For the first time since training camp began over two weeks ago, the Detroit Lions held a practice in the evening. Monday night’s session featured a packed crowd of fans who saw a lot of hitting and the Detroit defense once again looking very impressive overall.

There were some casualties from the hard-hitting practice, unfortunately. Three players left with trainers and did not return, and a handful of other players missed at least one rep due to the action, but all returned later.

Here’s what I took away from Monday night’s practice at the Meijer Performance Center in Allen Park.

Injuries

It’s a lousy way to start a practice summary, but that’s an unfortunate byproduct of the emphasis and attention being paid to the health of the team after last year’s ridiculous spate of injuries.

Before practice, the Lions placed seventh-round rookie safety Dan Jackson on I.R. with a leg injury. Head coach Dan Campbell also announced that second-year CB Ennis Rakestraw will miss some time with a shoulder injury suffered in Sunday’s practice. No exact timetable, but team sources are not optimistic about a quick return for Rakestraw.

Defensive lineman Pat O’Connor left early with a leg injury. I didn’t see this one happen, but it was quite early in the practice.

Rookie WR Dominic Lovett left with an abdominal injury and did not return. Veteran OT Jamarco Jones subsequently left with an ankle injury. That one happened very close to me, and Jones appeared to get rolled up by the pile on a run play to his side. He did walk off on his own, but it was a slow walk to the locker room.

Among the others who got nicked up for a play or two: DE Aidan Hutchinson (who got a sack on his first drive back), C Graham Glasgow, TE Brock Wright, RB David Montgomery. All returned to action and didn’t appear any worse for the wear.

Play of the day: Isaac TeSlaa lights up the crowd

Rookie wideout Isaac TeSlaa continued his very strong training camp with a moment that fired up everyone watching. Well, everyone except the defense…

On a pass play up the left sideline, Tom Kennedy caught the ball and took off from about the 30-yard line. TeSlaa sprinted across the formation to get in position as a lead blocker and flattened DB Nick Whiteside with a crushing block. Lions WR coach Scottie Montgomery ran onto the field to give love to TeSlaa, who was then mobbed by teammates, including a clearly appreciative Kennedy. The fans cheered as loudly as they have all summer.

TeSlaa keeps doing the little things that not every rookie wideout has mastered. His blocking, his understanding of defensive pursuit angles, and his athletic body control are all very impressive, every single practice. He very nearly corralled a bad throw well behind his body with one hand and a defender closing in hard, willing to take the lick to make the catch; the ball proved too far away, but it was still quite a display of both athleticism and courage.

Run D continues to dominate

Another recurring theme throughout the summer has been the stout run defense, especially on inside runs. There are two ways to look at it:

The DTs, LBs, and DBs are all dialed in and making great plays quite a bitThe offensive line gets almost no push outside of Christian Mahogany and (sometimes) Penei Sewell.

Monday night was more of the same in team drills. I noted seven different Lions defenders making plays in the backfield. Tyleik Williams and Marcus Davenport each had multiple stops behind the line, though Davenport did get fooled on one run–the first time all summer I’ve seen him caught chasing the cheese.

With LT Taylor Decker still not in team drills as he returns from the PUP list, backup LT Dan Skipper out this week with an ankle injury, and losing Jamarco Jones early on, the first-team offensive tackles were Giovanni Manu and Justin Herron, with Mason Miller also getting considerable reps above his normal status on the third team offense.

It was a very rough night for Manu, who was clearly overmatched in trying to handle Davenport and Hutchinson. Even against the second-team front, Manu couldn’t latch onto targets in the run game and was often too high with his hands. In the 1-on-1 drill right after the stretching period, Manu was a turnstile on a fairly simple outside dip by Mitchell Agude. He also got soundly beaten on a long-arm rush from O’Connor before No. 95 left practice with his injury.

As for the defense, the first-team DT combo of D.J. Reader and Tyleik Williams continues to lay waste to the interior blocking triumvirate on almost every interior run play. Williams often gets compared to Alim McNeill (notably by head coach Dan Campbell) but Williams is far more explosive at this point than McNeill was. He bagged a sack on his own by pushing Mahogany back and ripping off to the side to get to Goff. A couple reps later, his strong interior bull rush on C Graham Glasgow made for an easy sack for Hutchinson, who crashed around the corner on Manu almost without being touched.

Williams sure looks like he’s going to be a very real problem for opposing defenses right away, and he and Reader are already showing very quick chemistry in working together.

Kick return roulette

The Lions continue to try and make Grant Stuard as a kick returner a thing. The hirsute linebacker is a load at full speed, but the vision just hasn’t been there consistently as a returner. He had one rep where if he tacked about 15 degrees to his right, he had an unencumbered path to an isolation on kicker Jake Bates, who is absolutely not taking that charge. But Stuard ran like a locomotive into a larger pile to his left.

Ronnie Bell and Tom Kennedy each had solid return reps. Bell also did a good job blocking on a return in handling the gunner on the outside. Kalif Raymond and Sione Vaki also took reps. Vaki suffers from the same relative lack of field vision that plagues Stuard, unfortunately–and he doesn’t appear as fast as Stuard, either.

Saying nice things about depth players

Some Lions have been tough to praise this summer, but three of them made a positive impact on the notebook tonight and I wanted to make sure I credited them with some positive attention.

Undrafted rookie OL Mason Miller had one very technically sound rep in the 1-on-1s where he locked up the rusher (either 66 or 57, the jersey number was obscured by hair). No. 63 battled Isaac Ukwu to a draw, too. Miller also made a very nice down block on a run that cleaned out linebacker Zach Cunningham and also slowed the backside pursuit. Miller is still on the ground far too often, but he had what I thought was his best practice of the summer.

EDGE Al-Quadin Muhammad, who missed time early in camp with an injury, also had his best practice. He scored a clean win in the pit (against Miller) and also created problems for the run offense during the team drills.

WR Ronnie Bell, whom I noted earlier in the kick return segment, also showed some nice route running and transition from receiver to runner in drills. He ran a very effective change-of-pace drag route that got him considerable separation from the trailing CB. He also caught a deliberately low throw from a scrambling Hendon Hooker for a nice gain, making sure he got both hands underneath the throw, which was one of Hooker’s best of the night.

Quick hits

–Practice ended with CB Amik Robertson catching a duck from Goff in the end zone. It took a few looks at the replay screen to confirm that No. 21 did, in fact, get both feet inbounds. Great catch on a very rare ugly throw from Goff.

–Cornerback Rock Ya-Sin followed up his strong performance in the Hall of Fame game with another solid night in coverage. His physicality just off the line has been the most effective TeSlaa deterrent all camp and it was again on Monday.

–OL Kayode Awosika and CB Dicaprio Bootle nearly came to blows after a play where Awosika ranged far outside the box as a blocker. They grabbed one another’s facemasks and needed to get separated after some jawing. Awosika has at least 100 pounds on Bootle, but the plucky CB did not back down–and appeared to be the instigator.

–Linebacker Alex Anzalone scored a diving tip-drill INT off a Kerby Joseph deflection on a Goff pass intended for Sam LaPorta. Joseph’s read and burst to the ball were insanely fast.

–RB Jacob Saylors had a very impressive run that stressed the importance of pad level to Isaac Ukwu. Saylors lowered the shoulder and rocked Ukwu on a straight-on run. Both Saylors and Jabari Small continue to make the most of their opportunities as the deep RBs.

–Undrafted rookie DL Keith Cooper continues his push to seize the role previously held by injured Levi Onwuzurike and/or Josh Paschal. Cooper didn’t fare well in the pit drill (losses to Tate Ratledge and Trystan Colon) but was a real menace in team drills. He had a “sack” and a very nice TFL against the run where he waited for the blocker to step out of his way and attacked with authority.

–The Lions offense tried some read-option looks with Hendon Hooker in at QB. One of them toasted LB Alex Anzalone, but No. 34 got him back a couple of plays later with a would-be TFL.

–With the injuries piling up in the secondary, Erick Hallett and Ian Kennelly each saw some first-team reps. Hallett is making a very strong push to earn a spot on the 53-man roster. Kennelly wasn’t quite as sharp against the first-team as he’s been versus the depth, but he did have blanket coverage on an in-breaker from LaPorta that forced Goff to look elsewhere.

–Goff had a wonderful deep throw to Kalif Raymond that stood out because he threw it from his own 20. Raymond caught it over safety Morice Norris at the opposing 20–exactly 60 air yards away. Perfect throw. Goff had just missed Jameson Williams one deep shot earlier that was well-covered and a bit short.

–Jahmyr Gibbs makes a move every so often that calls to mind a certain No. 20 in Detroit. He had two of them on Monday, notably a gorgeous stutter-step cut that left Morice Norris grabbing at air. Gibbs continues to look great, even if he doesn’t always get much room to run.

–I spent a few minutes after practice talking to CB Tyson Russell. The UDFA from Vanderbilt is proud of his tackling ability, as he should be. He’s one of the best form tacklers on the defense. Russell has a very solid chance of sticking on the practice squad if he continues to play the way he has.

–The Lions have a walkthrough on Tuesday that is closed to the media. Next practice is Wednesday morning, then the team is off to Atlanta for Friday night’s matchup with the Falcons.