October 16, 2023
Opening Statement: “Obviously, that was a good win for our guys. We had a lot of players that did well for us and really stepped up. Special teams, I mentioned it last night but (Lions P Jack) Fox was outstanding. (Lions LB Jalen Reeves-Maybin) Germ had another really good performance for us. He was ‘this close’ to blocking a punt, man, oh my gosh. But just really showed up for us again. (Lions LB) Alex (Anzalone) on defense, (Lions DL) Benito (Jones), (Lions DL Alim McNeill) Mac, really those three bigs – (Lions DL Isaiah) Buggs in there too, got a significant tip which led to a turnover. But Benito and Buggs and Mac, man, they’ve got a – that’s a tough job now. You talk about just a selfless job to where you’re getting doubled most of the game and it’s the hard lifting and you don’t always get recognized for it, but it’s the – that’s where really stopping the run starts with those guys. For them to be able to bow up in there, that keeps everything from getting washed and now it goes to our ends. We’re setting edges with (Lions DL Aidan Hutchinson) Hutch and (Lions DL) Romeo (Okwara) and those guys and then our backers are able to run and make plays so, it’s outstanding. And then (Lions QB Jared) Goff, again, really stepped up and did an outstanding job. Our receivers showed up, (Lions WR Amon-Ra) St. Brown, (Lions WR Josh) Reynolds, (Lions WR Jameson Williams) Jamo with a huge catch there that really sealed the game for us. So, just a number of guys, but it was outstanding. So, I was proud of them. We did what we had to do. It wasn’t perfect, but when you play defense the way we’re playing right now and you can control the clock and get explosives – that’s what we did, we were able to get explosives and honestly, that’s the best we’ve been on third down. And we came up with four huge third-down plays that were all third-and-10-plus. I mean that’s hard to do but that’s where some of our biggest plays showed up. And to me, that was the difference, is us shutting them down on third down and us making plays on third down.”
On if they are expecting Lions RB David Montgomery to be out for some time: “Yeah, he’s got a little something in there, the cartilage. And so, it’s – he’s probably going to be down for a little bit here. I don’t know how long. That’ll just be really how long it takes for this to – at his position, that’s not an easy thing to deal with, so we’ll just take it as it comes, but I think there’s a chance we won’t have him for a bit.”
On if there is potential for Lions RB David Montgomery to go on Reserve/Injured: “I don’t know to be honest with you and I don’t mean that to be – I’m just – I have no idea. I really don’t at this point. See what he feels like tomorrow, see what he feels like Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and we’ll kind of see where we’re at.”
On Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs’s potential to play this week: “Yeah, I feel a lot better about Gibbs this week. He ran really well on Saturday before we left and had another really good workout today. So, he, (Lions TE James) Mitchell and (Lions DB Brian) Branch I thought all looked pretty good today. So, I think they’re trending the right way.”
On if there is enough depth in the running back room with Lions RBs Craig Reynolds and Devine Ozigbo to compensate for Lions RB David Montgomery if he is out: “Yeah, and I think if not, we’ve got other guys that we can use on the roster at that position, probably in the receiver room is where that could come from. So, we’ll do what we need to do to make it through this if that’s the case and all we have is those two, but I trust those two to be able to handle what we need to handle.”
On Lions G Kayode Awosika’s performance in the Tampa Bay game: “Yeah, I think – look, I would say it was solid. It was solid. Look, that’s the first time this year he goes in there and bangs away. That’s a dang good unit, really good D-line. And there was some good and there was some that wasn’t so good, but I thought all-in-all, man, he really competed in there and gave us a chance. And so, I thought it was positive. I thought it was positive. And I think really what it was is Big V is just steadily coming back from this. He’s kind of been on reserve, he was better this week than last week, but we just want to make sure that he’s 100 percent ready to go and then we’ll take it from there. But certainly, what Yode did is encouraging and I have a lot of faith in him. He’ll only get better as well.”
On what has allowed the team to win despite missing key players from injuries: “Look, I just bring up all the time I – first of all, look, the fact – our (Lions Executive Vice President and General Manager Brad Holmes) GM is doing a hell of a job. Let me start there, alright, because he’s giving us guys that have the ability to grow and develop, have talent and then the coaches are developing that talent. But I think also there’s a mindset here. I think everybody on the roster, top to bottom, whether you’re a starter, you’re a reserve, you’re on the vet squad, the practice squad, the – they really believe that at some point here, they’re going to have an impact on helping us win because we preach it all the time. And we say it even when we – those tough cuts in training camp it’s like, ‘Look, just because you don’t make the 53, if you’re here, you’re on our practice squad, vet squad – you’re probably going to play for us. And we’re going to need you to step up and take on a role and there can’t be a drop off, there can’t be a deficiency. And so, I think they believe that. And I think the rest of the guys on the roster, because those guys have been around, they’ve earned that the way they practice, the way they prepare, there’s a trust level there. That, ‘OK, you’re the next guy up. I trust you. Let’s go.’ And I just – I think it’s something we preach. We talk about all the time. We don’t look at those guys as, ‘Well, you’re not good enough. You’re not going to be able to do it. We can’t trust this guy.’ So, I think there’s a mindset to it as well.”
On what has led to producing success on the road: “Well, first of all, they’re not really road games. That’s what it feels like anyway. We’ve got significant fan support on the road right now. Look, I think every team that I’ve been a part of as a player and a coach, when – that has had success, that’s a winning team – first of all, you’ve got to be able to win on the road, but I do think there’s a confidence about it, there’s a – and you have anticipation. There’s – you look forward to it and I think that’s what – kind of where we’re at. I think that going on the road and it’s just you against them, their crowd, the – I think we kind of thrive off of that and I think that’s a mindset and I think that’s where it starts. Now obviously, what you said, man, you’ve got to play damn good defense, you’ve got to take care of the football, you really need to be efficient first and second down which we didn’t do great yesterday, but we overcame that with third down. We weren’t able to run the ball the way we want to run it, but we were able to overcome it because of (Lions QB) Jared Goff was able to – and our receivers stepped up and made plays where we need them to make plays. Our O-line protected him and that’s the way we had to get those yards. And some of that was, ‘Well, you can’t run it, well let’s get the ball out quick, it’s three-step, it’s screens, it’s –’ and those are your first and second down, early-down type stuff. I just think there’s a mentality about it. I think our guys believe on the road you go out there that we should win, but they know they’ve got to earn it. They know we have to go out there and earn it. We’ve got to play a clean game. Usually what happens, you go out there and momentum shifts and you allow it to affect you and then you can’t ever get momentum back and then one thing leads to another, you turn the ball over, you’re getting stopped, you’re getting hit on explosives and we’re just not doing that. We’re not making these mistakes and the other teams are right now.”
On if the fan attendance on road games right now compares to the fan attendance on road games when he played for the Cowboys: “Not like this. No, not like this. And look, Dallas travels well, of course, but I – not like this. I mean, this is – I mean I do feel like – you kind of feel like over a three week period, or three road games there, there it begun – there’s kind of a takeover here. It feels that way. We have a lot of – this is just another game, you walk out and it’s a sea of blue. And then by the time the third quarter hits, you can hear them because we get up, we’re making plays and I said this last night, their offense is out there and I swear they’re about to go to silent cadence at their own home because it’s loud. I’m like, I think I would tell our guys to go silent cadence if it was this loud. And man, that’s something else. I mean, who – seriously, this is pretty awesome.”
On if the League has changed with less hostile environments for visiting teams: “Oh, it’s definitely not as hostile, that’s for sure. I mean, Philly, we got batteries thrown at us at Philly and yeah, that has changed and probably for the better. But I do think just the – man, I don’t know, the energy that it presents and these fans feeling like – and that’s what you want, man. You want the fans to feel like, man they’re riding the wave with us. And we’re on the high side right now and man they are all in and they’re a part of it. I mean, I get texts all the time from friends, family and they refer to things – ‘Man, our receivers did a hell of a job today.’ It’s ‘our.’ And I feel like that’s where our fans are, ‘This is ours and our guys are doing this and our guys are –’ And that’s what it’s about. That’s what it’s about.”
On how Lions WR Jameson Williams has improved and how his touchdown on Sunday can boost his confidence: “He was better this week than last week. He made improvement and take away the touchdown catch, if you said that didn’t even occur, was he better? Yes, he was. He played better. He was cleaner. He still, he gets in there to block and everything, but that was a hell of a – you don’t know what play might come that really just boosts your confidence and I can tell you this, it’s not going to hurt it one bit. That was a hell of a play for us and really, that kind of broke the game open. You felt like that was the one. But there were a number of things to it. The fact that we needed to take a shot on third-and-long and for Jamo, man that was perfect. The way he hit it up, the running the dagger, get to the inside edge of the – close inside edge of the hash and then, man just take it and (Lions QB Jared) Goff laid it out there and trusted it and then his adjustment to the football, it was outstanding. So, listen, proud of him. That was a hell of a play. And so, to us, now it’s just let’s get a little bit better, let’s get a little bit better. And we’ll give him more opportunities.”
On if it is hard to remove Lions OL Graham Glasgow after playing so well once Lions G Halapoulivaati Vaitai fully recovers from his injury: “Yeah, it is. It is hard to do that because you don’t want to mess with the chemistry that’s going on right now because Graham is playing good, solid football for us. But at the same token, with (Lions G) Jonah (Jackson) out, Big V, it’s just about, man we want to make sure that he’s 100 percent comfortable with his own abilities with his knee coming back. And like I said, he was much better this week than last week. So, we would only anticipate him getting better and being almost back to 100 percent.”
On what he sees in the team during the fourth quarter of games: “I think we know how to seal a game off. That’s what I know. I think these guys believe that you get us to the fourth and we’ve got a lead, we’ll find a way to finish it out on offense and defense. But I mean even – it was a little bit like last week. Man, we were up much more, but we got in the fourth there and one of the most significant drives we had was the one where we had to punt. But we almost milked out seven minutes and we were able to convert two third downs and they got it back with, whatever three minutes or something down two scores. I mean, that was a significant drive for our guys and in that type of game, with the lead that we had, that is significant. And sometimes you don’t always see those things, but I think we find a way. I think we know the right balance of chewing up the clock, but also continuing to convert and be just aggressive enough to try to keep that lead where it is, as much as you can. So, there again, it’s a credit to the coaches, the players, but they believe. They believe in what we’re doing and they execute the plan and when we’ve got a game in our hands right now, we’re going to close it out.” |
