Detroit Lions practice in pads for first time

ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) — Training camp unofficially started for the Detroit Lions on Tuesday.

For some players, anyway.

Although the team has been practicing since late last week, coach Jim Schwartz had them in full pads for the first time Tuesday. The rise in intensity was obvious, especially after a lackluster practice Monday morning.

"We finally got to knock the dust off today," tight end Brandon Pettigrew said. "You prepare during the entire offseason to build up to training camp, even if it was a little different this year. But it isn't the same until you get the pads on and actually get to do some hitting."

One notable absence was rookie defensive tackle Nick Fairley, who was in a walking boot after injuring his foot Monday. X-rays were negative, but Schwartz said Fairley was undergoing more tests.

Schwartz had said as late as Monday that he didn't know when his first full-padded practice would be, but his disappointment in that day's workout made the decision.

"These are football players, and they want to be in football situations," he said. "You could see the intensity pick up as soon as they got into pads today."

One day in pads, though, won't solve Schwartz's other problems in the new post-lockout NFL — issues he shares with 31 other head coaches. The Lions have more than 20 players that are unable to practice until the league year officially begins Thursday.

"We'll be back in shorts on Wednesday, and then we've moved Thursday's practice back to the evening," he said. "If the league year does start Thursday, we don't know if it will be at 12:01 a.m., or at noon, or maybe even 6 p.m., so we're going to practice at 6.

"You don't want to practice at 8 in the morning, have the league year start at noon and let everyone practice with full rosters."

If the sidelined players are allowed to work out on Thursday, that means another day without pads.

"There's no way that you are going to put guys in full pads on their first day," he said. "These guys did a great job of keeping in shape on their own during the offseason, but it isn't the same as going through the normal routine here.

"Even Kyle Vanden Bosch, who is as fanatical as anyone about being in shape, told me that he needed a couple days to get his football legs back. We don't know where these 23 or 24 guys fall on that spectrum."

The other change, of course, is the elimination of two-a-day workouts. Normally, the Lions would have followed up Tuesday's full-padded practice with another tough workout in the afternoon. Now they are reduced to a short walkthrough.

"People are calling it practice," Schwartz said of the second practice. "Even Allen Iverson could walk through with no helmets and everything. It's a walk-through without helmets. Technically it's a two-a-day, but when the second practice is a walkthrough, I don't view it as a two-a-day."

Although Schwartz sees the elimination of two-a-days as a loss of crucial teaching time, his players don't have the same opinion.

"There's not one person here who is upset about losing that second practice," veteran defensive tackle Corey Williams said. "Nobody is sad about that."