LIONS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR BEN JOHNSON QUOTE SHEET
September 5, 2024
On the differences that he expects from the Rams defense: “Wish I knew the answer to that. That’s the challenge we have, that’s the challenge for every team right now this time of year. Different defensive coordinator, so I’m sure schematically they’ll have some tweaks in there and then personnel-wise it’s a completely different crew up front and on the backend, so with the lack of tape that’s out there, certainly from LA, we’re going to have to be creative in terms of trying to find out how to isolate players and attack them.”
On how he feels entering Week 1 now compared to how he felt a couple of years ago: “Yeah, I mean my comfort level is high because of the guys around me, so the coaching staff gives me a ton of comfort. Second year that this whole group’s been together, which is really special, I think. We can read each other’s minds now and we’re a lot more efficient. I wouldn’t confuse that with getting more sleep, but we were definitely more on the same page and were able to get to point B a lot quicker than what we’ve done as a coaching staff. And then our players, there’s a lot of continuity there. (Lions QB) Jared (Goff)’s been here, (Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown) Saint’s been here, a lot of that offensive line’s been here, so I think we’re all very comfortable with each other. And so that’s where year three, for me, I just – I feel really good about the group that I’m around.”
On what kind of confidence it gives him that players like Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs and Lions TE Sam LaPorta can grow even more from year one to year two: “Yeah, I think that’s usually the biggest jump for most guys in this League, is going from year one to year two. Their heads aren’t spinning as much and so hopefully we’ll see that from that group that you just talked about. They certainly had good rookie years as well, so if we can pick up where we left off from last year, then certainly we’ll be cooking. But they’ve had good camps when they’ve been available, I know both those guys, Gibbs and LaPorta, have missed a little bit of time there in training camp, but from what we’ve seen as of late we feel really good with where they’re at.”
On where his confidence level is in Lions WR Jameson Williams: “As high as it’s ever been and continuing to climb. The more reps, the more time we get together on the field, the better I feel about him. He’s grown in so many ways, on and off the field. As a player, as a route runner, as a receiver, and then off the field just his preparation, how he’s talking care of his body, his demeanor with his teammates and interactions with them. He’s come a very long way and so he’s just going to continue to grow and the more reps he gets he’s going to make mistakes and he’s going to learn from them and that’s the best thing, most encouraging thing we’ve seen is, since he’s been out on the field, he rarely makes the same mistake twice.”
On what Lions WR Jameson Williams’ deep speed means for opening up the offense: “Yeah, we’ll see. Hopefully teams are sleeping on it a little bit here early in the season. I think he’s got that rare ability in this League to take the top off the coverage. And so, if we can get him over the top, if it presents itself, those opportunities, I think (Lions QB) Jared (Goff) is a lot more comfortable in knowing where he’s going to be and how he needs to throw those balls down the field to take advantage of that. But we’ll see what the coverage dictates.”
On what he has seen from Lions WR Tim Patrick and Lions WR Allen Robinson II so far: “Yeah, both those guys are really impressive from a – off the field, in the meeting room , in the walkthrough that we just had, extremely diligent, taking notes constantly, you can tell that they are professionals, which, when you get these young players in this League, they’re learning how to do that, these guys already know, so I think that they’ll be able to grasp this offense a lot quicker because of that. On the field, you can tell both those guys have a lot of ability. Long, huge catch radius guys. I mean, Allen’s got arms all the way down to the floor it seems like and then Tim is the tallest receiver I’ve been around, I think, in my time in the NFL. So both those guys certainly give that big body catch radius appeal for (Lions QB) Jared (Goff) and we’ll see how far we can push them and really encouraged with what we’ve seen so far.”
On his assessment of Lions CB Terrion Arnold: “Yeah, he’s sticky. He’s sticky as all get out, so he’s given us some issues there during training camp, one-on-ones, and we’ve tried to pick on him a little bit and it hasn’t been super successful, so I’m encouraged to see where he’s at. He certainly lets you know he’s out there, in more ways than one. It’s good.”
On his thoughts on Lions TE Parker Hesse: “Yeah, we talk about that third tight end spot being able to wear a lot of different hats and he might not have the same pass catching appeal as some, but everywhere else we feel really good about his versatility. He’s excellent in-line, very strong, very physical. You could see this during training camp there, preseason games we had him at some fullback, so we liked his ability to come down and isolate linebackers, and then he’s been really smart and dependable, whether he needed to be the Y, the F, or in our heavier packages – move him around a little bit. So I think that’s what really tipped the scales in his favor in terms of making the 53. But like I said during training camp, we felt really good about the six guys that we had and kudos to (Lions Executive Vice President and General Manager) Brad (Holmes) and that staff, finding a way to get five of those six back in this building in some capacity because the two that are on practice squad are going to help us out at some point this year.”
On if Lions RB Sione Vaki’s performance in preseason caused him to try to find more ways to get him involved in the offense early: “Sure, the message to the guys, particularly the ones that haven’t been here, is, we’ve tried to, the last two years – anybody that we see active on game day, finding a role for on offense. We don’t want to come out of a game and guys have zero snaps on offense. And so, if he’s active on game day, absolutely, we’d love to find a package for him to get out there, whether it’s some carries or some routes, whatever that is, that’d be great. Feel the same way about (Lions RB) Craig Reynolds as well. He’s been flying under the radar now for the last three, four years and he’s just been Steady Eddy and super reliable, also.”
On what the process of evolving the offense looks like: “It really starts when we are watching ourselves and we talk about as a staff, maybe a play off a play and how we can attack a certain look that we’re seeing and then it goes another step further. Once we start evaluating some of the pro guys around the League, free agents, and then certainly the college tape that pops up come Draft time, that’s when the wheels really start turning. I think I mentioned it last year, I’ve got this stack from (Lions Special Assistant to President/CEO and Chairperson) Chris Spielman – I’ve got index cards just that big that is still sitting on my desk, and he’s already started to feed me some from this year now that the college game’s going. So we’re always looking everywhere that we can find a little edge, something a little bit different and that’s the benefit of having such veteran guys and smart guys is, we can take little things and incorporate them and really not miss a beat.”
On how much the time Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs missed impacted what he wants to do with him in the passing game: “Shoot, when he came back in the springtime you could tell that he had been working on some of that route running stuff and unfortunately the availability hasn’t been there consistently, so probably didn’t get to explore that as far as we would’ve liked. But we certainly feel really good about where he was at in the springtime, what he’s shown here in camp and – from the backfield, from the slot, from out wide, it’s certainly more than we felt comfortable with a year ago.”
On how he feels about where the team is heading into the season: “Awesome. Yeah, I feel great. We had a great camp and now we can focus on one game at a time, which is really where our sweet spot is. Our guys are all dialed in, nothing but LA right now and what gives us the best chance to win this one ballgame.”
LIONS DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR AARON GLENN QUOTE SHEET
September 5, 2024
Opening Statement: “There’s no better way to open up a season for us, being on national TV and playing against an opponent and a head coach that I highly, highly respect and just see exactly how they reinvented themselves the way that they play the game and to really see us as a team – where we’re at and how we match up against this team. So, this is going to be exciting to play against this team.”
On his expectations for Lions DL Aidan Hutchinson and Lions DL Alim McNeill given their continued growth: “My expectation’s just like you just said – every year I expect those guys to get better. Listen, Hutch has had a tremendous offseason. He had a tremendous training camp, and now he’s at that point that he needs to set his sights at being, if not being the best player defensively in this League, to one of the best players – which he is, but now it’s time to look at himself as the best player. When it comes to Mac, he was growing at a rapid pace last year until he got the injury when he was out for like four games and whatnot, and then he came back and played I think the Minnesota game for a couple of reps and then he played in this game in the playoffs, and you saw those flashes of him being a dominant player. So I look at him the same way I look at Hutch, I expect him to be a dominant player this season.”
On the challenge that awaits Lions CB Terrion Arnold this week and his expectations for him from the perspective of a former cornerback: “My expectations for him is to be a damn good player in this defense because it fits who he is. And as a corner, things happen in this League, and I will tell you this, that’s probably one of his better traits is he can move on to the next play – and I’m talking good or bad. The one part in training camp that really stuck out – a situation happened with – I think it was him and (Lions CB Carlton Davis III) CD, Carlton, and he was the first one, as a young player, to say, ‘Hey man, let’s forget about that. Let’s go on to the next one.’ When I heard that, that let me know everything about who he was. Good or bad, he’s ready to move on to the next play and that’s a really good trait for a corner.”
On what he needs to accomplish in the next couple days with the secondary to get them ready for the game: “Just get those guys as many reps as you can and then try to put them, especially in our walkthroughs, as many difficult situations as you can because the communication part is the part they’ve got to get down. Listen, we have great vets as far as – when I say vets you’re taking about (Lions S) Kerby (Joseph) and – (Lions DB Brian) Branch, he’s a vet now, so he has to understand that he has to be a leader in that backend also. And then with (Lions CB Carlton Davis III) CD coming from a Super Bowl team in Tampa, I expect these guys to communicate at a high level. Listen, are there going to be some ups and downs? Absolutely, but that’s the NFL. But the thing is, those guys have been working their ass off to be the best communicators they can be.”
On the challenge of facing the Rams’ passing game: “Well obviously the two receivers are pretty damn good, (Rams WR) Puka (Nacua) and (Rams WR Cooper) Kupp. And then their other skill positions are pretty good. I think their running back’s a hell of a player, obviously we know the one that was drafted from Michigan, he’s going to be a good player, but the way that they challenge you with all the pre-snap movements and then they get to a simple play, I think he’s the epitome of, ‘Man, listen, make everything look complex, but we’re just doing simple plays.’ And I think that’s great for an offense, and he does that. So the thing that we’ve got to be good with is, ‘Don’t get caught up in all the eye candy, understand exactly who they are and how they run their plays and go make those plays.’”
On how the fact that he has seen the Rams’ downhill running game help him for Week 1: “Well, the thing is, we’ve got to be good in that downhill running game, and that’s what we’re good at, so we expect to be good at that this year too. So, we’re not afraid of that.”
On what further development he has seen from Lions LB Jack Campbell during training camp: “Leadership skills for the most part, especially as a MIKE backer. And I’ve talked to Jack on a number of occasions about that because being a leader is not just being vocal, being a leader is about how you influence everybody, and that’s the one thing that he’s doing a better job of, and I’m not just talking about in practice, I’m talking about in walkthroughs, in meetings, in games. How are you operating? That’s what leadership is. How are you influencing everybody on this defense? And he does a good job with that.”
On how much Lions DL Marcus Davenport help other players around him with his ability to push the pocket and set the edge in the run game: “Listen, this man fits exactly who we want to be on defense, especially playing outside of (Lions DL Aidan Hutchinson) Hutch. He’s a violent, he’s a physical, he’s an athletic big man that plays the game the right way. So, you’re absolutely right – if you’ve got a guy like that that can bull rush and that can condense the pocket, that allows Hutch and other guys to go to work, and we expect that.”
On how he feels that Lions DB Brian Branch has done in his transition to safety: “Well, he’s always been a safety, you guys just haven’t seen much safety a lot. He’s been getting those reps in practice quite a bit, even last year. The thing is, we just needed him at that spot, and he did a really good job at the nickel spot. And that doesn’t mean that he’s not going to play nickel, so I want to get that out of everybody’s head right now. He’s going to play safety, he’s going to play nickel, he’s going to play dime, so he’s going to be all over the place and the reason why we’re doing that is because he’s a damn good player, so we’re going to put him in position to make plays. But I would say this, you’re talking about meeting room, you’re talking about practice, you’re talking about a man that’s upped his communication, that upped his leadership skills as far as influencing guys, he’s done that and he’s done it at a high rate, in my opinion.”
On why Lions DB Brian Branch is more valuable to him at multiple positions rather than just playing him at one position: “Because he can do so much and when you have an instinctive player like him, you want to allow him to be able to move around. And he’s a smart player, so he can play in the box at the nickel and be able to make plays down low. He can play deep safety and be able to intercept balls. If you watched him at Alabama, he’s done that, he did that quite a bit. You watch him at our practice he did that quite a bit. He’s made a good amount of plays in the backend that you want to see from that player. And the thing is, we know that he can do it, so we’re going to put him in those positions to be able to do that.”
On if not letting the opposing offense know where Lions DB Brian Branch will play factors into playing him at many positions: “Well, that’s with everybody, even with (Lions S Ifeatu Melifonwu) Iffy. Iffy’s going to play some nickel, he’s going to play down in the box, he’s going to play deep safety. And we try to do that with guys that can handle that. And we have guys that can handle those roles.”
On if he feels that the secondary has improved with the new additions: “Well, I would say this, they haven’t played together a lot. I think we’ve just got damn good players and when you have players like that it’s up to us as coaches to make sure we put them in positions and coach them to communicate at a high level. So I’m excited about the guys that we have. I’m excited about our linebackers, I’m excited about our front. I expect us to be a damn good defense, and the guys expect that too.”
On where he has seen Lions DL Josh Paschal grow coming into his third year: “When you watch him in the preseason, I think the one thing that stands out about him is he’s starting to understand exactly who he is and how he has to play to be successful. And (Lions Run Game Coordinator/Defensive Line Coach Terrell Williams) T has done a really good job of helping him understand that. You see the power, he’s a big man that can play on the edge. You see the power in that aspect of him being able to collapse the pocket. You see the quickness when he’s playing inside, to be able to win those one-on-one situations. Does he still have room to grow? Yes, he does, but that’s what we’ve got T for, to be able to help unlock those things that’s in him. So he has done a really good job. We have other guys, (Lions LB Derrick) Barnes, (Lions LB Malcolm Rodriguez) Rodrigo, all these backup guys that we have that we’re going to try to put in special situations, those guys are really growing, and we have some depth now with out defense and we look forward to playing those guys.”
On where Lions S Kerby Joseph has room to grow and his expectations for him: “The same that I have with (Lions DB Brian) Branch because when you have two young safeties, they have to be on the same page. And he’s been a starter for us quite a bit so the one thing that we do know that he can do, he can go get the ball and he’s going to continue to do that. But now it’s the other things that he has to do a good job of. Sometimes he needs to be down and play man coverage in the slot, sometimes he needs to play zone in the low part of field. So those are things that he’s been working on this whole offseason and in training camp and he’s done a good job of that.”
On his thoughts on Lions WR Jameson Williams’ offseason and how he has been developing: “Listen, iron sharpens iron in this business, so the guys that we have that’s corners going against Jamo, I think it makes both guys better. So I expect Jamo to do what Jamo do, and that’s run past people and make plays in the deep part of the field. Listen, I’m a huge fan of that player. Me and him have a really good relationship and I try to push him just as much as I push anybody else because he has the talent to be able to do it. So, I look forward to watching him operate this whole season.”
On what excites him the most about the possibility of getting Lions DL DJ Reader back soon: “I would say this, he’s a man’s man and when you talk about leadership, he’s the epitome of leadership. He’s a guy that’s able to open up lanes for linebackers because it’s going to take two to stop that man. And he’s sneaky athletic, he’s sneaky athletic as far as pass rushers are concerned. So he’s worked his butt off to get to where he needs to get to be a part of this defense and it’s just a joy to watch him in walkthroughs, it’s a joy to watch him in meetings to see how he operates because he’s a true pro and I’m excited to have that player.”
LIONS SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR DAVE FIPP QUOTE SHEET
September 5, 2024
On his perception of the new kickoff rule and the value of the changes: “Yeah, well we’ll find out soon what we do. But I will say in general, I think the League’s done a great job, honestly, of trying to come up with the play – let’s speak positives first, come up with the play that can play out, play out more frequently, has less injury rate, and I think the injury news that we got back from the preseason sounds like it’s trending in the right direction which for me, honestly, is probably the most positive thing. I’ve always said that I really like the play. There’s a lot of things about the play that I really like. I think on one side of the ball, you like it more than the other side of the ball. If you’re on the return side, I think you feel really good about the play. If you’re on the cover side, it’s a challenge. I think the biggest challenge with the play just in general is it’s a volatile play. The easiest way I can explain it is, if you place a 100 dollar bet – not that we like talking betting here, but if you place a 100 dollar bet and you broke even if the ball went to the 30 – that’s where the touchback goes – well, for every yard, you stop them in front of the 30, you get a buck back. I would say it’s hard to get 10 bucks back on that play and tackling them at the 20, but there’s 70 yards that way that you might give up if it goes the other way, so it’s this risk, reward thing. The biggest challenge with the play is – if you’re asking me would I love to play every one of them out? I would love to play every single one of them out, but at the end of the day, our job really is to try to win a football game, so when you have the team approach in mind, then I think that changes your decision-making a little bit. We’ll see, I think there’s still a lot out there on the whole play in general. Number one is, if it’s a touchback and we’re kicking from the 20, the play’s going to play out so everyone’s going to see that, that’ll be a positive. If there’s a penalty and we’re kicking off from back there deep, the play will play out for sure, that’s a positive. And then I think you’ll see some of what we saw a year ago. A year ago, we saw some like, ‘OK, let’s hit some touchbacks and some returns,’ if you’re on the kickoff team. Well, I think now, you’re looking at it probably from the other side of, ‘Well, maybe let’s take some touchbacks and let’s return some of these.’ If the play is not advantageous for the kickoff team, then maybe it’s more advantageous for the return team, so it works both ways when you’re coaching both sides of the play. So, we’ll see. I think there’s going to be a combination of things, maybe catch them off guard, maybe have a special return for a special situation like you were saying, we’re going to bring it out no matter what. If you’re looking at the end of the half, you definitely like your odds of coming out with the ball. So, I think there’s going to be – it’s going to depend a little on who you’re playing and how you match up with that group also, who their returners are, all that stuff. So I think there’s a lot still in play with the play, but they’re definitely – I think the League said that numbers were on average, the drive start was the 28.8, so you’re talking about fighting for 1.2 yards with the chance to give up a lot, so that makes it more advantageous for the return side and less likely for the kick team to be kicking a million returns, so we’ll see how it plays out. I’m not totally sure but that would be my best guess for you guys.”
On how much is still unknown about the kickoff rule: “Yeah, it’s a good point because the data’s really not great. In the preseason, everyone’s returning it, some of that data says there’s guys returning the ball five deep in the end zone just because they say, ‘Hey, we want to play the play out in the preseason and get a feel for what it looks like.’ Well, in the regular season they might not do that. There are teams that are obviously hitting shorter kicks in the preseason, and in the regular season they may not do that. There’s teams like us trying to hit every kick and try to find out every way we can try to cover the kick, and really that was our goal in the preseason was, ‘Can we come up with a way to cover it and get them tackled down there deep so that we can kickoff throughout the course of the year and justify doing that?’ Our approach was really, let’s swing at it as hard as we can, go outside the box if that opens us up and makes us vulnerable to something bad happening, who cares? It’s the preseason. We can feel it out. So, I think there’s a lot of different agendas in the preseason. The preseason, some guys are playing their players, some guys aren’t playing their players. I mean there’s just so many different agendas in the preseason so it’s hard to tell what they’re doing, but I think you get the general idea.”
On if he came up with something that covers kickoffs better: “We have a way that we feel great about going into this game for sure, but yeah. It’s a challenge to get the guy tackled deep is what everybody’s found out I think.”
On how much growth he has seen in Lions K Jake Bates and his comfort level with him heading into Week 1: “Yeah, I feel great about Bates. He’s definitely a young player, he’s going to have some ups and downs. I think when you’re playing that position, it’s a difficult position to play because everybody jumps on the, ‘Oh my gosh, this guy’s incredible. Oh my gosh, he had a miss and he’s the worst ever.’ When you’re a great player at that position, you have (Ravens K Justin) Tucker on the back of your jersey or (Eagles K Jake) Elliott on the back of your jersey and you miss a kick, everyone’s like, ‘Oh yeah, but he’s fine.’ But when you don’t have that on the back of your jersey and nobody really knows your name or you knew when you’re getting into it, you live and die by all those kicks. The one where I say it is, two years ago (Chiefs K Harrison) Butker – Kansas City Chiefs were playing in the Super Bowl and Butker missed a kick, but nobody talks about it because they won the game. Sometimes when you play on a great team, that position goes less noticed because the game’s not – every game in this League ends up being close, so when you’re not on a great team you end up losing some of those close games and you pin it on the kicker more, or it’s more likely to be pinned on that guy when in truth, the numbers on most of these guys are very close. A lot of them hit high 80-something percent, low 90 percent, and some of those numbers are skewed – speaking of data – some of those numbers are skewed because one team had to kick a 50-something yarder at the end of the half with two seconds on the clock just because it was their best shot at getting points on the board before they went in the locker room at halftime. And one kick, one miss makes a big difference on the percentage because you’re talking about whatever, 20 to 30 kicks on a season. So anyway, I feel great about him, I’m really excited about him. He’s one of the most talented players I’ve been around at that position. I think all the guys on the other teams in the preseason watch him warm up and are like, ‘Oh my gosh, this guy’s incredible.’ So, he has a tremendous upside, which if you’re going to invest in a player and take a chance, you definitely want to do it with a guy who can turn out to be a really good player for you. I think we have to be patient with him. At that position, there’s a lot of history that says a bunch of those guys end up making it on their second team or their third team, like (Raiders K Daniel) Carlson or those guys, and it’s like, maybe Minnesota shouldn’t have given up on him so fast and just hung in there and be patient. Now that being said, I would also say that he’s got to do his part too and you have to make enough kicks and do a good enough job to stick around, but I certainly feel really good about him. I think in the preseason we had two snappers we were working, I think it’ll help him to settle down with one player there and help those guys get into a rhythm. I think that’s an important part of the position, so I think that’ll help him. We obviously play indoors 14 times this year, that’ll help. So anyway, I’m really excited about him, I think he’s a really talented player. He’s obviously got to improve. The other thing that I love about him, he’s very self-aware and I think that’s probably one of the best qualities you can have in this building if you’re a player, is knowing exactly who you are and I think he knows he’s a young, developing player who’s got to continue to improve. He doesn’t think he’s there yet, but I also think he’s confident in himself and knows who he is, and he’s got a lot of talent and believes he can get there.”
On if he will give Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell his input more on the decision to kick a field goal or go for it on fourth down with Lions K Jake Bates’ skillset: “Yeah, I would say he makes those decisions for sure. Do we have conversations? We have conversations a lot throughout the course of the week, throughout the course of the offseason, just general philosophy, and then I think the other thing that happens is he develops confidence or his opinions based off watching them at practice and seeing what he can and can’t do, what he’s done, what he did in the preseason, the kick at the Chiefs at the end of the game was good to see, obviously a pressure situation – which is another thing about that position. There are some kickers who are great players, who you all would think are great players, who miss a lot of kicks, but they made the big ones and there’s a little bit of that at that position too. You have to make them when they count.”
On where he learned that there is time for patience and development at the kicker position: “I think what often happens at that position is, it’s perceived like he did a great job or a terrible job, but it’s off one kick. But when you look at the whole body of work, you’re like, ‘OK wait a minute, maybe it wasn’t quite so bad or maybe it was worse.’ Or you really put it in a better comparison with a bunch of players you realize that he is about the same as all those other guys. So, I don’t know, that’s kind of how I see it is – yeah, patient, but patient doesn’t mean you’re missing a million kicks. Patient means you miss a kick here and there, that’s going to happen. He’s probably not going to go 100 percent this year, but what happens with the media and all that to me, is it gets skewed and it’s like, ‘Oh this guy was incredible,’ or, ‘Oh this guy was terrible,’ and the truth is probably somewhere in between and that’s how it usually is with most of these guys. The truth is somewhere in the middle.”
On how Lions LS Hogan Hatten won the long snapper job: “I would first say this, that was probably – I mean cut day’s never easy for a coach in this League. You love these players. I mean I can’t tell you how much joy that these guys bring me. Being around this game, being around these players, being in the meeting room with them, going through the offseason with these guys is incredible. I love it, it’s my favorite part of the whole thing. (Bears LS Scott) Daly was a great player for us, and he really stepped up at a time where we needed a guy to step up. (Former Lions LS Don Muhlbach) Muhl was on his way out and he might not have been totally ready to play at that time, but he elevated his game, found a way to get the job done which is a big part of this business, and he got the job done for us for a bunch of years. So, I love him to death and it was hard to see him go, obviously, but at the end of the day, I think our decision as a coach – I’ve always said that the thing I can guarantee I’ll do is I will say whoever I think is best for this football team and Hogan did a great job. He came in here, we knew we were getting a little bit more athletic body type, the guy had kind of been a positional player in high school, recruited that way to go to college, not just a snapper, had played some defense there at Idaho, and he came in and he really just earned the job. He did a great job executing everything we asked him to do, showed up in coverage down the field which is an element that his game’s a little bit different than and did a great job in protection and everything else – and his snaps, and everything else we asked him to do. He really stepped up and won the job, which I’m definitely happy for him.”
