| August 18, 2022 Opening Statement: “I was proud of those guys, man. We came out and I loved our tempo. I thought we were physical. Certainly, we’ve got a lot to clean up. But I thought we challenged in all three phases, offense, defense and special teams. We’ve got some real good work that you can’t ordinarily do even the jammer, the gunner reps, the punt, the punt rush, the – those things are just – and then, certainly to go against a different opponent. So, I was pleased. Really you take away the 7-on-7 on offense which was not good for us and the redzone defensively, and you take those two periods out and I thought it was pretty good. I’m not even talking about one-on-ones, but I was pleased. Now, I just want to see– can we double down today and come out with the same intensity and be ready to go? Because I know they will. They’ll be ready, so.” On how the offense played in practice against the Colts yesterday: “When the O-line came over, we were different. I loved it. I loved it. It was good. It was good to see those guys go eat in the middle. I thought some of our combination blocks in the middle there, in the run game, but the pass protection as well was – our play-pass stuff is as good as I’ve seen in a while which is encouraging. So, that fired me up. They got our tempo going when the big boys came over. So, that was good to see.” On the opportunity to practice against a Super Bowl caliber team like the Colts: “Yeah, I think you want to know you don’t look out of place and I didn’t feel that way. I didn’t feel that way and I think ultimately that’s what you want to know is like, man, do – is this something where we feel like we’re out-matched? And I didn’t feel that way. Now, look they’ve got some big receivers. They’ve got some towers. They’re pretty crafty, pretty smooth and I want to see us compete a little bit more or be in the fight at the catch point with some of these receivers. Because at the end of the day, look, they made – there were some real good throws on their end, and they made some dang good catches. But at the same point, we got some of those where we’re in position to make a play and we’ve just got to get some of those out.” On how Lions CBs Amani Oruwariye and Jeff Okudah performed against the Colts’ wide receivers in practice yesterday: “Yeah, look, I would say this – when we challenge and use our length, we did pretty good. When we didn’t and we allowed free releases, we didn’t do as well. and I thought actually Amani was the most consistent and I thought he came to play. And look, I thought they all did, but I think that’s what you’re learning. Really, it’s with all groups, whether you’re getting one-on-one or now you’re getting in situations with a new opponent and some of the fundamentals just go away. And it’s like, ‘No guys, do what you do every day in practice that we’ve been teaching. It is helping you get better.’ And so, some of our guys reverted back to the these that don’t work. They kind of did it their own way, and so we’ve just got to refocus them and get them to just trust in what we’re teaching them, like they’ve been doing in practice against each other, and we’ll be OK.” On how Lions TE Devin Funchess is doing after leaving practice early yesterday: “Yeah, he’s good. We got him checked out last night, he’s good. He’s got a little bit of a stinger, so we’re going to get him loose and just see how he feels, and play it by ear. If he can go, great. If he can’t, he can’t.” On what Lions WR Jameson Williams gets out of traveling with the team to Indianapolis despite not being able to practice: “Right well, I think we get a little more hands-on with him. It keeps him engaged in the football, in the meetings. We get a little more hands-on with the rehab, and then he gets to stay engaged in this environment. I mean, this is a different environment and I think any and all of this stuff is great for him. For somebody that’s young and learning what it needs to be or what it needs to look like, this is good.” On if Lions DL Levi Onwuzurike made the trip to Indianapolis: “No.”On what Lions DL Levi Onwuzurike is missing by not being in Indianapolis and missing practice time: “Yeah, I mean look, we – honestly, it’s hard to go there right now just with where we’re at and I know why you’re asking it. And look, every day that he’s not in there, it certainly is not helping. It doesn’t help him and it doesn’t help us as a team. However, it is what it is and it’s not his fault. And so, all we can ask him to do is just continue to treat it and our guys are working with him and he is getting better. But certainly not at the pace he wants it to be or – but he is getting better and he’s working through it. So, that’s all we can ask, ‘Hey man, get healthy and then we’ll go from there.’” On what the coaching staff can gain from seeing an opposing coaching staff operate: “Yeah, well, I’ll tell you what, man, you can get some really good ideas, on both sides of the ball. I know for a fact just watching our defense, there’s a couple of – there’s a couple ideas that you see with them attacking our defense that’s intriguing. So, I’d go back there with them and say, ‘Check this out,’ and same deal on the flip side, just a couple things (Colts Defensive Coordinator) Gus Bradley does defensively. Man, you always get some good ideas of how other people view you and how they attack you. And is that something we can use against an opponent down the road? So, those are always great, and then certainly the structure of the practice, things of that nature are always good. You never know how guys are going do it, and then you want to know just the style of practice, where you match up. What is our intensity like relative to how we practice versus them? Because this is kind of, ‘They do what they do, we do what we do,’ and that’s always good to see.” On position battles that he has seen or is excited to see against the Colts in joint practice: “Yeah, look, I was – I wanted to see our tackles against (Colts DE) Yannick (Ngakoue) and (Colts DE) Kwity Paye. I wanted to see our interior against (Colts DT DeForest) Buckner. I wanted (Lions WR) Amon-Ra (St. Brown) against (Colts CB) Kenny (Moore II) in the slot. There’s – I mean I can go round and round. Shoot, man, I wanted to see (Lions DL Alim McNeill) Mac and (Lions DL Isaiah) Buggs against (Colts T Dennis) Kelly and (Colts G Quenton) Nelson over there in the middle. I wanted to see how we matched up on the perimeter against these receivers. So yeah, I can go round and round. I mean, there’s another reason why we wanted to be out here is because we just feel like we knew we were going to get tested out here, and it really helps you grow and get better against a more-than-worthy opponent, so it’s been good.” On how Lions LB Malcolm Rodriguez performed practicing with the ones yesterday: “Yeah, I would say he just continues to grow. He’s just – I would say at this point, he’s steady. He’s pretty steady. He does what he’s being coached to do, and he just gets a little bit better every day, and memory-banks it and continues to go.” On if he reminded the team today to keep their emotions in check after a couple minor skirmishes in practice yesterday: “Yeah, we just – we talked about it this morning and last night, and we know they’re going to come out ready to go today, like we will, and it is, it’s – I just keep reiterating, man. As much as it can be game-like, you throw somebody down out of bounds or you through somebody down late, or you’re going up and hitting somebody on the back of the head, that’s a personal foul and you’re probably getting thrown out of the game. So that’s – it’s the same thing man, how close can we get to the red line here without going over it, stepping over it? Man, we’ve got to toe the line, and we can’t cross it. And it – I think it’s just, it’s another evaluation of our discipline, man. Can we stay disciplined? Like I thought two of our players that are known to scrap a little bit, (Lions T Dan) Skipper and (Lions DL) Austin Bryant, I thought did a hell of a job, both of them yesterday. Man, they – because I know that’s not easy, but they did exactly what we asked them to do, man. They toed the line, but neither one of them crossed it, and I told them that’s what we’re looking for.” On how it helps the team to settle in and know they can stack up with the Colts: “It gives you a confidence. It gives us a confidence, but you can feel it in our players. Our players have a confidence, like OK, they feel we’re getting better, and to know that they feel like we stack up against these guys, that we’re not out of place and that we are getting better, and that we can do some things in all three phases. It gives our team confidence.” On his snap count strategy for the preseason game against the Colts: “Yeah, I would say the plan right now is to – there’ll be a number of these guys that will not play in this game. A number of our starters, because they’re getting kind of the bulk of the reps, and – but there’ll be a number of guys that have gotten the load here that will still play in this game. Certainly, we’ve got a lot of battles still going on, but that would be the plan with this. That’s probably kind of like the structure of, you get two really good days of work and now you don’t really feel like you need to go to the game with them.” |
