The Lions are hosting the Giants for joint practices in Allen Park this week.
Tuesday is open to season ticket holders and Wednesday is open to the public, but all tickets for both days have been claimed.
Dan Campbell spoke on Saturday about what to expect.
On what he learned from joint practices with the Colts last season that he wants to apply to joint practices with the Giants:
“Yeah, well, first of all, it’s what you think it’s going to be, as far as the intensity goes up and the level of competition. It’s a different – it’s a fresh look at somebody else and I love that because camp – you’ve got to be careful. You get into the same routine, the rut, the mundane and you don’t really ever go. You’re just spinning your wheels, so this will be good for us. So, it validated that, but I think also – I loved what we did, but there was a couple of things that – maybe a couple of more team periods here and there, or maybe we come together more, that was one of the things – I would love to, at the very end, we’re all on one field and so, our offense is watching our defense and then we switch it. So, we’ll do some of that at the very end of both days, which I like. And I think it’s important that your teammates see what’s going on, on the other side of the ball. And then just a couple of little clean up things, like last year, we were the – we get out there to them and we start the one-on-one periods with the backs and linebackers and we’re all the way down at one end of the field and then, ‘Oh we can’t – we’re throwing into them, we’ve got to bring them –’ making sure everything is set up perfectly. It’s not – I’m all about chaos, but not like that. We’re organized, player safety, we’ve got people back and it’s – and we get really good work, keep them healthy, keep them up, I would say that.”
On why these next two weeks of joint practices are valuable:
“Yeah, well they’re valuable in what I already kind of explained, just the level of competition and it’s something different, which I think is great for our guys. It’s no different than – I mean, you get unbelievable work with – for example, (Lions T Penei) Sewell and (Lions DL Aidan Hutchinson) Hutch, going back-to-back – over and over, and they – you start figuring each other out a little bit, which is awesome because you have to keep tinkering with it. Well, to be able to now, to get a different opponent, you get a totally different look and now I’ve got to adjust quickly, quickly, to get my job done. I just – I think those are invaluable and a lot of it is there’s going to be a few players that – this is their game. I mean this is really their game reps. That was kind of part of the allure for me too, is man, we can really load our guys up with great looks, a lot of volume, intensity and then they may sit in the games.”
