Lions minicamp Day 2 observations: St. Brown dominates situational drills

Day 2 of Detroit Lions’ mandatory minicamp was heavily focused on end-of-game situational drills. So this observation rundown will be a recap of how each of those scenarios ended and will conclude with some overall thoughts on players’ performances.

Note: For a full breakdown of injuries and participation reports, check out this post.

Scenario 1: Full drive starting at the opponent’s 40-yard line

The first team offense had little issue moving down the field to open team drills. Jameson Williams caught a pair of passes from Jared Goff that probably totaled around 25 yards, including a perfectly placed post route that Williams caught and toe-tapped inbounds.

The Lions were struggling in the red zone, but on third-and-goal from about the 7-yard line, Goff scrambled, bought some extra time after Williams wasn’t open, and threw a nice ball off his back foot to a wide open Antoine Green for the touchdown.

It was a much bigger struggle for the second-team offense. Hendon Hooker’s day started with two misfires and a sack (from Levi Onwuzurike) in his first four plays. They continued the drive to get reps in, and to his credit, Hooker started to heat up. He found Maurice Alexander for a short touchdown after calmly going through his reads and lofting a nice pass. And on the very next play—serving as the third team’s quarterback, as well—Hooker dropped a perfect 40-yard bomb to OTA All-Star Kaden Davis, who has seemingly caught a big catch in every practice.

Unfortunately for Hooker, they reset the ball, and while he continued to drive the offense downfield, the series ended with Hooker throwing another pick-six to Khalil Dorsey, and it was very reminiscent of the one from Tuesday.

Scenario 2: 29 seconds left, down 1 point, starting on own 30-yard line with 2 timeouts

Goff went to Amon-Ra St. Brown on four consecutive plays here. The first was broken up by Amik Robertson who, after initially lining up in the wrong spot (and hearing it from coaches), perfectly read Goff and knocked the ball out of St. Brown’s hands in brilliant anticipation.

That said, Goff found St. Brown on the other three completions for a combined 31 yards, setting up the Lions for a 56-yard field goal attempt to “win.”

Michael Badgley missed the kick wide left, while James Turner made it.

Scenario 3: 7 seconds left, down 1 point, starting on own 42-yard line with 1 timeout

Hooker split two defenders with a nice pass to Alexander for 21 yards. That set the Lions up for a 55-yard field goal after the timeout.

Again, Badgley pushed it wide left, while Turner made it.

Scenario 4: 8 seconds left, down 1 point, starting on own 45-yard line with no timeouts

Goff checked the ball down to St. Brown for about a 9-yard gain, stopping the clock after the Lions All-Pro went out of bounds. That would have set up for about a 64-yard field goal, but the Lions moved the ball up to attempt 54-yard field goals. Both kickers made it, but Turner’s kick, in particular, likely would’ve been good from 64.

Scenario 5: 14 seconds left, down 1 point, starting on opponent’s 40-yard line with no timeouts

Hooker made a couple of poor decisions on this two-play drive. On the first, he couldn’t find anyone open, so he scrambled up the middle, and eventually found his way to the sideline to stop the clock. It was a dangerous move because if he was “sacked” there likely wasn’t enough time to spike the ball.

Unfortunately, he made matters worse on the next play, with only eight seconds left. After holding onto the ball too long, he checked the ball down to a receiver who was not close to the sideline and he was “tackled” in bounds, allowing the clock to expire. Let’s just say Hooker received an ear-full from coaches after that.

The Lions opted to kick field goals at the end of this drill, and both Badgley and Turner made it from 52 yards out.

Scenario 6: 20 seconds left, down 3 points, starting on opponent’s 16-yard line on third-and-7.

Goff targeted—guess who—St. Brown for what would have been a first down, but rookie cornerback Terrion Arnold was all over him and broke up the pass. It was great coverage on the play, and it forced a field goal attempt. Badgley and Turner were both good from 34 yards out.

Hooker ran out and did the same drill with the second-team offense, and immediately threw a nice touchdown pass up the seam to Kalif Raymond for the win. They trotted both kickers out for a 33-yard attempt anyway, and both made it.

Scenario 7: 15 seconds left, down 6 points, starting on opponent’s 16-yard line, no timeouts

On a nice play design, Goff hit Williams in stride for an in-motion route that picked up an easy 9 yards, stopping the clock as the third-year receiver got out of bounds. After a throw away over the end zone (with St. Brown the nearest receiver), Goff went back to St. Brown, who split the coverage between Arnold and linebacker Jack Campbell for a touchdown. St. Brown heaved the ball a good 30 yards in celebration.

Scenario 8: 10 seconds left, down 6 points, starting on opponent’s 24-yard line, 1 timeout

Hooker, again, held onto the ball after not being able to find anyone and scrambled for about 6 yards. After calling a timeout, the Lions had time for just one play, and Hooker heaved the ball into heavy traffic for a mini-hail mary. Malcolm Rodriguez should have picked it off, but it bounced off his hands, right into Brock Wright’s hands… and off his hands onto the ground for an incompletion.

Notes:

• As you may have noticed, Amon-Ra St. Brown was a favorite target of Goff. If you’re keeping score, after the opening scenario, Goff targeted St. Brown on six straight passes, resulting in four catches for 40 yards. Throw in his 10-yard touchdown pass, and it was a dominant day from him.
• I would call Wednesday Hooker’s best practice I’ve seen yet, especially as it pertains to his accuracy. He was hitting passes from short, medium, and deep distances and all with appropriate velocity. However, mental mistakes are far too prevalent. He’s continuing to hold the ball for too long, and his time management mistake was unacceptable.
• Levi Onwuzurike picked up a pair of early pressures, including one sack. On the sack, the Lions ran a play-action rollout, and Onwuzurike played it perfectly, holding his edge, not taking the bait of the play-action, and being right there for the easy sack. Dan Campbell offered some high praise of Onwuzurike before practice, and it seems like there’s some relative optimism surrounding his play—although pads are not on yet and he’s going up against a Lions offensive line missing three of their starters.
• I also had a couple of pressures recorded from Josh Paschal, as well. Solid day from him.
• For easier reference, Michael Badgley had makes from 54, 52, 34 and 33. Misses from 55 and 56.
• James Turner made all of his situational kicks (56, 55, 54, 52, 34, 33)
• The Lions finished practice with some 7-on-7s, and it flashed both the good and bad from Jameson Williams. On one play, Amik Robertson was being overly physical with Williams, and he couldn’t fight through it, stumbling as the ball was thrown by him. On the next play, Goff targeted Williams with a deep shot, and despite close coverage and hand fighting with Carlton Davis, Williams located the ball and caught it for a big gain. (Then proceeded to throw the ball Amon-Ra style.)
• During 7-on-7s, Hooker had his best ball of the day, hitting Tom Kennedy on a deep post for a big gain. The ball was perfectly placed and a good example of the raw talent he has as a passer.