December 15, 2020 LIONS DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR CORY UNDLIN CONFERENCE CALL QUOTE SHEET (VIA ZOOM) On the challenge of Titans RB Derrick Henry and tackling him: “Yeah, let’s just do that. See how that goes. The first thing that pops off when you put that tape on with these guys, they’ve got one back and two tight ends out there – what we would call 12-personnel. And there’s very few teams that are not leading 11-personnel – one back, one tight end on the field. These guys are a little bit more old school. They’ve got some 21-peronnel, two-back stuff. So, yeah. I think you said the key was a completely (different) program than it was last week. They can run it obviously. I’m not going to tell you anything you guys don’t already know, and they’re really, really good at it. Tough task, as it is every week. Got to tackle. More importantly, it’s all 11 guys that are on the grass, too. We need everybody – on the edge, on the inside, safeties – if that thing does get rolling through there, they’ve got to tackle in the back end. It’s going to be a good challenge. We’ll be up for it, I know that.” On if part of the challenge of stopping Tennessee is that teams aren’t built to stop what they do: “I don’t know if I would say that. What I think is (Titans Head Coach) Mike Vrabel and that staff, they are just committed to running it. They don’t care. I mean, he comes out of the tunnel, he just turns around and says, ‘Hey, I’m just going to hand it off to this guy, he’s going to run right over here, and then we’ll just see if you can tackle him.’ I mean that’s what they’re doing, and they’re really, obviously, efficient. It’s a gain of one, it’s a gain of two, it’s a gain of three, then it’s 17. Zero, one, two, 22, and then you get into the fourth quarter, then it’s six and then it’s seven, six, and they’ve just done a good job of wearing people out. Critical that we start fast in the run game, and then if we can get a ball off of him, or if we can get an interception and kind of create a spark there early in the game, that will help us. You don’t want to get down early, because you’re just letting them do what they want to do, and that’s just (to) continue to run it and wear you out. Really, really good challenge.” On why Titans QB Ryan Tannehill has been successful in his tenure there: “A good amount of play action. They’ve done some drop-back, they’ve got a little bit of three-step. You guys have been covering this game a long time – you talk about offenses and the ability to run it, and then the ability to play-action pass off the same run – this is the formula. They have it. Because they’re so effective to run, you cannot hesitate when that ball gets handed off. If you hesitate at the line, great offensive line – those guys are playing well together. I know they’ve had some injuries and they’ve moved some guys around in different spots – it doesn’t matter. The back is downhill. All the backs, not just Derrick (Henry), all of them. When that thing starts getting downhill, and you feel the urgency and you have to get downhill and all of a sudden he pulls that ball back, now you’ve got a separation between the safeties and the corners and now you’ve got a gap right there and he just throws it over your head in between the backers and the corners. It will be a great challenge for us, too, to make sure that after we compete and fight to slow this run game down, to not let them throw it over our heads. It’s a perfect balance right now, what they’ve got going.” LIONS SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR BRAYDEN COOMBS CONFERENCE CALL QUOTE SHEET (VIA ZOOM) On RB/WR Jamal Agnew’s 71-yard kickoff return against the Packers: “That’s a huge play. Obviously we’ve been looking for one of those, felt like we were close and just a matter of bringing it all the way through. Obviously Agnew is electric, he’s a playmaker. Any time he has the ball in his hands, we all know he has a chance to make something happen. It was really just a matter of being patient throughout the game, really throughout the course of the last several weeks, just wishing we had a little bit more opportunity. But everyone staying ready for when that time came, and everyone did a great job of that. Throughout the course of the game, easy to get lulled to sleep when you just watch it go over your head touchback after touchback. But those guys did a heck of a job staying locked in. “As far as singling out a couple guys, it was really, a total group effort. I think 10 out of 11 guys graded out 100% on that play which is rare to get that many guys doing their job on the same play effectively. I guess if I had to say a guy, probably the key block at the point of attack was Bobby Price actually, playing in his, I think, second game. Had a really difficult assignment and made a really, really good block, and Jason Cabinda has kind of been our lead blocker all season, getting things started. Kerryon was out there for the first time, something he’s been practicing for over the course of the last month or so. He had a knockdown, which is good to see, but it really was everybody. I mean, that’s a timing play. Everybody working in sync, together, doing their job, and trusting our process and just going out there and executing. It was good to see. I wish we could’ve finished it. ‘Ag’ will have to put a couple dollars in the swear jar this week. We don’t get tackled by kickers and punters here. He’ll have to pony up there, but it was good to see him make a play. Sometimes those things come in bunches, so hopefully that opens the floodgates for us.” On the energy in the special teams room and the players feeding off his energy: “For me, that’s the only way I know how to do this thing, whether it’s special teams or anything else. I get to coach football 360 days a year. It’s my job, it’s my occupation. If I wanted to do something quiet and more mundane, I’d probably be in a different line of work. I don’t think it works to do it any other way. I know it doesn’t for me. So I show up, and I’m just naturally excited to be here, particularly on the days those guys are in the building. It’s even an extra boost, an extra lift. I feed off of them, as much or more than they feed off of me. I think it’s contagious. There’s going to be days where you’re tired, and on those days where maybe you don’t have it as naturally, that’s what the guy next to you is for, to pick you up. A, if he’s got it, if it’s contagious to you, and B, you kind of know, ‘Hey I have to be accountable to him, to show up and have energy.’ You don’t want to be the guy that’s dragging around, letting everybody else down. Once you get to the point where that is just the culture and that’s the norm, then it’s more like a, you stick out like a sore thumb if you’re not like that. If you’re a low-energy guy or a low (inaudible) guy, you wouldn’t fit in well around here. “So it’s really a collective deal that everyone bought in to, and it makes it fun, and it makes it a lot easier to do the hard stuff and to put in the work when you’re having fun doing it. You’re around a bunch of guys who are bouncing around just having good energy. It’s no different than everything else in life, right? Whether you’re painting houses or selling cars, I don’t really think it matters. I think we all just appreciate being around people who are happy, enthusiastic, excited and just have that good energy. Our whole group really does have that, and I think we all feed off one another and are in this together. I think when we go out there on Sunday, that’s our chance to go show that off to the world and show everybody else what we’re all about, and to show the hard work that we’ve put in and get to enjoy that experience of gamedays. That’s what it’s all about. I appreciate that those guys feel the same way as I do and are bought in to that way of doing things. I think it’s just one of those things that just kind of snowballs. It’s contagious.” |
