LATROBE, Pa. -- Ezekiel Ansah put his hands into the dirt. He eyed the football, then Pittsburgh Steelers left tackle Alejandro Villanueva. The ball snapped. Ansah fired up.

It wasn't close. Ansah blew by Villanueva on the first rep of individual offensive-versus-defensive line drills Tuesday and would have annihilated the Steelers quarterback had there been one. Instead, he just won the drill -- part of a massively successful day for the anchor of the Detroit defense.

Ansah blew by Villanueva on two reps in the individual drill. He seemed to be exceedingly active during the team portion of practice as well. After the one-on-ones, the Detroit Lions and Steelers ran some 2-on-2s with the lines.

More of the same. Ansah was just dominant.

He was part of a strong defensive line group Tuesday that was easily the Lions' best position group on the field. Haloti Ngata and Stefan Charles both got into the backfield and kept huge rushing holes to somewhat of a minimum even with Le'Veon Bell in the backfield. The pressure also was noticeable in pass-rush scenarios as both Ansah and Brandon Copeland had strong practices.

On a day that saw practice stretch across three fields, meaning seeing everything was difficult, here's what stood out besides Ansah's dominance.

1. Marvin Jones could be Matthew Stafford's favorite receiver: While Stafford doesn't have the safety blanket he once did with Calvin Johnson, Jones continues to show up over and over again for the Lions quarterback. He caught a number of passes and had no problems getting open against the Pittsburgh defense on a variety of routes. None of the catches really stood out because everything looks fairly smooth and similar. He's not going to replace Johnson, but he could end up having a good season.

2. Pass protection was better than expected: There were only a couple of plays in 11-on-11 where it appeared Stafford would be in deep trouble if quarterbacks were allowed to be hit. Most of those came early on when Travis Swanson and Taylor Decker appeared to give up sacks to James Harrison and Bud Dupree. The line improved as the practice went on and Stafford seemed to have more control of what was going on during the final 11-on-11 period. The Lions' run blocking was less-than-impressive, though, as Ameer Abdullah, Zach Zenner and Stevan Ridley didn't appear to have much room to run through at all.

3. Secondary depth might be shaking out: Still a long way to go, but Johnson Bademosi and Darrin Walls seem to be separating themselves as depth cornerbacks. Bademosi came a long way from last week, when he struggled to hang with any Lions receivers, and stood out in special teams drills Tuesday. Walls had another pass breakup on a deep ball that could have been intercepted. He also got some work with the No. 1 defense in 11-on-11 after the Lions subbed out star Darius Slay. This group is pretty fluid, but those two have been trending up recently.

4. A confidence boost for Cole Wick: The undrafted free agent is being thrust into a more prominent role with Eric Ebron out and it was an interesting day for him. He had a bad drop early in practice, but rebounded with a touchdown reception on a right out route from Stafford during the first unit's final 11-on-11 work of the day. Ebron, who watched on the side, appeared to be extremely excited for Wick. Ebron has been mentoring Wick throughout camp and even more so the past couple of practices. The Lions need to see more of this from Wick.

5. This and that: Ebron was among less than a handful of players to not practice for Detroit. Receivers Andre Caldwell and TJ Jones also sat out. Caldwell has missed the past few practices and Jones sat out his second straight workout. Safety Rafael Bush was not with the team Tuesday due to the birth of his daughter, but he's expected back Wednesday. Running back Ameer Abdullah did individual work but I didn't see him take a rep during team drills as he still wore the red no-contact jersey. ... One area the Steelers dominated? Special teams drills. The Lions, other than Bademosi, appeared overpowered there. ... Walls, as expected, greeted a group of kids after practice. A lot of players from the youth football program he once played in came to Latrobe for the day to watch. ... Cornerback Ian Wells went down during receiver/corner one-on-ones clutching his left knee. He was down for a while and had to be helped off the field. Lions coach Jim Caldwell said Wells needed further evaluation but it "didn't look good." Wells is a potential practice squad candidate.