Pressers and Scrums: Joseph making middle of the field a scary place; Mahogany returns to practice

(Getty Images)

Allen Park — As we approach Halloween, Detroit Lions defensive assistant Jim O’Neil is quick to remind everyone that safety Kerby Joseph has made the middle of the field one of the scariest places for an NFL quarterback to visit.

O’Neil, the former Northwestern defensive coordinator who works with Detroit’s safeties, says Joseph is uniquely capable of instilling fear two ways. The first, and most obvious, is if a quarterback wants to throw to the middle of the field, they risk Joseph taking the ball away. Through three games, the playmaking defender has already snagged three interceptions.

Secondly, the 6-foot-1, 208-pounder isn’t afraid to make a ball carrier or intended target pay for traversing into his space.

“Most safeties don't have both, right?” O’Neil said. “They usually don't make it scary on quarterbacks, ball is in the air he's going to go get it, and then they make it scary on ball carriers where he's going to knock the hell out of you. He's one of the few that I've been around that possess both those characteristics.”

Under O’Neil’s tutelage, Joseph has taken off in his third year. Already a productive player with four interceptions in each of his two seasons, Joseph has been even better to start the 2024 campaign, making improvements in multiple areas.

“The biggest improvements I see from him is, one, I think his communication has been outstanding for the back seven,” O’Neil said. “We talked a lot this offseason about great safeties aren't just great players, great safeties make people around them better. I think he's embraced that and I think he's done a really good job communicating with the back-end guys.”

“I think his strike, when he's down in the box, has improved — the way he's striking blockers and getting off,” O’Neil continued. “I think his tackling has improved this year, compared to last year. And I think his man coverage has improved. Last two games, he's climbed down and played man coverage on tight ends and wide receivers and done a pretty good job.”

Joseph was asked to play more in the box last week, when the other half of Detroit’s safety pairing, Brian Branch, was sidelined by an illness. Joseph's ability to transition to the role is a luxury for the Lions, knowing they have interchangeable safeties capable of keeping opponents off balance.

“It's awesome,” O’Neil said. “I think it was really good with Kerby last week, obviously with (Branch) not playing, he was able to show his versatility and go down in the box. But if the game is on the line, you definitely want Kerby deep and you want (Branch) down in the box.

“I think it says a lot about those two players that Kerby just doesn't want to be looked at as a deep safety, and BB just doesn't want to be looked at as a box safety. I think both of those guys want to be in that 60/40 world, which would be ideal because that makes it harder on offenses. They can't always look at us and say, 'OK, that's the safety that's dropping down.' It makes them have to work a little bit harder.”

Return to practice

The Lions are in good shape coming out of bye with every player on the active roster participating in Tuesday’s practice. The team isn’t required to file an injury report until Wednesday, when players have the day off, so that will be an estimation.

Beyond every active player participating, Christian Mahogany’s practice clock was started on Tuesday. The rookie guard, who has been on the physically unable to perform list after contracting mono this summer, can practice for up to three weeks before he needs to be added to the active roster. 

Leveling up

After earning Pro Bowl honors as a rookie, Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs is off to an even better start to his second season. Through four games, he’s on pace to rack up more than 1,500 yards from scrimmage, while scoring a touchdown per week.

Of course, the coaching staff will always be looking for ways to squeeze more juice from the orange. With Gibbs, that means finding ways to turn some of his big plays into longer gains.

“His biggest challenge this week is to make people miss on the second and third levels,” Montgomery said. “And that is a challenge because it’s how you get to the second and third level. If we can get there clean with his feet in place and square on defenders, he can make people miss.”

According to Pro Football Focus, Gibbs has made 16 tacklers miss as a ball carrier, which is tied for seventh in the league, but he’s had just seven carries of 10 or more yards and three of 20 or more, with a long of 24. Heading into Week 6, 38 players have had a longer carry this season.

Mr. Perfect? Who me?

Even before completing all 18 of his passes in last Monday’s victory over Seattle, Lions QB Jared Goff picked up the nickname Mr. Perfect somewhere along the line. He claims he doesn’t know where the moniker came from, but he’s not a fan.

“I don’t know,” Goff said. “I’m nowhere near it. I never will be. I don’t know where that came from, but it’s not something I’ve proclaimed.”

Goff wasn’t even comfortable with the word “perfect” being attached to his outing against Seattle.

“In that game in particular, there’s not going to be very many, maybe a couple that I’d like to have back,” Goff said. “But yeah, (that’s) always. Always some that you’re looking at, trying to improve on, ‘Why didn’t I see that? Why didn’t I throw it there?’ That game is no different.

“…I’ve had games where I feel even better, and things are clicking even more,” Goff said. “I think we can get there. We can do even better and continue to improve.”

Developmental projects

The top of Detroit’s depth chart at safety is in a good place, even with Ifeatu Melifonwu landing on injured reserve with a nagging ankle injury. Joseph and Branch are playing at a high level, while Brandon Joseph proved to be a reliable backup stepping in for Branch last week.

That doesn’t leave many defensive opportunities further down the depth chart, particularly once Melifonwu gets healthy, but the Lions like the developmental pieces they have in undrafted rookies Loren Strickland and Morice Norris.

Strickland had such a strong training camp that he was able to sneak on the 53-man roster.

“When we watched Strick as a part of our evaluation process, he just kind of — everything that we talk about culture-wise, he embodied with his play style,” O’Neil said. “…I think Strick’s gonna help us a lot on special teams and on defense (eventually).”

Before a late-camp surge, Strickland was arguably behind another undrafted rookie Morice Norris, who was derailed by a hamstring injury that resulted in his release.

But Norris was recently brought back as part of the team’s practice squad.

“I thought Mo had a really good offseason and a really good training camp,” O’Neil said. “For me, I’ve always looked for safeties that had corner in their background and that have the physicality to go inside and show the instincts to do that. To me, when I watched the college tape of Mo, he showed that even though he mostly played corner and nickel at Fresno State.”

O’Neil’s sentiments overlap with those of defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, who has similarly shown a preference for safeties with a background playing corner. That’s shown up with Melifonwu’s transition to the position, as well as Branch serving as the team’s slot corner for the duration of his rookie year.

Thoughts elsewhere during bye

While we continue to enjoy the sun and some unseasonably warm weather in Michigan, the Southeastern portion of the country is bracing for Hurricane Milton, a Category 5 storm bearing down on the west coast of Florida.

Milton's anticipated landfall follows Hurricane Helene, which ravaged multiple states along the East Coast, none worse than North Carolina, where the death toll has topped 100 and entire communities have been wiped out by flood waters.

The Lions have multiple connections to the area, including offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and Montgomery, who was not only born and raised in the state, but played there collegiately before coaching stints at both his alma mater Duke and East Carolina.

During the downtime provided by the team's bye week, Montgomery had the opportunity to check in on his many family members still living in the area.

“My heart is with them and what they're going through,” Montgomery said. “A lot of people without power. A lot of people lost family members. Thank God I haven't lost anybody. …That means a lot to us to be able to make sure that they're good. We're thinking about you if you're listening."