The Detroit Lions finished up their first week of joint practice of the 2025 training camp period, and a big theme to emerge was the way the offense performed.
Amon-Ra St. Brown put the Miami Dolphins through a meat grinder on the first day, and overall, Detroit's offense showed out. That was not unexpected given the relative strength of that group. What may have been a bit of a surprise was the similar strength of Detroit's defense.
Life wasn't easy for the Miami offense whatsoever, something which pleased veteran linebacker Grant Stuard. As Stuard explained, the fact the Lions were able to have a strong effort against another team was a major positive, and something which can help set a standard of excellence.
"It's one of those things where you're happy to see it play out. You're happy to know that your hard work is is doing something going against somebody new. At the same time, there's little things we need to clean up. So, that's what we can focus on. I think our effort was phenomenal. Our competitive edge was where you would expect. But (there's) little bitty things that I think we can clean up as a defense."
As a whole, Stuard loved the physicality and attitude his group played with when going up against Miami. He wants to see that mindset permeate through the roster no matter whether the player is a starter, backup or seldom-used third-team prospect scrapping for a role.
"I think we were very physical. I think we were very confident. I just want to see the consistency go up from us from that first group to the second group to the third group. Everybody out there, we expect no drop off. So, I think we can improve on that for sure."
The Lions have been setting the tone on defense, and it's a positive that the momentum didn't stop when a new opponent entered the practice field in Allen Park.
Lions' strong defensive effort in Thursday practice vs. Dolphins encouraging
Stuard was no doubt happy to see what the Lions accomplished on Thursday given the way defensive practice went against Miami. Detroit was once again up to its tricks in snuffing out the opposing attack, and were all over the Dolphins from start to finish.
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As Nolan Bianchi of the Detroit News pointed out, while Miami was able to wake up from their previous performance, the Detroit defensive effort matched, led by Aidan Hutchinson's activity up front.
Next set of first-team 11-on-11
— Nolan Bianchi (@nolanbianchi) August 14, 2025
- Hutch sack
- run stuff
- incompletion
- short run gain
- Anzalone sack
- incompletion
- incompletion (forced by Hutch pressure)
During camp, there's been a few concerns with the Detroit offense, but that could be due to the fact that the Lions' defense is looking much improved. There's also potential for Detroit to be elite defensively as well, something Miami could certainly say they saw coming if it happens.
As training camp continues, perhaps the biggest theme to watch is continued positive play defensively. The group is trending to be a strength one year removed from an injury crisis. If the Lions can be periodically elite on that side of the ball, it could be the biggest key to unlocking their Super Bowl dreams.