The Detroit Lions got a key defensive tackle back on the field Thursday as they continued their Week 5 prep for the Arizona Cardinals at the Allen Park Performance Center.
Tyleik Williams, who sat out the first practice of the week with a foot injury, returned to work. He had been listed as day-to-day after suffering the injury last week.
Not everyone was out there, though. During the portion open to local reporters, offensive guard Ben Bartch and cornerback Rock Ya-Sin were not spotted.
The injury report also listed several players in limited work: Brian Branch, Cade Mays and DJ Wonnum. Branch was dealing with an Achilles issue, Mays with a wrist injury and Wonnum with a back injury.
Guard Ben Bartch -- Foot (NP)CB Rock Ya-Sin -- Hamstring (NP)DT Tyleik Williams -- Foot (LP)DB Brian Branch -- Achilles (LP)OL Cade Mays -- Wrist (LP)DE DJ Wonnum -- Back (LP)
Before practice, defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard made it clear he was done with empty talk and wanted to see actual change from his group. The defense’s issues, he said, have not shown up in a meaningful way when the lights come on.
"So, I get up here and I recap the game before, and I'm going to do the same. But what I'm not going to do is get up here and read off a stat sheet, a stat column, tell you about how we've got to bridge communication, how we've got to do this and that," Sheppard said.
"Because at this point, all of it's lip service. Until it starts to show on Sunday, until the evidence starts to show up at the game, it's lip service.
What we do here, bridging it to the game, it sounds good, but it's lip service."
Sheppard also pointed directly to the Panthers game as a standard the unit did not meet.
"What I will say is we did not play well enough defensively to help this team win that football game Sunday night at Carolina," said Sheppard. "There were a lot of things in there that we absolutely didn't like that we turned on the tape as a unit on Monday, hashed out, talked about, and the same thing I told them, it's lip service.
So there has to be real change. It has to be real evidence of change.
"Whether that's personnel driven, whether that's some things come out, whatever the case is, something has to change."
In Other News...
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LaPorta has described the situation as a stalemate, but he has also sounded upbeat about the possibility of revisiting negotiations down the road. That leaves the Lions in a spot worth monitoring, because when a player has already established himself as a central part of the passing game, every pause in talks carries a little more weight than it might elsewhere. [Read more 🡒]
Brad Holmes Keeps Facing The Same Lions Secondary Problem
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Holmes has taken multiple swings at the position, yet the same problem keeps surfacing in Detroit: finding and keeping cornerbacks who can hold up over time. With players like Carlton Davis moving on and the secondary still a lingering concern, the Lions are left with a familiar question about whether the answer is simply adding more talent or finally solving the evaluation and retention side of the job. [Read more 🡒]