ALLEN PARK, Mich. — They set the tone early, and the Detroit Lions carried it through two full days of joint practices.

And when it was finally over, with Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphins’ offense going four plays and out in a game-ending simulation to cap Thursday’s 90-minute workout, the “tonality,” as Miami coach Mike McDaniel described it, was unmistakable. So was the message that the home team delivered: Things are different in Detroit than they are elsewhere in the NFL.

Everyone knows the standard has been raised here these past few years under Dan Campbell, from playoff hopeful to Super Bowl contender. But the Lions’ roster is so stacked with high-end talent and across-the-board toughness now that sometimes it takes a side-by-side comparison with another team to remember just how much things have changed. At least in the dog days of training camp in mid-August.

So consider this a friendly reminder, then, that the Lions should be one of the league’s elite teams again this season. Because while Thursday’s practice wasn’t the complete domination Wednesday's was in Allen Park, the Lions’ starters still clearly won the day. And when he was asked about it afterward, quarterback Jared Goff sounded anything but surprised.

“We have a standard for ourselves, regardless of who we're practicing against, that I think we met two days in a row — in every phase,” Goff said. “And I think that's a good thing. Now, does that mean that we're there? No, you’ve still got stuff to work on, and plenty of plays I'd like to have back. … But overall, two good days, and I was proud of the way we responded today, certainly after a good day yesterday, being able to do it twice.”

Twice was nice, no doubt. Because the Dolphins were determined to save face after Wednesday’s embarrassing showing here, when Goff and the Lions’ offense mostly did as they pleased — “We were clicking pretty good,” Campbell said — while the defense simply suffocated Tagovailoa & Co. Rarely will you see an NFL joint practice as lopsided as that one played out.

“As competitors, it’s impossible not to really, really get annoyed and pissed off when the results aren’t what you’d expect,” McDaniel said Thursday morning before his team hit the field again.

But, he added, “We signed up for this.”

And with this Lions team, you know what you’re gonna get.

“They don’t take practice for granted, it appears,” McDaniel said. “I love Dan Campbell and his approach. … Overall, the environment was what I expected. The tonality was what I expected. And the energy of who we were practicing against was what I expected.”

All that should factor into everyone’s expectations for this team, too.

Sure, there are new coordinators on both sides of the ball. And two new starters on the offensive line, which also is missing its All-Pro anchor after Frank Ragnow's abrupt retirement this spring. And, yes, Miami does look like a team destined to miss the playoffs for a second straight year after earning wild-card berths in McDaniel's first two seasons as head coach there. The offense still has some juice — Tyreek Hill remains sidelined by an injury, though Lions All-Pro safety Kerby Joseph is, too — but that defense probably will be the Dolphins' undoing. (Next week's joint practice with Houston should offer a better all-around test.)

Still, these last two days should offer some reassurance the Lions' offense will remain a top-five unit and be just as explosive, if not more so. Amon-Ra St. Brown and the Lions’ receivers clowned the Dolphins’ defensive backs over two days — “I mean, St. Brown is about as good as they get,” McDaniel said — and the revamped offensive line looked just fine with left tackle Taylor Decker returning to practice after offseason shoulder surgery. The right side with rookie Tate Ratledge working at guard next to All-Pro Penei Sewell was moving people in the run game, too, and Campbell said Ratledge already has the look of an NFL starter, “which fires me up.”

So does the way this defense seems to be coming together with the regular season still a few weeks away. Aidan Hutchinson was the best player on the other field again Thursday, racking up a few more would-be sacks in team drills. But he was hardly alone: Marcus Davenport was a physical menace both days, DJ Reader continues to get pressure from the interior — rookie first-round pick Tyleik Williams also added a sack Thursday — and the Lions’ linebackers seem to be in complete lockstep now that Alex Anzalone is back in the fold.

The Dolphins had some success in 7-on-7 red-zone drills to start Thursday, but they had to resort to an assortment of bubble screens and quick passes just to move the ball after Lions defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard lit into his crew. And once team drills commenced, it was more of what we saw on Day 1: Anzalone tagging Tagovailoa for a sack on a blitz, Jack Campbell batting down a pass over the middle and lots of plays where the coverage was exactly where it needed to be, from snap to whistle.

“Obviously, the D-line is doing what they're doing: Hutch is doing his thing, Davenport's doing his thing,” Goff said. “But the communication from the back seven, I think, has been really impressive, and it's really hard. They’re doing a good job.

“But it's a good challenge. And I think that’s where I'm at in my career, and where our offense is in our evolution: We like that challenge. Like, make it hard. And they do. They certainly give us fits, and we try to give them fits.”

Only this week, for a change, they both got a chance to get away from that.

“I think it always happens at the right time in camp, when you're kind of getting annoyed by your own defense,” Goff said, smiling. “I told them I was excited for them to go annoy somebody else.”

Based on what we saw and heard these past couple days, it was mission accomplished.

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