The Detroit Lions have looked flat in two straight weeks of the preseason, unable to rally from behind to beat either the Oakland Raiders or the New York Giants after two straight weeks of tough practices head to head and a first week of tough training camp work against each other. Is it possible that the Lions could be feeling the effects of all their tough work and hard hitting against the competition? As ESPN's Michael Rothstein observed, that might be the case thanks to what's played out on the field lately in games for the team.

In the hours after the Lions 30-17 loss to the Giants at home in which the team looked slow to the jump from nearly the first kickoff on and took until the end to find their legs, which was nearly an identical performance to the first week. There were sloppy penalties, mistakes in execution and the like, which could only serve to point to some tired legs according to Rothstein.

"And while Matt Patricia (and players) dismissed my theory they were exhausted after two weeks of joint practices and a lot of hitting, based on what I watched, that seemed to be the case. Which, well, shouldn't be an issue in the regular season but shows how hard camp was," Rothstein tweeted after Friday night's ugly loss.

It's an interesting concept, considering the Lions have never done back to back weeks against two different teams before, nor have they been put through the type of tough camp they have been by Patricia lately. It's also fair to remember the Lions had to travel to Napa to take on the Raiders in camp, play a late night game local time, then travel back from California to Michigan all in advance of another immediately tough week against the Giants back in Michigan.

For those looking for a smoking gun as it relates to the uneven work thus far in the preseason, that could quietly be it. These are professional athletes, but during the regular season, players get maintenance days all the time. Detroit was right back at it last week knocking helmets with the Giants just a few short days after doing the same in some very physical practices with the Raiders. This isn't to make an excuse for the team, but it might simply be the truth as it relates to the mental and physical recovery of the human body and the toughness of this year's practice slate.

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Patricia wasn't buying this line of thinking, however, telling the media that he didn't see any reason it wasn't alright to have the tough practices and demanding schedule.

"If you look at the play count for some of our guys, I don't think we're rolling 11o plays from that aspect of it, so I think it's OK we work them, and work them through training camp to get better," he said to the gathered media.

This coming week, the Lions will have a chance to catch their breath a little bit. Though they will play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a Friday night game, they will not face off with the Buccaneers in joint practices on the field, which should give everyone a chance to take a deep breath and center themselves.

Where this work could help the Lions most is during the regular season. If the toughest work on the field comes now, there's no question the team could quickly benefit when the games start to count by getting built up tougher. And regardless of what happened during the preseason, that is something the Lions hope is the case.