ALLEN PARK — After a rough start a few weeks ago in Organized Team Activities, the Detroit Lions offense has found a rhythm.

It’s not a finished product, but it’s much closer.

“We’ve taken big steps from last month,’’ center Dominic Raiola said. 

“We were very, very raw on the offense in the last month. Now everything is in and our expectation level is for everyone to know their stuff and execute at a high level.’’

That’s how it looked during Tuesday’s opening day of the three-day mandatory minicamp.

“It felt great, personally for me I’ve been through every offense you can be through,’’ Raiola said. “It’s a work in progress for a lot of people. a lot of people have only known one thing — Scott (Linehan’s) offense for years. Our expectation level is really high, we expect everybody to pick it up.

“I think we’re in a good place right now. I like where we’re at,’’ Raiola added.

He is not alone.

“We’re starting to see a little bit more proficiency, fewer mistakes,’’ coach Jim Caldwell said. “We’ve been charting all those things. We chart mistakes, missed assignments, you name it all across the board. Everything that’s measurable we measure and we’ve seen steady improvement along the way.’’

While the offense looked better than the defense on Tuesday, Caldwell said it’s a fluctuating matter.

“Often times you’ll see one day one side of the ball maybe perform better than the other,’’ Caldwell said “Then it usually changes. Because the other team goes in, looks at their mistakes, they have pride, they’re competitive and you see it flip-flop that’s what it’s been doing. That’s a good sign rather than one sign completely dominating the other obviously then you feel you’re in trouble.’’

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