By Michael Stets
ALLEN PARK–After nine days of practice, the Detroit Lions are taking their training camp on the road to Indianapolis, Ind. for two straight days of joint sessions with the Colts, before the two teams face off on Sunday in their preseason opener at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Head coach Jim Caldwell says he’s looking forward to evaluating how his players compete and perform against a new opponent, as opposed to their own teammates.
“It should be really good for us,” he said after Wednesday’s practice. “We have an opportunity to evaluate our guys against a little different competition, different schemes, etcetera. It’ll be some good work. We’ve been working against one another since the spring, so it’ll give us a good chance to really look at them from a little different vantage point.”
Caldwell explained that in order for a joint practice to occur with another team, both coaching staffs need to share similar philosophies in how they operate.
“First of all, I think you practice against people that you have like mindedness in terms of how you practice, what you want to get accomplished and things of that nature, so I’ve been knowing Chuck [Pagano] for a while. I think we’re going to be able to have a couple of really good sessions and then obviously the game in itself.”
Caldwell said he’s known Pagano since the early 1980s. The two future NFL coaches met while Caldwell was an assistant coach with the University of Colorado. At that time, Pagano hadn’t started his coaching career, but was working at his father’s football camp. Pagano’s father Sam, Caldwell said, is well-known out in Colorado for that particular camp, which he ran for 36 years, and for winning three state titles at Fairview High School, where he coached for 26 years.
The trek out to Indianapolis isn’t a long one, which Caldwell noted as a positive. Moreover, he really likes the idea of being able to evaluate his players in two practices as well as the game itself. That will allow him to really focus in on certain players,” he says.
“The proximity [to Indianapolis] is good for us obviously, and the great thing is it’s our first ball game, so we get the chance to doubly look at our team against another team as opposed to one day. Because you can’t always get everything you want to see in the actual game in itself in terms of number of guys in, things of that nature, because some things are unpredictable in terms of timing. But in a practice setting, you can set up a lot of evaluations and really take a real, good, close look at some guys.”
And it’s not just the coaches who are looking forward to the dual practices with the Colts. The players are excited too. Wide receiver Golden Tate said he welcomes the opportunity for different competition.
“We’ve been going against [Darius] Slay and Nevo [Nevin Lawson] and all those guys for–I don’t know–a week and a half, two weeks now,” said Tate. “It’s definitely going to be fun to go against something different, test out our skills and see where we are as a team. But individually it’s just an opportunity to go out there and play against other people. That’s always fun. And the way I’m built, I’m a competitor, so I’m looking forward to a good opportunity to compete.”
Tate is entering his seventh NFL season, so as a veteran of the team, what’s his message to the rookies and young players for the upcoming practices against the Colts?
“I would say, this game is very, very hard to be perfect at. So, you have a split second between making decisions. So whatever you do you are going to make mistakes, just do it fast. Do it with effort. And just remember, we’ve had offseason training. We’ve had–I don’t know–10, 11 days of camp or however many days it is, and do what’s been working. Whatever we’ve been doing out here, we should go out there and it should work as well. Just play hard.”
The joint practices with the Indianapolis Colts will take place on Thursday and Friday morning at 9:30 a.m. ET. Sunday’s preseason game takes place at Lucas Oil Stadium with a 1:30 p.m. ET kickoff time.