At last, the regular season is here.
ALLEN PARK — At last, the regular season is here.
The Detroit Lions reconvened Monday to begin preparations for their Sept. 10 opener against the Jets on Monday Night Football. And they did so at full strength.
That includes the additions of linebacker Marquis Flowers, offensive tackle Andrew Donnal and cornerback Dee Virgin. Top tight end Luke Willson also was practicing after missing time last week with a knee injury.
„The whole mode changes, really,“ coach Matt Patricia said before practice. „We’ll still be, obviously, working the roster the best we can. We’ll be bringing guys in. There are a lot of guys that have been released here over the last couple days and there will be more to come, so we’ll continually try to look at those players to see if they help upgrade us on our roster. But really at this point, we start to transition into the next phase, which is specifically trying to game plan for an opponent, the Jets here, on a long week.
„We really want to focus on their team and see where they’re at from their roster and the guys that they bring in. Obviously, they have some changes there that they’ve made so far, and we have to address those and make sure we understand where all the guys that played through preseason are going to line up here when we see them next Monday.“
One of those guys, of course, is Sam Darnold. The Jets took the former USC quarterback third overall, then announced he would be the opening day starter after they traded Teddy Bridgewater to New Orleans. At 21 years old, he’ll become the youngest quarterback to start an NFL game since Matthew Stafford in 2009.
Darnold completed 29 of 45 passes during the preseason, for 244 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. His passer rating was 83.9.
„As you’re going through the draft process, you’re going to look at those guys coming out of school and really try to do a good job and your due diligence on them anyways as far as the draft is concerned,“ Patricia said. „And then you try to carry that over into what you see on tape through the preseason. So, it’s a big challenge, I think, when you get those guys (who haven’t played before). And certainly with a new offensive coordinator, maybe a couple different things scheme-wise that they’re going to do.“
