| September 15, 2020 LIONS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR DARRELL BEVELL CONFERENCE CALL QUOTE SHEET (VIA ZOOM) On if RB Adrian Peterson’s performance on Sunday was similar to the last time he coached him: “It looked pretty good. I don’t know if I can compare it 100 percent to it, but I mean, it looked good. He looked strong. He looked explosive, looked like he had his speed. He was breaking tackles; he was making moves. I mean, just really excited about what he was able to do in that game.” On what can be done offensively to keep from being in close-game situations in the fourth quarter: “I think we need to continue to make plays, continue to be consistent. I think when you look at the game there were eight drives – the first eight drives, we had some kind of points, whether it was a touchdown, whether it was a field goal. Then we get to that point where the last four drives, we don’t end up scoring anything – now there was a missed field goal opportunity – but just continuing to make plays, continue to take it one play at a time, not getting ahead of yourself, not worrying about the score, not looking at what’s happening anywhere else, just taking it one play at a time and being able to play at a consistent level. I think if we can do that and continue to do that, play it one play at a time and 11 guys playing together, then all that will take care of itself. That’s kind of the message I had for them.” On WR Quintez Cephus’ performance against the Bears: “He kind of took over an important role when Kenny (Golladay) goes down. He kind of stepped right into there. I was kind of happy for him, proud to see what he did. I think he was on his assignments, which is huge for a young player. Obviously there’s still some detail things in there that he can continue to improve upon, but for the most part he was (in the) right place at (the) right time. There’s plays for him to be made there as well. The plays are sometimes different things. The quarterback has to read out each and every play, and you have a preliminary idea where the ball might go, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s going to go there every time. He ended up getting a little bit more opportunities. I thought he did a nice job with it.” On the running back rotation: “We like all three of those guys, obviously. They all bring a little bit (of) different pieces to the puzzle. There was some situational football in there that elevated some guys’ snaps – so just the way we’re using them. I think we can continue to see that rotation a little bit. Obviously you start getting the guy with the hot hand, and Adrian (Peterson) was running really well in that last game, so he got a few more carries in there as well. So we’ll kind of continue to go in that area. We really like all three of those guys, but we’re going to try to – I always say, we’re going to try to put them in the best spots to help them be successful.” On what the team can do better in the red zone: “We started the first two drives, that we got down in the red zone, we ended up stalling. There are just different things, really, on both of those. The first one – I think (Quintez) Cephus had a chance to catch the ball, which ends up putting that third-down play much closer with better opportunity to convert it. So I think we ended up with a third-and-8 on that one. Then the second time we got down there, some of the things they were doing – we started with a couple runs – so just continuing to make good decisions, give them good calls to be able to be successful with it, execute calls. It all comes together. I think the next two times down there, we ended up scoring touchdowns, and then obviously, the last time we ended up on the 16-(yard line), so that’s a red-zone opportunity as well. All of it I think works together, and we’ll continue to try to improve in that area.” LIONS DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR CORY UNDLIN CONFERENCE CALL QUOTE SHEET (VIA ZOOM) On the thin secondary and players having to step up: “First thought on the secondary and the back end, fortunately we’ve got a deep roster. Injuries are part of this game everywhere I’ve been, and they were yesterday. I couldn’t be more proud of (Darryl) Roberts and Tony McRae for – without even blinking – stepping up and going out there and fighting at the end of the game there. Obviously, it didn’t end up the way we wanted it to, but I couldn’t be more proud of those guys. We’ll see how it goes this week with those guys, and we’ll see if we can get some guys back healthy, and then we’ll see how it shakes out. Proud of those guys.” On Packers WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling: “I spent the last 18 hours here after we corrected the game from Sunday, and I’ve obviously been all about Green Bay here since yesterday at 2 o’clock. Going to have our hands full there, regardless of who’s out there. Obviously, you know about J-Cole (Justin Coleman), but whether it’s any of the DBs that go out there, whoever plays the star position, whoever plays corner, we’ve got a good fight on our hands this week. It’ll be all hands on deck as well this week. We’ll go through practice and get prepared, and we’ll see what it looks like when we get to Sunday. I talk about the wideouts, and I think those wideouts are a direct reflection of the quarterback. You guys are very familiar with the guy. I’ve had the opportunity to play against him a few times in the last few years, so, we’ve got to bring it. We’ve got to be at our best and if we’re not, it will be a long day. Look forward to the challenge. These guys are – we put that game to ed yesterday and look forward to having those guys back in the building tomorrow and look forward to this matchup and getting going and having a great week of practice. Then we’ll go out there and line up again with whoever’s out there and do everything we can to help win a game.” On how he felt his first game as a defensive coordinator went: “Well, we didn’t win the game, so you can just stop the conversation right there. I get the question. It was good until the last – we couldn’t find a way to make a play at the end, which at the end of the day, comes back to me. I’ve got to do a better job and see if I can help those guys (and) put them in better positions. First three quarters, I think everybody – Matt (Patricia, head coach) – I think everybody’s alluded to it. Third down on the sneak to start the game, got off the field, which was good. The communication, players on the sideline, everybody, it was great. But at the end of the day, it’s all for naught when you can’t find a way to win the game at the end. I know there’s a lot of plays – everyone’s talking about the last drive and all that other (stuff) you can look at, but I can pick off a dozen or so plays in the game from the first quarter to the second, third, that could have helped us and helped the team win. Going forward, we’ve got to find a way to make some of those. We had two balls that hit us in the hands, and then we had a ball on the ground there. Really, three balls that hit us in the hands. The one that hit Tracy (Walker), that’s a fastball. That’s going to be a hard one to get. And then we had a fumble on the sack. We have a ball on the ground, and we couldn’t come up with it. Early in the season when you’re playing these games early, especially with the scenario that we’re in, no training camp, no preseason games, we talked about it, Matt talked about it all week – it’s going to come down to turnovers. They got one and we didn’t. So, we’ve got to come up with those, we’ve got to capitalize on those opportunities when we get them, and we’ll move forward and hopefully we can do that.” LIONS SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR BRAYDEN COOMBS CONFERENCE CALL QUOTE SHEET (VIA ZOOM) On his evaluation of P Jack Fox in his first NFL game against the Bears: “Yeah, I think he did do a good job, happy for him to go out there and really just do what we knew he was capable of doing. I think like I kind of alluded to all throughout camp, there’s a big difference between doing it in practice and doing it when it’s for real, and you’ve got live action all around you. He handled it great, a little bit – had some nerves pregame, which is totally – it would somewhat be wrong if he didn’t, just kind of worked through it, settled in and hit a great one to start out and I think that kind of boosted his confidence and really throughout the rest of the day did a really good job. Not perfect, but certainly showed us what he can do, and he’ll continue to work to get better and strive for perfection next week.” On if it is easier to make changes at gunner with it being early in the season if changes had to be made due to injuries: “Yeah no question, I think one of the biggest jobs of a special teams coach is to make sure that you have the next man ready at all times. Within a game, from week to week, constantly changing – as guys move up the roster it’s kind of on us to get the new guys ready to go and have them ready to play. I definitely think we’re comfortable with some of the guys that are here, like you alluded to, that have been on the practice squad. I think a big part of the message that I have kind of voiced to our guys coming out of camp was that with the difference in rules this year, in particular in the flexibility with kind of practice squad guys to be moving up, moving back, they’ve got to stay ready at all times. They have to treat every week as if they’re playing, really all the way up until 90 minutes before game time because they don’t know. You know, we had guys that were on call all the way up until like 11 a.m., Sunday. So it’s difficult for those guys. I’m sure it’s a bit of an emotional roller coaster, but it’s part of being a professional is for them to stay ready. We certainly have a deep group of guys like we talked about in camp and guys that are itching for their opportunity. So, if it shakes out that way, they’ll be ready to make the most of it. We’ll make sure that they’re ready to go and we’ve got to see what happens with the guys that are already up. We have no idea really at this point how that’s going to go. It’s just more of a general philosophy of having everybody ready at all times. So, you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready.” On RB/WR Jamal Agnew getting close to returning a kick against the Bears in Week 1: “Yeah, we’re really close, really close and guys are collectively, not just him, we’re kicking ourselves over that watching tape because you hate to get that close and leave the opportunities out there on the field. But I think for him it was a great start. One thing as a returner, you know, I did that stuff in high school and college and I wasn’t any good at it, but I can relate to the mentality of just, you know, you get a new system in front of you and whole new schemes and things like that and you’re like, ‘OK, this sounds good, but is it really going to work.’ For us to have a couple seams and for things to look OK for him, I could just kind of sense his confidence growing throughout the game with each opportunity he got. So, I think that that’s definitely going to continue trending in the right direction for him. He’s got all the natural ability in the world, which we all know. So, just a matter of he, myself and all the rest of the guys that are blocking collectively, gaining familiarity and trust in one another. It takes 11. So, as we continue to just kind of build that chemistry and trust in one another, hopefully we’ll be able to continue to make some more plays with the opportunities that we get. I’m really excited about him, have been since I got here. Just going to keep pushing him, keep pushing him to keep getting better week in and week out.” |
