Don’t call it a scrimmage. Lions head coach Matt Patricia was careful to avoid that word when asked if his team would have a controlled scrimmage this weekend or before training camp ends.
Patricia wouldn’t say if the Lions would hold what most of us would call a scrimmage, or give exact details on what he had planned. But in his Thursday pre-practice Zoom session with reporters, Patricia indicated things will ramp up in intensity and competitiveness over the next few days in lieu of the traditional third preseason game, which would have been Thursday night in Miami.
“Obviously working into this week, which is – let’s call it what would be Preseason Game No. 3 Week,” Patricia said. “This is a week where we’re building towards the end of the week for a little bit more of an intense, competitive practice here this weekend. So we’re looking forward to that as long as, again we take it as it comes here with injuries and the health of the players.”
Patricia continued,
“But if we stay on track with that, we try to get some really good competition this weekend, and then mid-next week will be another target point for us so that it’s far enough away from the start of the season, but also we’ll get enough of an evaluation whether it’s front-end evaluation of the roster or back-end evaluation of the roster. We want to make sure we have time to do that.”
The Lions did take to the practice field on Thursday in Allen Park.