LIONS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR BEN JOHNSON QUOTE SHEET
October 17, 2024
Opening Statement: “In regard to last game, I thought our guys came out and they played really hard, inspired football for 60 minutes. The execution was there, it was awesome to watch them perform and call that game for them, so really proud of them. A lot of things we still need to clean up. Too many penalties cost us some points there in the red zone, so we have to do a better job there. But like I said, we took care of business coming off the bye week, the guys were dialed in. We have to have that same focus and intensity this week because this is a very good opponent, and we know how tough this place is to play. So, looking forward to that challenge.”
On what the Vikings blitz packages do so players need to be locked in on a down-to-down basis: “Yeah, he does a fantastic job of not letting you know where it’s coming from. He finds a way each week, I said it last week about (Cowboys Defensive Coordinator Mike Zimmer) Zim, this week with (Vikings Defensive Coordinator Brian) Flores, they try to find a way to get a free hitter. I know (Jets QB) Aaron Rodgers certainly felt that when they played them. So, we have to be on top of it with our communication. Just like you said, third down there’s a multitude of issues that could arise. (Former Lions Head) Coach (Matt) Patricia used to talk about it when he was here, the max coverage or max pressure and they do that. They do that at any point. So first and second down, third down, red zone, they give you both of those issues and so being able to distinguish between the two and being able to protect it up is very hard.”
On Vikings Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores saying that the Lions offense does not have a weakness: “I think he’s just trying to butter us up a little bit. No, I’m sure he’s got plenty of things that he’s going to look to go after and look to try to expose from us. So, we try to do a great job each week with our self-scout and what we’re putting on tape and trying to counter whatever that is. But no, it’s awfully nice and flattering that he would say something like that but that’s really a credit to our guys. We have some phenomenal players at every position group, so not only are they talented but I think their style of play is what separates them apart from a lot of these other offenses in the League. They go hard for 60 minutes and like I said, we’ll have to do that again here this week.”
On how much preparation goes into executing trick plays: “It was one of the things that we talked about last week, what is our identity, and one of those three was being detailed, and that’s something springtime, training camp, up until now that we are very demanding out of our players. Really every position group and so when we are like that, you get into a game week, and we have more volume, or we have nuances that maybe we don’t get a ton of reps on. They have to decipher it and handle it, and they do a great job of it. That combined with some of them are for premier looks and if we don’t get that look, we get out of it. I mean, go back a couple weeks ago when we called the pass to (Lions QB) Jared (Goff), I want to say Houston ran the same play but it wasn’t quite a premier look in my opinion, and so – I think (Texans WR) Stefon Diggs had to run for the touchdown when they did it. So, we do have some elements of that where we have to get the right look. We’re not just calling plays to call plays because we think they look cool. It’s really by design and intent and then our guys carry it the rest of the way.”
On if there was a thought of saving some trick plays for situations that really matter and how many trick plays they have saved for each week: “Yeah, this game’s been around for a long time and our challenge as a coaching staff, and I say it to the offensive staff quite a bit, is we can run a million different types of plays and because of that, I don’t like to run the same one twice. I don’t like to do it within a game, I don’t like to do it within a season. We certainly do have some staples that I will repeat at times, but we’re charged with let’s have a little creativity. Defenses, they’re doing their film study, they’re looking at things, they’re finding, ‘Hey out of this formation, they’re doing this, that and the other.’ And we try to mix it up. So, from that regard, I’m not worried about putting things on tape. If anything else, it’s just going to help set up the next thing down the road, and yeah, the well is deep in terms of the thoughts.”
On if there are trick plays from games that they did not use: “Oh yeah. Each and every week we stock up, and so that’s been constant. It just so happened last week that we wanted to unload them.”
On how they channel aggression weekly after having a different level of aggression last week: “See I feel like it’s that way every week. You might have felt differently watching the game. But no, I think that we bring that same level of focus and intensity. The play-calls are – it’s what we like during the week and some weeks it’ll be more flashier than others, and that just happened to be a week that we felt really good about what we were going to get from their defense and how we could attack it.”
On feeding everyone the ball like they did against Dallas: “I wish we could have more plays. So, Seattle, I think we only had 50 plays, and then last week we only had about 60. I wish we had 70 or more each game so that we can get even more guys included into the plan. But they’re doing a great job going out there and executing.”
On how much he is thinking about the player’s ego when deciding who gets the ball each week: “Yeah, I think our guys understand that when I stand up in front of them and I tell them that they have plays in each and every week, I think they believe that because it is true. The issue is that I can’t dictate what coverage we’re going to get and whether they’ll be open when those plays are called. A great example of that would’ve been last year when we played the Vikings at the end of the year, and we were trying to get (Broncos WR) Josh (Reynolds) some incentives and I never realized how hard it was to get one guy whatever he needed to get that incentive. We were trying hard, hard, hard, it took up until the end of the game to get him there. So, we try as a coaching staff to get everybody involved, but we can’t lose sleep at night, particularly when we’re winning and having success as a team and as an offense, we can’t lose sleep at night if a guy is not getting quite as many touches as he would like. And so far, we’ve been in great shape. It’s early in the season and guys understand that.”
On if he has seen how differently teams play them due to Lions WR Jameson Williams’ explosiveness: “Yeah, we try to forecast every week on what a team has put on tape and how they might use what they’ve put on tape against us now, because I think people are starting to realize that we don’t want to single him out. Defenses don’t want to single him out because he will make them pay. They’re not as fast as him, it’s as simple as that. Hopefully, we continue to get these one-on-one matchups because we are so dynamic elsewhere as well. I think early on in that game last week, they had the philosophy to play more two-high to limit guys like Jameson and you saw what our run game did early on in that game. Then they start coming down and Jamo gets some great access looks in man-to-man and he’s able to take advantage of it. So, we played the game of how much attention are they going to pay to him and the moment they give too much to him, we’ll go the other way but the moment they single him up, we’ll try to make them pay.”
On what they liked about Lions WR Tim Patrick when they signed him and what they have learned about him: “From the get-go it’s always been the professionalism. Very smart, very detailed, and then when it comes to his style of play, he fits into that room, and what do I mean by that, it’s what (Lions Wide Receivers Coach Antwaan Randle El) El preaches, Randle El preaches, it’s what (Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown) Saint embodies, it’s what (Lions WR) Kalif (Raymond) embodies and what (Lions WR) Jameson (Williams) embodies. These guys, they are physical, the run game they’re going to block their tails off, they’re going to be very smart, they know where to align, they know what to do and he fits into that room perfectly because of that. And now, we’re able to get him going in the passing game a little bit. Huge, huge play to get us going there on that first third down last week where we said going into the game, ‘Hey, if we get a one-on-one with you, we’re going to throw it up and you need to come down and make a play.’ And sure enough he did it. So, it’s good.”
On when he knew that he could trust Lions WR Tim Patrick to come down with the ball: “It’s just reps in practice. (Lions QB) Jared (Goff) certainly, he’ll come to me and be like, ‘Man, he’s a long target.’ So I feel like a lower range to miss on him, and then we have one-on-ones almost every week and being able to see him compete against our DBs and create separation, come down with a football, he’s been a very consistent separator in that regard, so it’s just been reps, reps, reps.”
On what Vikings S Josh Metellus means to their defense: “Yeah, he’s a little bit of a unicorn. He can do a little bit of everything and so, Swiss army knife. He’s pseudo linebacker, pseudo safety, pseudo nickel, lies up all over the place, great blitzer, great cover guy, I really can’t say enough good things about him because he’s a great chess piece that they like to play around with.”
On how it feels to get respect across the League for his play-calling and if it validates his decision to come back to the team this season: “It’s really what I told the guys, I’m just here to try to get them in space, give them an opportunity to show what they’re capable of. That’s my mindset and it’s great, it’s awesome, but that’s not what I’m about. I’m really here for the guys and I’m trying to elevate the people around me. That’s all.”
LIONS DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR AARON GLENN QUOTE SHEET
October 17, 2024
Opening Statement: “Proud of the way that the guys went out and played this last game. I’m actually more proud of the way we came out as a team and played. That was a – you’re talking about a collaborative effort. That was a team unit going out there and playing the way that they had to play to go win a game. Obviously, it’s tough – and I’m going to go ahead and knock this out – it’s tough to lose a player like (Lions DL) Aidan (Hutchinson). We all know the type of player he was, we all know the type of season he was having. But here’s what we don’t do. We don’t ask guys to replace Aidan because everybody is his own man, and everybody has different traits and abilities. And we ask those guys to be them. We try to put them in positions to be the best player that they can be. The one thing that I’m not going to do and the one thing that I don’t want you guys to do is disrespect the guys that’s been playing behind him or playing with him because those guys go out in training camp, OTAs during the season, they bust their ass too to get an opportunity to come out here and play, and they’re going to do a good job for us. The one thing I do know is that Aidan doesn’t play every play, and we have guys that go out there and play when he’s out and they do a good job for us, and we expect them to continue to do a good job. The other thing that I want to point out, we had two guys that I want you guys to know that played their butts off in this game and that was (Lions CB Terrion Arnold) TA and (Lions DL Alim McNeill) Mac. I think you guys go back and watch how they played, I thought they battled their butts off. And before I get you guys to start asking questions, we had another guy that we lost in (Lions DL Kyle) Peko that was a huge, huge loss. I actually talked to him this morning because he actually went into his surgery and just told him how much that we were going to miss him, and I don’t take him for granted at all for what he did. So, that was a tough one also. So, again, proud of the way the guys played, looking forward to this game that we’re about to play, this will be a dog fight. There’s a ton of implications that go into this game. We know that, they know that, and we’re looking forward to this game.”
On how much he will modify the defense to work through Lions DL Aidan Hutchinson’s absence: “Every week we put a plan together and the plan is about players. It’s not just about this scheme that we have. And I say this every week, we do everything we can to put the players in the best position that we can to where it shows their strengths, and it limits their weaknesses. So, that’s what we plan to do and that’s my job. Even when we had Aidan. We moved Aidan around to put him in position so he can be successful too. So, that’s my job and that’s the fun part about being a coordinator is being able to do that week in and week out. It’s also a tough job because you also have guys on the other side of the ball that you have to make sure you take care of. But I’m excited about the guys that we have. Those guys are going to go out there and play well. The coaching staff that I have do a really good job of giving me the information I need also, to help me go out there and build a plan that’s going to help these guys go out there and play.”
On what Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell means when he said that sometimes you have to play differently when injuries happen: “Well I’m not going to tell you that. Listen, we’re playing every week and gameplans change every week. You guys said before that we play a lot of base against 11-personnel and I think last week we played a lot of nickel against 11-personnel, so each week can be different. And I tell my guys that we have to be like a chameleon. One week we are brown, other week we can be yellow, other week we could be orange, but the guys that we have are smart enough to be able to do that. And that’s the reason why I love being in this position because you have to figure out ways to be able to stop an offense and the way that offenses are now, that’s hard to do but our guys do a good job of understanding exactly what we’re trying to bring to the table. They go out there and fight their ass off to try to limit points and that’s one of our philosophies is limit points.”
On why the safety position is critical to the success of his defense: “Well this is something that actually started in New Orleans, my first year there, of understanding exactly the type of defense that we were trying to play, and that’s a multitude of different coverages in the backend, and that requires safeties that can communicate at a high level. That’s the first thing. The second thing is it requires safeties that can play man coverage and that’s across the board on our defense. And thirdly, safeties are highly instinctive that can understand where the ball is going to go make plays on the ball, and as you can see, our guys are doing a really good job of that. And that’s just how the system is built and that’s – I love safeties that can play that way. I think it allows you to allow your corners to play with leverage, they allow your safeties to have a little freedom within the defense to go make plays, and man we have one of the better ones in (Lions DB) Brian Branch that’s highly instinctive, that can play down, that can play back, and then (Lions S) Kerby (Joseph)’s in the middle of the field and he can do a lot. And his range to be able to go find the ball is unbelievable. It kind of reminds me of when I had (former Saints S) Malcolm Jenkins and (Ravens S) Marcus Williams when I was in New Orleans. So, those guys are somewhat similar, but there are differences between those guys also.”
On the combination of instincts and film study that goes into Lions DB Brian Branch getting the interception in the end zone in Week 6: “Well instincts are a part of who they are. That’s hard to explain to be honest with you because everybody has their own instincts to how they see things and can go make plays. But we knew that there were a ton of 7 routes that were ran by this team and I give a lot of credit to the DB coaches because they talked about that quite a bit. And they give presentations in front of the players, in front of the whole defense, and they talked about that quite a bit. So, when you do that, it allows your players to understand exactly what’s going on and be able to anticipate, go make those plays, and that’s what BB did.”
On why Lions DL Isaiah Thomas has not had an impact in the League yet with the measurables he has: “Well he hasn’t been here so I can’t answer that. The only thing I do know is he has the measurables like you just said. And listen, we just got the player. So, we have to figure out what the player can do well, and once we figure that out, we’ll be able to put him in spots to go in and help us on defense.”
On how he evaluates new players when they arrive during the regular season: “It’s always hard to do, but that’s why we practice the way that we practice. Now, we’re not one of these teams that are going to sit without pads on, we’re going to play. The only way you can practice football is to play, but the only way you can play football is to practice football. So, he’s going to have a chance to go out there and practice against one of the best O-lines in the League and see exactly what he can do, and then that’s going to tell us how we can play him.”
On how they build upon the turnovers they have been forcing: “Continue to do it. That’s an easy one. Continue to do it. We practice it all the time.”
On some of the changes he sees in the Vikings offense: “Listen I think (Vikings Head Coach Kevin O’Connell) KO, the head coach, does a really good job of identifying exactly what (Vikings QB) Sam (Darnold) does well. Similar to what you see how the Rams kind of transformed themselves into this power run team, they went and got their running back, (Vikings RB) Aaron (Jones), and he’s tough to deal with. I don’t know what his situation is, but you can tell when he’s in there, this O-line has a different mentality as far as blocking downhill. They run this crunch play which is really power to create these doubles, and that’s a team that wants to be physical when they do that. So that’s another added element that they really didn’t have early before he got there or when he was there that they’re trying to implement into their offense. And when you have that, the play-action game shows up and I think that’s what Sam Darnold does a really good job of, the play-action. Now you don’t have as many receivers out in the routes, but you create a lot of space between the second and the third levels of your defense to where you can hit those 20-yard comebacks, you can hit those 20-yard dig routes. And he’s doing a good job of that, and the reason why is because of what Aaron brings to the table in this hard, physical, crunch play that they’re trying to run now.”
On the evolution of the linebackers as pass rushers and how they can help fill the absence of Lions DL Aidan Hutchinson: “Well this is something that I talk about every week, about the versatility of that linebacker room. We expect all of our guys to be able to create some type of pressure on the quarterback in some way, shape or form. We blitz (Lions LB) Alex (Anzalone), we blitz (Lions LB) Jack (Campbell), we blitz (Lions LB Malcolm Rodriguez) Rodrigo, we used to blitz (Lions LB Derrick) Barnes like crazy. Then we’re going to continue to do that because those guys have the ability to do that. The bigger man, I think that’s a tough matchup on backs. So, as much as we can do that, we’re going to do it.”
On what makes Vikings WR Justin Jefferson different than other receivers in the League: “Listen, here’s the – and that’s a really good question, because in my opinion, I think he’s the best receiver in the League. And that’s no disrespect to any of the other receivers. Listen, (Bengals WR) Ja’Marr Chase – it’s a ton of really, really good receivers in this League. I think the one thing that sets him apart is his toughness. This guy here has taken some shots going across the middle and he’s not afraid to go across the middle and he’s going to reach, grab and do whatever he can to catch the ball, and he takes some shots, he gets right back up. He has a swagger about himself, he gets right back to the huddle, he’s ready to go play. And I think that inspires his teammates. You’re talking about a great player that elevates his teammates, that’s one of the reasons why his teammates are elevated because of the way that he plays the game.”
On if they cannot have a singular gameplan against Vikings WR Justin Jefferson’s ability to adjust quickly: “Well it shows his ability of who he is and I think the coaching staff did a really good job of trying to get him in positions to where you just can’t press him and things like that, because they move him around quite a bit against us, and we have to do a really good job with our coverage responsibility to make sure that we’re on point, our alignments are right, understanding exactly what we’re trying to do in certain situations, man or zone, to make sure that we’re not out of position, and they do a good job of that.”
LIONS SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR DAVE FIPP QUOTE SHEET
October 17, 2024
On what he thought of Lions K Jake Bates’s performance against Dallas and how it was to get him an extended workload: “Yeah, it’s good. I mean, really, it’s kind of what we’ve been doing throughout the season is, he’s getting a lot of volume, and you guys don’t see it all the time, but during the week even. And he’s just gotten better and better, he’s still got a lot of room for improvement I think, but you can see him consistently getting better day after day, so I’m really happy with his progress. I also would say that (Lions LS) Hogan (Hatten) has done an outstanding job for us at the long snapper – or short snapper position on that play, and he’s really been a part of that success, and then (Lions P Jack) Fox, obviously, holding the ball. I think those three guys are just getting better and better and obviously we’re going to need that throughout the course of the year, but we’ll still have some ups and downs, I’m sure, that’s just the way this game goes. But again, our focus for him is really just going to be on continual improvement. But that game was a good step for him.”
On if there is a limit to the number of times his players can kick throughout the week or if there is an optimal number of kicks: “Yeah, I think that varies quite a bit and I think there’s a lot of variables that go into that, so it’s hard to say exactly what that number is. Like is the player young or old? That’s one thing. Does he have past injury history or not would be kind of another thing. But I’m very cognizant of that and we definitely manage that. You also want to have a great line of communication between the player and myself. I’ve had it before, I tell these guys at the beginning of training camp every year going into the season like, ‘Hey, you’ve got to tell me, if you’re feeling off, we can back it off of you, if you’re feeling great, we can put it on you a little bit more.’ And a while back a player got hurt and I’m like, ‘Man, what happened?’ And he’s like, ‘Well, I felt a little tight.’ I’m like, ‘Ah, man, if you would’ve just communicated that to me, we could’ve maybe avoided something.’ So, I think having an open communication or dialogue with the players and yourself and being able to manipulate the schedule as you go – so I think there’s a lot of variables to it, but yeah, definitely over-kicking a guy can put him in a bad spot and you want to be very cognizant of that.”
On if he would have had to go to a backup plan at kicker against Dallas since the Lions had 10 kickoffs: “That’s always a great thing. No punts, 10 kickoffs. Gosh man, the way we were covering it, maybe. But no, that’s a good problem to have, but that is a large volume. Now, the good news is the kickoff today is a little bit less than it used to be just in terms of how you’re hitting the ball. It’s quite as much on your leg, and that’s kind of helped these guys out around the League. They’re involved with more tackles I guess, which isn’t good. You’ve seen that, kind of, around the League, but positive is the kickoff is less taxing than it’s been for them.”
On what Lions LS Hogan Hatten is doing well: “Yeah, so I would say, like on the short snap, I’ll start with that because – and it really is something that I didn’t know was as important earlier in my career as I do today, but number one is velocity. The quicker he gets the ball back there, the more time (Lions P Jack) Fox has to get the ball down. Ultimately, what the kicker wants is, the kicker wants to see the ball down on the spot for longer. But he’s also got a time restriction put on him, so whether that’s 1.3 seconds, roughly, would be a number around the League that people would use, so he’s got 1.3 seconds, well, if the ball gets down at 1.2, he’s got a tenth of a second to see it before he hits it in its place. If it gets down in one second, then he’s got three tenths of a second to see the ball, and the longer the ball’s down on the spot and stationary, the more accurate every kicker is, it doesn’t really matter who the player is. So, it’d be like catching a ball on offense, I mean, the longer your eyes are tracking the ball, the better your odds of making the catch. You turn around, it’s on you, it’s a difficult catch to make, not that they can’t make it, but your odds are going down. So, velocity’s one thing, the next thing about getting it down on the spot would be also location. So, the better the location is, more right over the spot, the quicker Fox can get it down, then you’re also talking about the laces and if the laces need to be adjusted then that takes time, which, again, puts the kicker behind it a little bit. So, all those things are really directly affected by the snapper, it’s a huge impact on a kicker’s success. I know I said that when I came in here, you guys asked me about (former Lions K Matt) Prater and I said that a big part of his challenge is, his last year here, in my opinion, were more of the operation than it was him directly. So anyway, it can influence a kicker’s results quite a bit, which is weird, because no one ever talks about it and then that number gets tagged to one of these kickers and everyone says the guy’s an inaccurate kicker or he’s not very good and it’s like, ‘Well, the truth might be somewhere in between that.’ So, the snap’s critical. Obviously for Fox it’s the same thing, velocity, placement and your get-off time and operation. The more time he has with the ball in his hand to be able to place it and mold it, see it and then get it off his foot, the better he’s going to be. If he catches that ball out here or up here, if he catches it up here, it’s a tenth of a second, so he’s got to be a tenth of a second faster in his operation. So, it really is a vital position, it affects those players back behind him a lot than anyone really knows, and no one really talks about it.”
On if 1.3 seconds is the time for operation on field goals: “Yeah, that’s like a – I would say that’s kind of a rough – it’s a pretty close, rough number. You’re looking at a punt, around two seconds and field goal 1.3.”
On if Lions LS Hogan Hatten affects the operation time for field goals and punts: “Well, it’s really like what – the time that he affects is the snap-to-catch on both those numbers, and the faster that is, the better.”
On what the Lions’ snap-to-catch time is: “I actually – to be honest with you, I don’t totally know what that number is. I know it’s fast, so I feel good about it.”
On how he would assess Lions K Jake Bates’s tackle against Dallas and Cowboys WR KaVontae Turpin’s kick return: “Yeah, that actually has been a positive and I do feel fortunate, not that we want him to make a tackle for sure, that’s definitely not the goal, but it’s an inevitable a little bit at some point. The one thing I do feel fortunate about is, Jake’s a bigger-bodied kicker, he’s not a small guy back there and usually those small guys end up getting hurt when they are in on tackles, and he’s done a nice job of edging the guy out of bounds, but also having a physical presence to him too. The good news with him is he’s kind of an athlete and he’s a player. He grew up playing sports, soccer, all that stuff, he’s not just a – whatever, small kicker back there kicking the ball, so that’s good. In terms of the return, obviously the return wasn’t good at all. It was good by them, it wasn’t good enough by us. I would say, really, most of the burden is on me. Just not doing a good enough job of putting those guys in a position or a mindset to really go play that play to the best of their abilities, so it’s really something that I’ve got to fix and help them with more than anything. The play’s a difficult play, it’s going to come down to one-on-ones and getting off blocks and making tackles. We can do a better job of that too, but ultimately, I think I could help them out more with it.”
On who the emergency long snapper is for the Lions and how much they practice snapping in light of Chicago needing Bears TE Cole Kmet to snap in their last game: “So yeah, it’s a great question. It usually comes up when something happens to a guy, whether it’s on your team or around the League, which you hope never happens. Honestly, our guy going into the last game was (Lions DL Aidan Hutchinson) Hutch, so yeah, you’re in the middle of the game and that could’ve been a problem too. It’s something that we work every week with those guys. We have them snap a handful of snaps. We don’t work it a ton, obviously we don’t have a lot of reps for them. A lot of their reps come off to the side, not necessarily in a team drill. Fortunately for us, we do have a number of other guys that can also snap too, (Lions LB Alex) Anzalone being one of them, and we have, actually, several more, but we’ll see where we go from there. But yeah, you hope you never wind up in that situation. It sounds like that guy did a pretty good job. And I think there’s way to help – if you do get into that spot, there’s way to help that player out a little bit and take some of the stress off him. Maybe he’s not snapping it all the way back there at 14 yards you’re moving your punter up, you make some adjustments. But yeah, it’s definitely a spot you don’t want to be in. You don’t want to lose a kicker or a snapper.”
On if the thinks a loophole would be closed on players jumping over the line of scrimmage on field goals and if he feels he has a player that can jump over the line of scrimmage to block kicks: “Yeah, I can’t – a loophole that would be closed, I can’t really answer that. Do we have a guy? It’s a difficult thing to do. Obviously, the guys who did it are both kind of freak athletes. I think everyone kind of was aware of that coming out of college or whatever, their Combine numbers and all that. I think, I don’t know if it was a year ago or two years ago, we talked about it in here a little bit, and I’ve done it in the past, I’ve had a guy that could do it, he was also a freak athlete. I’m not saying we don’t have anyone on our team that can do it. I’m not going to get into all that, but it definitely is difficult to do. Now, that being said, those guys are pushing down on top of those guys. It’s a weird thing to me because I don’t really agree with being able to drive a guy down into the ground and jump over the top of him and I’ve expressed that to the League before because I think it’s like, whether you call it a hold or a pull-and-shoot, you’re pushing the guy down and shooting the gap over the top of him and restricting him from being able to do his job. I don’t love that. It would be kind of like if you’re snatching a guy on whatever defensive – your pass rush and you’re snatching an offensive lineman or pulling him out of the way so a guy can run through a gap. But whatever, the rules are the rules, we’ve got to play within them. So anyway, it was a nice job by both of those guys doing it, executing it and getting the job done.”
On how difficult it is to defend the fake reverse Dallas ran against them: “Yeah, the reverse element of the play, it had a little hold on some – like a backside player maybe overlapping over the top, but I would say really not a ton. Ultimately, it came down to, you’ve got to win one-on-one blocks and there’s a bunch of guys being blocked one-on-one, and they were held up for quite a long time and they did a great job of blocking us. Like I said, I put a lot of it on me because there’s some things we could’ve done different. Those were deep kicks, sometimes a deep kick is harder to cover than a short kick, believe it or not, because he can affect the field a little bit more. If it’s a short kick, you’re pushed up into the coverage a little bit more and it’s harder to run around it, so depending on the return you’re running, and they were running a wide area of return on a deep kick, which was advantageous for them. So, there’s a lot to all those plays, but yeah, it was a creative idea. I don’t think the reverse element of it was the biggest part of our troubles, I would say it that way. But it was well done by them, I’m not taking anything away from them.”
