ALLEN PARK >> Rookie Graham Glasgow was on the field more than Laken Tomlinson, the starter at left guard, in Sunday’s win.
Lions coach Jim Caldwell said it was more to give Glasgow a taste of live action in the NFL rather than a condemnation of Tomlinson, a first-round pick in 2015.
PHOTOS FROM LIONS WIN OVER EAGLES
“I think (Tomlinson) is developing exactly like most offensive linemen do. They don’t come in this league and play great for a few years,” Caldwell said on Monday. “Oftentimes you’ll see it takes them a few years to get it because they just are coming along. He’s played really well in some spurts, and his development is coming along. I think he’s going to be fine.”
Caldwell said that Glasgow “did OK, played like a young guy.”
The experience was invaluable.
“There’s nothing quite like it, although battling against Haloti Ngata (in practice) sort of gives you a pretty good sense of what it’s going to be like in there,” Caldwell said. “As well as (Tyrunn) Walker and the rest of the guys, so they get a pretty good look. But the game time, the atmosphere and all those kinds of things are different, but I thought he handled himself well.”
In the win over the Eagles, Glasgow was in for 34 offensive snaps against 27 for Tomlinson who started and finished the game.
Caldwell said Tomlinson, who started every game in 2015 as a rookie, will start at left guard on Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams.
Practice intensity up
The way Jim Caldwell sees it, last week’s solid practices helped lead to the win over the Eagles that snapped a three-game losing streak.
For him, it was pretty basic to understand.
“It wasn’t a matter of any sort of cognitive dissonance. We didn’t have some huge revelation that went against the grain of everything we believe, and we’re going to do some things so much differently,” Caldwell said on Monday.
He’s said it before and he’ll say it again that it’s the little things that count.
“Last week’s work, and these guys practice well, but last week’s work was a little bit unusual. Our Wednesday practice was probably the best Wednesday we’ve had. Our Thursday was a little bit better, our Friday was a little bit better,” Caldwell said. “Now you can’t always practice absolutely great, but that was and the players will probably tell you that, that probably that Wednesday’s practice was probably a little bit different than the norm because I think they were all certainly in tune and working at it.”
Wide receiver Golden Tate agreed.
“I think the intensity was up a little bit more, not that we don’t practice hard every day but we just practiced a little bit harder, we pushed ourselves a little bit more and it paid off in the game,” Tate said.
Caldwell and the players break the season into quarters which seems to make it more manageable for them. The first quarter was a bust at 1-3.
“Obviously the first quarter didn’t go so well, we wanted to start off 1-0,” Tate said. “We understood our schedule was set up to have three straight home games, if we start 1-0 we’re going to give ourselves a chance.”
This and that
With 37 receiving yards, Marvin Jones Jr. surpassed 500 receiving yards (519) in the first five games. Herman Moore (1996) and Calvin Johnson (2012) are the only players in team history with 500-plus receiving yards through the first five games of a season. … Tahir Whitehead led the defense with 12 tackles on Sunday. It was his fourth game in 2016 with 10-plus tackles. … Theo Riddick is the seventh Lions running back in team history to catch 10-plus touchdowns in a career and the first to reach that mark since Hall of Fame running back Barry Sanders (10, 1989-98).
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