ALLEN PARK -- The Detroit Lions hosted the New York Giants in another joint practice on Wednesday at team headquarters. Here are some observations.

-- Devon Kennard had one of his best practices of an otherwise quiet summer, ripping the Giants for at least three sacks. Of course, he was also doing much of his work against Ereck Flowers, the same guy Ziggy Ansah disassembled for three sacks in a Week 2 game against New York last year. Ansah managed just one other sack the first 11 weeks of the season. So, yeah. Take this with a grain of salt, but Kennard -- Detroit's top free-agent signing, and one of the cornerstones of the new pass rush -- did look good today. If only the Lions could see Flowers every week ...

-- The offensive line is a little beat up right now, with center Graham Glasgow leaving Tuesday's practice with an injury and guard T.J. Lang doing very little the last couple days. Glasgow was able to dress for practice today, which indicates he should be back soon, but then backup offensive tackle Dan Skipper had to be carted off the field after practice because of another injury. Skipper, who originally joined the club last year, was competing for one of the last spots on the offensive line.

-- With all the injuries up front, Detroit was forced to mix and match to get through practice. Taylor Decker and Rick Wagner were at their usual posts on the outside, but Ragnow moved to center for the first time. Wesley Johnson replaced him at left guard, but also spent a few snaps working at center, along with Joe Dahl. Otherwise, Dahl was mostly at right guard for Lang. And all that movement led to a shaky day for the offensive line, which isn't surprising, given just how good that New York defensive front is. Those guys are going to eat up a lot of teams this year, and Detroit's reworked front was little match for it, especially in the running game. Holes were hard to come by for the backs, especially down in the red zone. New York had the clear advantage there.

-- One offensive lineman that has impressed is Rick Wagner. It dawned on me today how little I've jotted him in my notebook this summer, which is always a good sign for an offensive lineman. He's been really consistent on that right edge, and was at it again today, beating Olivier Vernon and Kareem Martin on consecutive one-on-one reps.

-- On Monday, I included Hakeem Valles on my first 53-man roster projection. On Tuesday, I wrote Hakeem Valles was a name people should learn quickly. On Wednesday, he made me look smart. He caught two touchdown passes, one of which came while he was working with the first team. Seriously, make a mental note on this guy, because he's putting together an intriguing case to crash the party at tight end when the roster is whittled down in two weeks.

-- The Lions and Giants worked on their hurry-up offenses by putting 58 seconds on the clock. Both teams started drives at their own 40-yard line while trailing by two points. And, interestingly enough, both teams played their backup quarterback with the starting offense. Just three plays later, Jake Rudock threw a pick-six to Eli Apple. The defense wasn't much better, allowing Davis Webb to drive New York into position for the game-winning field goal. (The kick was missed, but it was also attempted through the skinny goal posts, so it probably would have counted in an actual game.)

-- I, like any red-blooded American, was excited to see Slay vs. Beckham this week. But the star-studded matchup never really lived up to the hype. They were only matched up a few times the last two days. Beckham caught a couple passes, while Slay had a couple excellent reps, including a pass breakup during 7-on-7s today. Beckham did beat his man a few plays later, though that man was Glover Quin, who has looked a step slow a few times in joint practices this summer. Of course, he also jumped a route for an interception on Tuesday, so don't go around sounding alarm bells quite yet.

-- Teez Tabor was beat twice in a row for touchdowns during 7-on-7 drills in the red zone. At this point, Nevin Lawson and DeShawn Shead seem like the clear-cut leaders for time opposite Darius Slay.

-- Miles Killebrew could have a hard time sticking because of the late position change to linebacker, but I will say this: He still has special teams going for him. He was a core member on most teams last year, and has had good moments this year too. That includes pancaking some poor soul into the turf during a kick return drill today.

-- There were no fights the last two days, although Nevin Lawson was at the center of some more pushing and shoving, like he was last week in Napa. He's got sand, that's for sure.