Dan Campbell and Brian Daboll aimed for a tough and competitive practice when the Detroit Lions and New York Giants started their joint sessions in New Jersey on Monday. It seems they got even more intensity than expected.
Lions cornerback and first-round draft pick Terrion Arnold left the field after a drill near the goal line and was checked for a possible concussion. Veteran guard Kevin Zeitler, who joined Detroit as a free agent, injured his shoulder early and had to leave practice.
Arnold appeared to be hurt after a block from Giants left tackle Andrew Thomas. There were several scrambles after plays where players rushed in from all sides to get involved. Peace was restored eventually.
Two of these scrums involved Lions All-Pro receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, first with safety Dane Belton and then with rookie cornerback Dru Phillips.
The most alarming moment for the Giants was when quarterback Daniel Jones rushed into a pile where his center Greg Van Roten was down, with a Lions player on top of him.
This occurred right after Jones hit his hand on the equipment of a Lions defender while throwing a pass.
Daboll immediately reacted and shouted at the Lions to stay away from his quarterback, who was wearing a red no-contact jersey.
Jones said of the situation, “When something like that happens, you want to stand up for your guys. I thought it was a good competitive practice today. We made some plays and did well, though there are definitely things we need to improve. The intensity and competitive spirit were strong today.”
Giants edge rusher Brian Burns, who made a few tackles for losses during practice, later ran onto the field to help break up another scuffle during the 11-on-11 drills.
He smiled when he heard that Jones had gotten involved in another altercation.
“Oh, Lord. Daniel got involved in that? Yeah. I need him to back up,” Burns said. “Let his offensive line handle that. But Daniel, he’s a competitor, man. He’s a fighter. So, I don’t expect anything less from him.”
The teams will practice again on Tuesday and then play their preseason opener on Thursday at MetLife Stadium.
“I told them, ‘We’re competing like we always do, and we’re not holding back,’” Campbell said about his pre-practice speech. “But we’ll treat this like a game, so if you do something that could cost us in a game, it will be part of your evaluation. We have to keep pushing and getting better; we can’t just be cautious.”
Campbell, who was drafted by the Giants and played his first four seasons with them, won a Super Bowl with the team after the 2000 season. As the Lions’ coach, he led them to the NFC title game last season.
“The key is to understand what it took to get to where we were last year. Just because we reached that point doesn’t mean anything now, so we start over,” Campbell said.
The Giants made the playoffs in Daboll’s first season in 2022 but struggled in 2023, finishing 6-11, with Jones tearing his ACL in November. Daboll didn’t place any restrictions on him on Monday.
“Again, it’s practice,” Daboll said. “It’s a competitive practice against another team. We’ll try to do it right. Dan and I have talked about it. We talked about it last year. We got a lot out of it. But remember, it’s just practice, albeit a more intense one because you’re practicing against someone else.”
