What Giants writers are saying about Day 1 of Lions joint practices

Day one of joint practices between the Detroit Lions and the New York Giants is in the books. You can find our own Jeremy Reisman’s thoughts on the day here, but let’s take a look at what members of the Giants’ beat are saying about the first of two joint practices taking place in Allen Park.

If you’re looking for complete thoughts from Giants’ writers, you can find them via these links:

• Podcast: The Record Sports (USA Today): Time to bury the Giants? Slow down (Art Stapleton)
• Northjersey.com: Day 1 takeaways for Saquon Barkley, Daniel JOnes and more (Art Stapleton)
• Video: GiantsTV: Recap of first day of joint practice (Lance Meadow and Howard Cross)
• The Athletic: Daniel Jones struggles with accuracy in joint Lions workout (Dan Duggan and Charlotte Carroll)
• NY Daily News: Daniel Jones, Giants offense sputter in first Detroit Lions joint practice (Pat Leonard)
• Giants.com: Here’s what I saw from my spot on the sideline on the practice field in Michigan (John Schmeelk)
• Giants.com: What stood out at today’s joint practice in Detroit? (Matt Citak)
• SI.com: Veterans Saquon Barkley and Darren Waller Look Good (Matt Verderame)
• Thread: NY Daily News Sports: Offense struggles early (Pat Leonard)

Daniel Jones struggles for first time in training camp

After a strong beginning to training camp, New York Giants’ quarterback Daniel Jones struggled with accuracy issues, particularly when he attempted pushing the ball downfield.

Over at The Athletic, Dan Duggan and Charlotte Carroll do a good job of breaking down how the Lions also made things difficult for Jones.

“Jones and the Giants offense had been firing on all cylinders during the 10 training camp practices in East Rutherford, N.J. But the Lions’ defense wasn’t nearly as hospitable in the Giants’ first sparring match with an opposing team.”

Giants writer Connor Hughes tweeted out extensive thoughts about the Lions defense after focusing on the Giants offense for most of practice:

It wasn’t just about Daniel Jones struggling, though. NY Daily News writer Pat Leonard noted how active the Lions secondary was—as did Giants tight end Darren Waller:

Both Waller and (Jalin) Hyatt had passes knocked out of their hands by pesky Lions defenders. It’s much different facing another team.

“It’s a lot more physical out here,” Waller said. “A lot more things to take into account. Somebody is going to come and put a forearm in your ribs when you run over the middle of the field even though it’s just a 7-on-7. Just getting more acclimated to game-like situations and knowing that it’s a physical game. It’s not always going to be 7-on-7 and people tagging off on you.”

Aidan Hutchinson impresses

Throughout camp thus far, Lions’ second-year defensive end Aidan Hutchinson has been one of the more impressive players on the field. So it makes sense that the out-of-towners would take notice as well.

John Schmeelk of Giants.com was really impressed with Hutchinson’s power.

“They also worked on pass rush 1-on-1s, with the Giants offensive line doing well to stay in front of the Lions pass rushers. However, Detroit’s Aidan Hutchinson looks the part physically and one of the most explosive players on the field.”

From Duggan and Carroll on Hutchinson (and LOL at the C.J. Gardner-Johnson comment):

“Hutchinson would have had two sacks in live action, including one play when Jones rolled to his right and threw an ill-advised deep ball to Campbell. It looked like Lions safety CJ Gardner-Johnson was either going to decapitate Campbell or intercept the pass. Gardner-Johnson did neither, but he did break up the overthrown pass.”

From Leonard:

Lions edge Aidan Hutchinson put a hurting on the Giants’ tackles, beating Peart multiple times and escaping Thomas on another likely sack

Jahmyr Gibbs cooks

Lions’ running back Jahmyr Gibbs has been steady since camp opened, but from what we’ve gathered, the rookie may have shifted into another gear.

From Duggan and Carroll on Gibbs:

• The Giants’ first-team defense gave up a touchdown to the Lions in the red-zone period at the end of practice. Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown had a pair of short catches, Jackson sniffed out a bootleg by quarterback Jared Goff and Hawkins had a good fit to stop a run. Detroit running back Jahmyr Gibbs got open in the right flat off of a play fake for an easy touchdown to cap the sequence.