DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR MIKE CALDWELL
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2022
(On how he thought LB Chad Muma played on Sunday and what he can do in the future) “I thought Chad
did a good job. He went out there and played with a lot of energy, made some plays for us. I think he
calmed everything down at times. He helped Foye (LB Foye Oluokun) out a bunch, so he did a good job.
Going forward, just continue to get better and find his niche in this defense.”
(On what he sees from LB Devin Lloyd)“With Devin, it will just be, like go out to practice today, continue
to work on techniques, continue to get better. He’s still a vital part of this defense. He’ll be in at
linebacker at times, he’ll be in on packages, it’s just we have a good group of guys we’re able to use, and
we’ll just try to get the most out of them.”
(On the decision to make CB Tre Herndon a healthy scratch on Sunday) “It was really just a way to give
another guy an opportunity. We saw what Tre could do, and we’re happy, and we’re pleased with that,
but we just wanted to see another guy that hasn’t had a chance to go out there and play. TC (CB
Tevaughn Campbell) went out there did a good job for us, and Buster (CB Montaric Brown) has been
doing a good job, so just continue to work guys in and give them opportunities and let guys step up and
take off.”
(On balancing time for guys they want to see play and the best guys to help them win the game) “That’s
the thing. Weekly, it changes. You might see a package this week, a package next week, but weekly, we
have to go out there and put our guys in the best position to win that game, and whoever it calls for,
everybody has a different skillset, and we’ll use that skillset the best we can.”
(On the challenges that the Lions present to the Jaguars defense) “Really, right now, they’re throwing it
around really well and running the ball well, so they’re really a two-headed monster if you look at it that
way. We just have to understand that they’re throwing it good, they’re running it good. We just have to
go back to our techniques, understand our scheme, and go out there and try to stop them.”
(On how difficult the Lions running backs are to defend) “Really, you talk about the whole offense as a
two-headed monster. They really have three guys back there running the ball that can really do it. You
have guys that can power run, guys that are more of scat backs. Guys that catch the ball well in the
bakckfield, and their offensive line. Their offensive line is built to really move guys up front, and they do
a good job, and knowing Coach Staley (Assistant Head Coach and Running Backs Coach Duce Staley),
playing with him and working with him, knowing that he really preaches running the ball, and they’re
doing a really good job of doing it.”
(On if WR Amon-Ra St. Brown is talented enough to be shadowed by a defender) “When you look at
him, the type of player that he’s becoming, he is a guy that, he’s the number one. They look to him, and
they feed him the ball, so that’s another option that we have. Right now we’ll just go at it as, we’ll play
our defense and however we end up on Sunday, we’ll see if we can make that work.”
(On how adaptable the guys on the Jaguars defense are) “When we first got here, we wanted to build
the scheme where you play a technique, you learn a technique, you play a technique, and every position
can do that, so when we come into situations where against Baltimore you need to put a guy in a certain
spot because that’s what Baltimore presents to us, we’re able to do that. I think guys handled it well.
Jenk (S Rayshawn Jenkins) came down, and he kept saying nickel this, nickel that, and I think he liked
that role of being a nickel. Dewey (S Andrew Wingard) did a great job coming in. Guys just being able to
take ownership of the defense, and they did a good job running with it.”
(On if the nickel is the unsung hero of a defense) “I think when you look at this defense, it’s really still
trying to form its identity. We’re getting great play from all levels. Safeties are playing well, inside
linebackers, Foye (LB Foye Oluokun) had the good game, Chad (LB Chad Muma) and Devin (LB Devin
Lloyd) have done a good job … We have good guys at all levels. Then up front, we’ve got guys up front. I
think when you look at it overall, we have guys in position. We just have to go out there and excel.”
(On LB Foye Oluokun’s performance) “Really, I think I told the guys this, when I look at it, when you get a
linebacker that has 20 tackles, 18 tackles, they got ran through, but when you look at this game, it
wasn’t that. He did a great job of being who he is. He works hard all the time. He runs to the ball at
practice. He’s a guy that, he has a feel to find the ball. He did a great job. When it’s time to make plays,
he’s a playmaker.”
(On if putting LB Chad Muma next to LB Foye Oluokun freed him up at all) “I don’t know if it freed him
up, I think it just settled everything down. Not saying that Devin (LB Devin Llyod) didn’t settle it down,
but Chad out there, Chad was able to, because Chad has played the Mike position, so when he’s a Mike
position, he has to line guys up, so he’s able to line guys up, and I think it helped him out, but I think just
overall really condensing the game plan because against Baltimore, there were so many calls that you
really didn’t want to make. You wanted to go with our base stuff, so guys are familiar, being able to play
fast. We were able to go out there and got the victory.”
(On if it was impressive for LB Chad Muma to go out there and line guys up in his first start) “It’s really a
good job by him just going back to training camp. In training camp, he got the reps at the middle
linebacker, then he played the Mike, and he’s able to adapt to whatever position just like we talked
earlier. There’s certain techniques at one spot that you don’t get much at another spot, but you still
understand that technique, and he was able to go out there and do a nice job for us.”
(On what he likes about S Andrew Wingard’s personality) “For me, it’s not his personality, it’s his
professionalism. He’s a guy that I don’t have to worry about. If he doesn’t get a rep, he’s going to have
his nose in a book, he’s going to watch film, he’s going to come in with questions, he’s going to come in
with answers to problems, and he’s a guy that, he’s a professional. He might not be the starter, he might
not do this, but if I ever have a problem, need to put somebody out there, I know he’ll go out there, and
he plays with so much energy and so much excitement, it really just feeds to the rest of the guys. He’s a
guy that you love to have on the team because he does it the right way, practices the right way, plays
special teams, then when called upon, he goes out there and makes plays. You can’t say enough about
those type of guys around. Then just the respect he has in the locker room. He’s a guy that, we talk
about leaders all the time, he might not be a so-called leader, but guys in that locker room listen to him
because they see what he does on the field and they see what he does on the practice field.”
(On if every team has multiple emotional role players like S Andrew Wingard) “You have to because your
starters are going to be your starters, and everybody has a next man up mentality, and whenever he
gets a chance to play, every time he’s gone out there, when Jenk (S Rayshawn Jenkins) got dinged up a
couple games ago, made a big play on third down, then in this game, gets an opportunity. When he gets
an opportunity to make a play, he makes plays, and that’s what you want from role players. He’s playing
his role trying to find a way to get on the field even more.”
(On if they will continue to simplify the game plan even more moving forward) “I think when you look at
it, the bye week was good for us to go back and look at what went well, what we practiced a bunch in
training camp, what we’ve practiced and carried throughout the season then go back and just hone in
on that. Think about it, sit there, and just understand the problems that Baltimore presents to you as far
as guys going flash motion and different guys pulling, but if you settle down and didn’t play the way we
want to play and not really react to them, I think that was the big key for us, just sitting back and
understanding, we’re going to do this, and we know how to do this, we’re going to do it, and let’s make
them execute, and I think we’ve made a few more plays.”
SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR HEATH FARWELL
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2022
(On P Logan Cooke’s punts on Sunday) “I’m not (stunned). I see him do it every day. He’s super talented,
he works at it every day. One is spectacular, let alone to have three of them, it’s pretty special. It’s
something he works at all the time, and then to have DT (S Daniel Thomas) go down there on that one at
the two just made it even better. We’re able to watch a very, very talented punter and Pro Bowl talent,
and hopefully this is his year. If it’s not, he deserves it. He’s a special player we’re lucky to have. I was
fortunate to have him here, the Jacksonville Jaguars drafted him, and I just walk into a spectacular
player.”
(On the talent of LB Caleb Johnson this year) “Yeah, when he became available from Chicago, he was a
guy that we targeted. We said, ‘We’d love to have this guy, let’s pick him up.’ He’s exceeded
expectations. We knew he was going to be a good player, but he’s been even better. He has great
hands, good physicality, he’s got a good instinct and good feel to get to the ball. His ability to get off
blocks, he has good length to get off, he’s just always around the football. He’s been a key to our
coverage units as well as our return game. He’s a spectacular blocker in the kick return and punt return
game.”
(On impact of coverage units between LB Chad Muma and LB Devin Lloyd) “It didn’t. That’s the thing
about it, Chad has still played a couple of phases and I think that’ll be a week-to-week basis depending
on what they’re doing defensively. We love having Chad, I spoke about him last week and how great he
is. Devin sits in on all the meetings, so he’s been preparing and waiting for that opportunity to help us
out in any way he can and he’s all in. He’ll play as much as he can and as much as we have room for him.
He did a great job as well. There weren’t a ton of opportunities with only one punt return and a bunch of
backs, but he’s in the right positions, he cares, he wants to learn them, he’s come along nicely to where
I’m happy where Devin is at as well.”
(On if K Riley Patterson will practice more indoor kicks this week leading into an indoor game on Sunday)
“No, honestly, classic special teams, we’ll kick outside for practice, but we’ve got to find space where we
can, so we’ll go inside anyway like we always would do and do some extra kicks. It doesn’t change us a
ton as far as what we’re doing and what our plan is. For specialists, it’s an advantage to not have to deal
with any wind, and it’s just more of a natural ball, so that part is better. That’s kind of exciting. You can’t
overlook that. Sometimes guys get in there and they get so excited to kind of have no elements then all
of the sudden you don’t put your best kicks out. It’s something we’ve just got to kind of focus in on, hey,
it’s a clean ball, still got to strike it the same way, all the same stuff we work on all the time.”
(On K Riley Patterson being used to the field at Detroit) “It’s always unique probably going back to your
former team, but I think it’s probably going to be exciting for him to see some of those old coaches and
old players that he’s got. I know he’s got a good relationship with several of them. I think it’s always cool
to go back and see some of those guys. He’ll feel very comfortable.”
(On if K Riley Patterson should have kicked the squib kick deeper on Sunday) “Yeah, we didn’t do it as
exactly as what we were looking for, but that’s something we work on all the time, and we’ll continue to
work it. I’d love to get him down a little sooner. That guy did a really good job returning it, returned it
pretty far. It’s more than we were hoping for, but that’s ball. We’ve just got to find a way to get them
down sooner. We were able to win, and that’s all that matters. I thought we did a good job in coverage
overall, and we did a good job on special teams versus a very good unit. That’s one of the better groups
over the years, and I thought our guys played really, really well.”
(On what went into the decision to squib the kick rather than kick it to the endzone) “There’s always
several ways to go about that. You’re dealing with a great returner. He’s a very, very good returner.
You’re also dealing with a very good kicker. That group is very, very good. It’s such an emphasis there.
Those are the things that we talk about all week, each week, even throughout the game, what is our
thought process. Coach Pederson and I talk about that throughout the game, and we did on that play of
what’s the best opportunity, and we can do it different ways, but in that instant, we thought, hey, we
can waste five seconds, roughly five seconds and take a play away from their offense. You just kind of
weigh it out, kick it out and take no time off, or you take off those extra couple seconds and take a play
away from them.”
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR PRESS TAYLOR
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2022
(On how RB Darrell Henderson Jr. will fit in with the team) “Yeah, I think he can be a good zone runner.
He’s a powerfully built guy, so we think in his experience of a zone system, obviously playing for the
Rams, something we like to do now, and we have a little bit more of the gap schemes and some of the
toss crack going. We’re just overall excited to continue to work with him, evaluate him, and see where
he fits with the rest of the room.”
(On if RB Darrell Henderson Jr. will be active for Sunday) “We’ll still see. We got plenty of time to see
where he is in terms of the process, how much of the game plan he understands and has down, and
then where he fits with Travis’ [RB Travis Etienne Jr.] health, JaMycal [RB JaMycal Hasty], Snoop [RB
Snoop Conner] coming along, all that and where the numbers fall.”
(On challenge of game planning with RB Travis Etienne Jr.’s health in question) “He certainly insists he’s
playing, so we’ll see. We’re going to trust Fergie [Vice President of Player Health and Performance Jeff
Ferguson] and the medical staff in that department. That’s kind of something we’ve gone through, it
feels like a couple of times this season, where a guy is a day-to-day decision, and we continue to build
the plan in hopes that the guy is there. Obviously, the contingency of if that guy is not going to make it,
and then we’ll go back and forth on a Friday evening or Saturday night of, ‘Okay, if he does make it, who
goes where? What are we taking?’ There is a little bit more of a process in terms of who’s going to be on
certain personnel for plays, but that’s something we’ve kind of done every single week with different
people.”
(On Lions DE Aidan Hutchinson’s talent) “He has really gotten rolling. He’s got a couple interceptions
that we were watching some ball security stuff of today that you happen to notice. He’s coming along as
a playmaker, continuing to put pressure on the edge. They’ve done a good job of just trying to find
different ways to use him, whether it’s putting him on one certain side and letting him get comfortable,
or within the scheme to let him try to get after the quarterback and pass rush. They do some different
stuff where they will drop him out and he’s made some plays in those situations, really, against the
Giants and the Packers he had two interceptions in those two games, so he’s done a good job.”
(On if last week’s game was QB Trevor Lawrence’s best game to date) “I don’t know if I’d go through and
compare every single game and how he’s played. There’s been spurts here and there of different things,
certainly the fourth quarter, really, that last drive, he just got hot. You could kind of see in the way he
threw the ball, the conviction he had in his back foot to let the ball rip to put it to a spot, where really,
his guys or nobody were there and there were a lot of those throws that seemed like long handoffs. You
saw that confidence just pouring out in the way he played and the way he let the ball rip and the belief
in what he was doing at the line.”
(On if we are seeing more consistency from QB Trevor Lawrence) “I believe so. Part of that is just
conviction, he knows what he wants, he knows what he’s looking at from the defense, he knows where
his guys are going to be. Just that chemistry built up over time with his guys, whether it be Zay [WR Zay
Jones], Christian [WR Christian Kirk], Marvin [WR Marvin Jones Jr.], Evan [TE Evan Engram], the backs,
Agnew [WR Jamal Agnew] stepping in there and making some plays, yeah. You see that from Trevor, but
that’s kind of what you expect going into the season and continue to work together to spend time
together.”
(On similarities between RB JaMycal Hasty and RB Travis Etienne Jr.) “Yeah, there’s certainly elements to
his game that marry some of the things that we have built in for Travis, so JaMycal had a big third down
conversion where they busted coverage, but that’s something that Travis had really been the one that
repped all week, and you don’t have much hesitation throwing him out there to put him in a situation
where he’s run that route, he’s done it a certain number of times. Now, was he featured on that during
the week? Probably not. We try to sneak in walkthrough reps so those guys all know if somebody goes
down, they know the assignment, they know what to do, we’ll sneak off those types of throws to the
side with Trevor [QB Trevor Lawrence] just in case something like that were to come up. As a coach, it
makes you feel good when that comes up and that guy is ready to roll, that guy executes at a high level.
Trevor doesn’t blink that all the sudden there’s a new guy standing next to him on the primary route in a
third down concept because he’s got a lot of trust built into JaMycal. JaMycal was a guy that joined us
right at the start of the season, so now, we’ve had 13-14 weeks to spend time with him and try to get on
the same page.”
(On where RB Snoop Conner stands) “Snoop has done a good job of developing. I thought he did a good
job when he came in there, had a couple tight zone runs. Did a good job getting downhill and trying to
bring a physical presence there that we felt like we needed at the third quarter of the game when he got
those carries.”
(On if RB Snoop Conner has shown enough in practice) “Yeah, it’s just continuing to try to utilize
everybody’s skillset. Obviously, we have Travis [RB Travis Etienne Jr.] and JaMycal [RB JaMycal Hasty]
roll, they’ve been playing well. You try to sprinkle Snoop here and there and things you feel feature his
skillset best without taking away from getting Travis going or JaMycal going in a game. Obviously, the
situation with Travis during the game, Snoop stepped up and was ready to roll, and we got him a couple
of carries. Just continuing to build that trust with him and letting him see the speed of the game in real
time, I guess.”
(On WR Zay Jones’ performance at the end of last game) “Yes, certainly. Part of that was just that he had
the hot hand at the time. That’s a route, honestly, that came to life practicing with Atlanta. We went to
Atlanta, we were in a tight redzone period, he ran that play to the right, and the route looked a little
different than we originally did it or been taught way back when, but everybody really liked it. He got
open really well, so it’s just been a play that we’ve carried every single week because we all said that
whether it’s man or zone, they’re far enough out there that they end up in a one-on-one situation, we
all like the way Zay runs it. We just showed a clip to our guys today, two weeks ago, usually on a
Thursday practice we take three plays, and we compete one-on-one in the red zone. There’s a winner
and there’s a loser, everybody gets fired up. Just running our plays against our defense; it doesn’t match
up game plan wise necessarily. We showed them that clip because we ran that play with Zay for the
third play of a competition. Zay beat the corner, Trevor [QB Trevor Lawrence] made a great throw, we
scored, our guys celebrated. Just showing them that three weeks later, this showed up in a got-to-have-
it game-winner situation, and those two just executed just like they did in practice three weeks earlier.
Same idea, we’ve seen that over and over from Zay.”
(On when to know to go for two in a close game) “There were a couple of things going on. On our two-
point menu, we had another play listed on there that Travis [RB Travis Etienne Jr.] was a part of that we
scratched off the list. He had spent the most time on task but talking about trusting JaMycal [RB JaMycal
Hasty] and some of those things, that was a little unique, so we weren’t going there. Then, as the drive
went on, we had run the Agnew [WR Jamal Agnew] play that Agnew scored on which was another
possible two-point play. We kind of scratched that, that’s pretty specific. We were going through, and
we had three plays that we really liked. As we’re talking before the drive and going into the drive, when
we had time while reviewing Marvin’s [WR Marvin Jones Jr.] play, it was more a conversation of,
‘Alright. Which three do you guys like?’ Trevor [QB Trevor Lawrence] picked that one out and Zay [WR
Zay Jones] had been rolling, and as we went into it, we were able to pick a hash on a two-point play to
pick the direction of it. We decided to go left with it and the rest is history.”
(On if coaches can trust the process and momentum of end of game scenarios) “Yeah, that’s where I say
it’s kind of case-by-case. It used to be the old school that if you’re on the road, you go for two and go for
the win. I think it’s all really just case-by-case. If we didn’t have a play we loved, or we had been
struggling on offense to get down there, or whatever it may be, maybe we don’t do it. Specifically, that
play, Trevor [QB Trevor Lawrence] and Zay [WR Zay Jones] had been hot at that point. We felt like we
had a good matchup, we felt like we ran something we had a lot of confidence in. That’s a big part of it.
Coach [Head Coach Doug Pederson] and everybody has mentioned it, Coach said a couple of times on
that drive and the fourth quarter alone to think players not plays. Zay was the hot guy at the time,
Trevor had been dealing, so we were very comfortable with going to live or die with this call right here
and these two guys with a matchup we liked.”
(On the threat of Lions CB Jeff Okudah) “He looks like he’s playing very confidently. He’s a big, long guy,
he does a good job when he gets his hands on you. He plays physical and it certainly seems like he’s
going to play. He was in the concussion protocol, missed a Thursday night game which is pretty typical if
you get dinged up on a Sunday, you probably don’t play that Thursday. We’re certainly anticipating him
playing, they’ve moved him around, he’s played different sides of the field, but he does a good job and
looks like he plays with a lot of confidence.”
(On comfortability of preparing gameplans now versus the beginning of the season) “That’s a big part of
it. This far along, we’ve got a lot of time on task with certain plays. There’s a lot of plays, even the play
we scored the two points on, we’ve carried that almost every single week. It comes down more to
knowing how Zay [WR Zay Jones] is going to run it, we throw it, whether it’s a walkthrough or practice,
we get that throw every single week. That’s a big part of it. You get a better feel for guys skillsets, and
not just guys skillsets, but what Trevor [QB Trevor Lawrence] prefers, how Trevor likes throwing,
whether it’s to the left or to the right. There are certain plays that carry on our call sheet that’s left hash
specific because the throw goes to the right because this guy runs the route better, breaking out to his
right or breaking off his right foot to the left, whatever that may be. We have enough plays, we can get
specific at certain times with things like that which allows you to rep it even more where Trevor is
throwing this guy to the right, from the left hash, whatever that may be. That’s certainly something that
as you go on this thing and you build all these reps into your bank basically, you pull those out when
they matter. Guys are comfortable with it, we’ve tweaked through how we’re going to run it on this
coverage versus that coverage, this player versus that player, whatever that may be. You have a lot
more trust and a lot more confidence in them.”
(On if the two-point sheet is different from the game plan sheet) “It kind of depends on the situation.
Depending on the defense you play, we’ll call things that we call the tight red, the five and end, but we
wouldn’t call it inside the three. Their coverages change in certain times, or they’ll play certain
coverages if it’s first-and-goal at the 2, as opposed to a third down or got-to-have-it two-point play.
Sometimes it can get specific in there, where this is a two-point-play only. Typically, those are carried in
a first and second down tight red zone area. It comes specific to us liking this the most in a two-point
play. Maybe we will stay away from it the first two times we’re down there because it’s specific, or
something that we will really feature in a third down or two-point play there.”
(On if the playbook can open up more with comfortability throughout the season) “Yes and no. Yes, in
the fact that we want to hone in on what we do well, going back to your question earlier of just what we
know out of the guys, what we can feature with their skill sets, what Trevor [QB Trevor Lawrence] is
comfortable in that. Then, maybe we do carry a few more plays because again, we’ve been repping
these things for six weeks. Maybe we’re more willing to carry six plays in this third down section
because we’ve been repping them for five weeks, we don’t have to spend a lot of time on the install
because the guys know. Maybe it’s just a walkthrough rep and they can get the throw on the side, we
don’t have to spend a practice rep. Everything really comes down to practice reps. Can we get this to
where we feel confident that we’ve repped it full speed, we’ve seen it execute it, and we have
confidence in the play when it matters most? We kind of always start that way, and then a play we don’t
necessarily need a full speed rep of because we’ve got this time on task built into this thing.”
(On if plays being together for years can make a difference in dynamic) “Yeah, it certainly does. You just
have more of a library of things that you can show. Now, we go back, and we show clips of Zay [WR Zay
Jones] running that play two weeks ago versus back in Atlanta. All that type of stuff, we have more to
draw on for the guys. We can maybe hone in our teaching a little more because we’ve run this route 65
times against all these coverages going back to spring. We’ve built that, it’s easier for guys to see
themselves do it, Trevor [QB Trevor Lawrence] can speak a little more because he’s thrown it a hundred
times now. It just helps us finetune things and then maybe we are willing to carry more.”
