Lions Links for Tuesday 8-6-19

Articles:

Lions looking to put the big play back in the offense:  https://www.detroitlions.com/news/lions-looking-to-put-the-big-play-back-in-the-offense-stafford-jones-golladay

Camp Spotlight: Quarterback Matthew Stafford:  https://www.detroitlions.com/news/camp-spotlight-quarterback-matthew-stafford-x3063

Former Lion Kyle Van Noy basking in success with Patriots:  https://www.mlive.com/lions/2019/08/former-lion-kyle-van-noy-basking-in-success-with-patriots.html

Detroit Lions show'juice' at practice; Mike Daniels contract details:  https://www.freep.com/story/sports/nfl/lions/2019/08/05/detroit-lions-practice/1927727001/

Birkett: Tom Brady, the ageless wonder, continues to defy Father Time:  https://www.freep.com/story/sports/nfl/lions/2019/08/05/tom-brady-new-england-patriots-detroit-lions/1926189001/

In Detroit, Tom Brady says focus is on present, even as legend continues to grow:  https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/nfl/lions/2019/08/05/detroit-tom-brady-says-focus-present-even-legend-continues-grow/1924300001/

Lions WR Amendola enjoying joint practices with former team:  https://www.wxyz.com/sports/lions-wr-danny-amendola-enjoying-joint-practices-with-former-team

NFL position battles to watch during training camp for all 32 teams (Detroit Lions - Offensive Guard:  Graham Glasgow is expected to be a starter -- and should be despite working here and there with the second unit instead of the first throughout camp -- but who starts at the team's other guard spot remains wide open. Kenny Wiggins appeared to be the early favorite, but he's been getting a bunch of reps with the second team, as well. Joe Dahl and Oday Aboushi have gotten a lot of work with the No. 1s, although all four have seen time there. On a unit on which continuity and familiarity are important, competition for the fifth starting job will be worth watching. -- Michael Rothstein):   https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/27314362/nfl-position-battles-watch-training-camp-all-32-teams

NFL Coaching Hot Seat Rankings: It's already warm in Washington and Jacksonville early in 2019 (8. Matt Patricia, Detroit Lions:  Patricia did not come out of the gates scorching hot, going 6-10 in his first season with the Lions, a record exacerbated by Jim Caldwell being fired after going 9-7 in back-to-back seasons before Patricia arrived. Issues in Patricia's past were brought up before his first season ever began, and it's clear there are some tensions between the organization and the local media members. If that wasn't obvious, Patricia calling someone out for being sloppy should have been made it more obvious. Matthew Stafford struggled badly down the stretch last year, but apparently he was playing with a broken back. The Lions invested in another first-round tight end in T.J. Hockenson and appear poised to run the heck out of the ball with Kerryon Johnson. I don't know that 7-9 would get Patricia canned, but I do think that 7-9 would cause a lot of people to look at the Lions and wonder if Patricia is the guy. Being tight with GM Bob Quinn could push any actual action out another year, but there will be heat on Patricia if the Lions are bad this year.):  https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/nfl-coaching-hot-seat-rankings-its-already-warm-in-washington-and-jacksonville-early-in-2019/

Camp winners, losers: Vikes' O up; QB Lock down (On the upswing- Jahlani Tavai, starting linebacker: Detroit Lions coach Matt Patricia is looking for core pieces to build around on defense. It sounds like he has one in Tavai, a second-round rookie who has quickly been making noise with the starting unit, rotating among all four linebacker spots.):  http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001039006/article/nfl-training-camp-winners-and-losers-tom-bradys-new-status

How Stafford Managed His Wife’s Illness, Brady’s Contract Situation, More NFL Notes:  https://www.si.com/nfl/2019/08/05/matthew-stafford-lions-tom-brady-patriots-contract-nfl-training-camp

MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK (MATT PATRICIA, IN THE MIDDLE OF THINGS IN YEAR 2
ALLEN PARK, Mich.—It’s hard to miss Matt Patricia at Lions practice. After using a golf cart initially as his torn Achilles healed, the Detroit coach switched to a four-wheeler that looks equipped for riding through the woods of Northern Michigan. Which is to say, when he’s somewhere, his players know it. And so it was pretty easy to see, on the day I was there, how Patricia wants to have his finger on the pulse of everything happening out there. While I was looking, he probably spent more time with the offensive skills guys than anyone else, which isn’t a mistake.  “I love to go back and forth,” he said, just before practice on Tuesday. “Obviously, I gravitate towards the O-line. There’s a big part of me. I spent my first couple [NFL] years with the offensive line, the run game and the protections and all that stuff, I’m very involved, interested, in critiquing, being around that, putting the pressure on that group to improve. For whatever reason, whenever the head coach shows up to an individual period, maybe there’s a little more intensity. I like to do that stuff. …  “If there’s an area of emphasis that needs to be made, whether it’s the front end, the back end, the backers, I can get over to that group, I can over to that drill and make sure they’re hearing the words I want it taught in.”  If that sounds familiar it should, because that’s the way Patricia’s mentor, Bill Belichick, runs the show in New England. The idea, Patricia says, is to make sure each phase of the game fits another—that the line way the line protects fits the quarterback, that how the defense plays matches up with the offense—in an effort to ensure that the Lions are playing not just good football, but complementary football.  And while it’s what he’s always wanted, he didn’t get to create as much oversight in his first year on the job. Now he can, and has.“First-year head coach, you’re kind of running around and you’re like, ‘this drill’s got to look like this’ and ‘this guy’s got to be here.’ ‘Where are the goal posts?’ ‘Where’s the tent for the fans?’” he said. “There’s so much. And practice, I felt like if I wasn’t in the middle of everything, orchestrating every single drill, then it wasn’t going to be right. And I’d say now with this training camp, and being a little bit limited here mobility-wise, I can kind of sit back and watch it work by itself. And that is the biggest difference—it all moves by itself.  “The players know where they’re going, the coaches know the drills, everybody knows what we want. Now you can really start to coach, you can really start to teach, you can start to get improvement from the drills. It sounds strange, but it’s true.  “When guys don’t understand the rhythm of what it looks like, and it looks so different than what they’re used to, where we’re trying to make it as much of a game as possible, we’re trying to put transitions in there, we’re trying to go from offense to defense to special teams, move field positions, get into situational football, down-and-distance, all that stuff, and they’d never done that before, those are huge changes “All that is in place to try to make it feel and to prepare like it’s a game. Now, I just see it—‘OK, we’re going to this drill, boom, we go.’ We switch, we change, we go. And that’s the biggest difference right now. It’s the machine.”I think if the Lions get their offensive line sorted out, they’ve got a shot to be interesting, and largely because we’ll get a little more of Patricia’s potential as a head coach is. (And Lions fans should come for this afternoon’s MAQB, for some interesting detail on Matthew Stafford’s very different offseason.)):  https://www.si.com/nfl/2019/08/05/training-camp-drew-brees-saints-patrick-mahomes-chiefs-tom-brady-patriots

Training Camp Notes and Observations:

Lions training camp observations: Tom Brady 1, Detroit 0:  https://www.mlive.com/lions/2019/08/lions-training-camp-observations-tom-brady-1-detroit-defense-0.html

Lions camp observations: Bawden’s impact, Tavai’s coverage, injury concerns:  https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/nfl/lions/2019/08/05/lions-camp-observations-bawdens-impact-tavais-coverage-injury-concerns/1925369001/

Inside Lions camp: Switching gears:  https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/inside-lions-camp-switching-up-the-offense-watch-out-for-this-d-line-a-better-media-vibe-and-more/

Video:

Training camp highlights: Day 10:  https://www.detroitlions.com/video/training-camp-highlights-day-10-x9641

Lions hold first joint practice with Patriots:  https://www.detroitlions.com/video/lions-hold-first-joint-practice-with-patriots

Inside the Den: Lions Camp Episode 2:  https://www.detroitlions.com/video/inside-the-den-lions-camp-episode-2-x5887

Camp Spotlight: Matthew Stafford:  https://www.detroitlions.com/video/camp-spotlight-matthew-stafford-x1070

WATCH: 7 Sports Cave (Aug 4th): https://www.wxyz.com/sports/watch-7-sports-cave-aug-4th