inner-banner-4

Posts Tagged ‘#Preseason’

Training Camp Blog-Takeaways from 1st Preseason, Head Coach Jim Caldwell, and the upcoming game against Oakland

Friday, August 15th, 2014

My first catch as a Lion was fun. The play call was kind of designed for, if the coverage was right, it to come to me. I knew I was going to have limited opportunities in the game, so I tried to make the best of it. It ended up being almost an explosive gain, which is exciting.

So I think it was a good start. I look forward to many, many, many more passes and great catches in this offense. I’m really excited about it.

Golden Tate
(Photo: Detroit Lions)

I thought Dan and Kellen, did a great job moving the ball and commanding the huddle. I think they handled their business. I thought our young receivers, once they got their jitters out, they balled out especially Peacock. And Broyles had some really, really big catches that definitely helped him out that day. Our young fellas, the tight ends, handled their business. I think overall we did a good job. I don’t think we played perfect.

The offensive line did a good job protecting the quarterback. I think one thing we can improve on is keeping the ball in our hands, not turning the ball over with interceptions, fumbles and mishandled snaps. I think that’s something that we will get better at each day, something we can never have too many reps with.

I respond the best to coaches like coach Caldwell who are involved with the players on and off the field. I don’t think anyone is intimidated by him. I think every person in this organization respects him. If there is something you want to discuss, football, not football, or he’s at home, I feel like he as an open-door policy and he will always give you an honest, genuine answer. I don’t think he is ever going to give you a selfish answer. If he can help you in any way, he will.

And with football, I think he’s done a great job. He is not just talking for his health, he is up there talking, backing it up with the stats, and I think that goes a long way when you have young guys in the locker room like we do.

For the Oakland game Friday, I’ll follow my usual routine. I show up about three hours in advance and get in the hot tub. I might eat a protein bar and get stretched and see the chiropractor, listen to music, go outside and get used to the field, the turf, especially in Oakland, with them having part baseball field and part grass, which is kind of tough to have a footing on. I will bring two pairs of cleats, detachables and screw-ins and my regular cleats.

I don’t think our offense is going to change that much as we get closer to the start of the regular season. I think we are practicing all that stuff now — what you see in practice is kind of what you are going to get in the game. It’s just going to be more intensified. We are going to be actually out there hitting and tackling and getting hit a little more than practice. And we’ll have Megatron making some heroic catches.