Lions-Giants Training Camp Report: A Salty, Feisty and Nasty Joint Practice

Detroit head coach Dan Campbell has built a culture that cultivates an intolerance for perceived disrespect, and his team wasn’t going to allow a rookie wide receiver to get the best of them.

Gibbs should have more of a three-down role with the Lions this season. / Eric Seals / USA TODAY NETWORK

We’ll get to New York Giants vs. Detroit Lions, Round 2, in a minute. I counted about five dust-ups in a span of 27 minutes, the last of which brought practice to a close. These teams were delightfully salty. 

But first … blink and you’d have missed it. Jahmyr Gibbs was in the backfield on a shotgun snap standing next to quarterback Jared Goff during an 11-on-11 scrimmage with the Giants’ starting defense. 

Giants edge Brian Burns got loose to his left side and Gibbs stepped up to plug the hole in front of his quarterback. There was a solid thwack and Burns raised his hand like he may have gotten the better of Gibbs had Goff not been wearing a red jersey. Gibbs, when I asked him about it after practice, had to be reminded that he did, indeed, take a pass-blocking rep this week. 

“[Burns] is strong. I don’t know if I would have gotten that one. Hopefully, Jared would have stepped up,” he says, laughing. 

From my vantage point, I saw it as a tie and the reason that is important is because of another play I caught earlier in practice. The Lions and Gibbs have made no secret about how instrumental he is to the passing game this year, but it was stunning to see him leak out of the backfield to the left and watch the entirety of the Giants defense shift toward the running back. Remember, Sam LaPorta, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams are on the field, too. Last year, Gibbs had one of the highest Net Yards over Average ratings on the Lions’ offense, according to NFLGSIS statistics. Gibbs only played on 57% of the snaps. Gibbs played a majority on first down last year, with 103 of his 182 rushing attempts occurring on first down. Gibbs had just 11 catches and 23 carries on third down. This is a long way of saying that his statistical ceiling is immense. 

Anyway … after the defense moved and Goff eyed Gibbs, wideout Kaden Davis bursts to Goff’s right, having run a sort of skinny post and he’s wide open. The throw is an easier one for Goff that doesn’t involve any cross-body action. Because of the mere threat of Gibbs getting the ball out of the backfield, Goff managed to get a completion 20 yards downfield. 

The Lions were working the Giants’ defense Tuesday with a heavy dose of misdirection. David Montgomery caught what ended up being the best pass to a running back from Goff, but it’s starting to become clear why the Lions invested so heavily in Gibbs. With more pass-protection reps, allowing him to be entrusted with more of a three-down role, Gibbs adds an irreplaceable dynamic. 

“I’ve done it most of my life. I’ve played receiver, running back and DB. It comes naturally,” he says.

Best thing I saw: scuffles

I think most of us can relate to the scenario where temperatures physically rise, we get uncomfortable and a little more flippant without immediate access to a cold beverage of choice in our cup. There’s a reason people say, “hot and bothered.”

So after a physical Monday, the Giants and Lions went back at it in practice Tuesday. I counted five instances of what we could refer to as scuffles, the most significant of which occurred when Malik Nabers walked by Kerby Joseph after a play in the corner of the end zone and swatted at Jones’s facemask playfully. Joseph went back at Nabers with a combination of punches at his Guardian Cap. Nabers was kind of pushed out of the scrum but dove back in when the fight made its way back to him. From there, the fights started occurring every few minutes. At 11:21? Scuffle. At 11:22? Scuffle featuring Sam LaPorta. At 11:24? Scuffle between Bobby Okereke and Levi Onwuzurike. At 11:34? Another scuffle between Gunner Olszewski and Morice Norris. 

MALIK NABERS IS A DAWG 😳😳😳
pic.twitter.com/mspjAYYZEW

— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) August 6, 2024

What most people don’t seem to understand is that this is how a Lions practice goes. I saw fights broken up in mandatory minicamp when I was there in June. Head coach Dan Campbell built a team of people who all seem to possess this common gene variant that cultivates an intolerance for perceived disrespect. I’m not calling the Lions dirty, but Campbell did yeoman's work trying to overhaul this culture in Detroit and make people believe in themselves again. He’s not going to ask them to back down from a rookie of all people throwing his hands into the facemask of a veteran. 

As for the Giants, I got the sense head coach Brian Daboll welcomed it, though that’s nothing I’m reporting. As I wrote in my Giants camp postcard last week, this camp has been about generating toughness and purposefully creating the kind of aggravating moments that will build over the course of a season and will need to be dealt with. 

Best thing I heard: a salty Lions offensive tackle

This is why I love Lions practices and I think this is the perfect embodiment of what Campbell has built. After the Nabers dustup, the Giants’ fan contingent got pretty rowdy. Pressed up against a chain-link fence, a group of fans started screaming at players as they walked by, including 6'9" offensive tackle Dan Skipper, who looks like an ideal hire if the Hells Angels were searching for a secretary of defense. 

Skipper heard a slight, the rest of the Lions’ offensive line started wearing a smirk on their faces and he asked one of the louder fans: “Oh, yeah? How come you’re on the other side of the fence then?” 

He followed with: “Didn’t you pay to come here?”

One final thought on the Lions

Jameson Williams was getting some work in open space Tuesday and juked Giants rookie cornerback Dru Phillips hard. This team has such a great mix of hard-edge players and athletes such as Williams and Gibbs who can make plays in space.