| LIONS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR DARRELL BEVELL CONFERENCE CALL QUOTE SHEET (VIA ZOOM) On if he needs to expand on his scripted plays since the team has been successful with them: “I think I got the same question, or similar, last week. This obviously has been a good week to evaluate the things that we’ve been doing and where we want to improve, but as far as – I look back to the last week, we did the same thing. We came out, scored a couple times, then I think we punted the next drive, but then the next drive, we continued to move it down the field (and) we threw an interception in the endzone. We came out of half, unfortunately we only had three drives, but on two of the three drives we ended up scoring a touchdown. I think – I don’t know how it’s going to come off – but I think the thing that we’re really looking for and the thing that I’m preaching to these guys is just our level of consistency on offense. We know what we’re capable of, we know the players that we have, the things that we can do, but there’s just things that you need to do on a consistent basis down-in and down-out to help yourself be successful, whether it’s not having minus-yards plays, not having penalties, those kind of things, and then executing plays when we get them. That’s what we’re looking for, that’s our main focus, is so we don’t have those lulls. The things that I can do to help make that get better, then I’m going to do. I talk to the players about the things that they can do, and we’ll get this thing going on a more consistent level.” On if he’s surprised with the emergence of Eagles WR Travis Fulgham and what went into the Lions’ decision to move on from him: “I would say yes, a little bit surprised. I think it’s his third team that he’s been on. Travis did OK while he was here. I don’t want to get into all the reasons behind what happened, but happy for his success, that’s for sure.” On why QB Matthew Stafford hasn’t been as successful with this year and if he can pinpoint a specific reason: “Well, I think there’s a lot of things that really go into that. But I think when you simplify it as easy as you can for the quarterback – I had a small conversation with him about it – I think it usually goes back to your feet. Your feet really tell you the story, your feet (are) what gets you through your progressions, gets you through the play, and I think that we can continue – I thought we were really at a good place last year, and then keep in mind, I mean, he had all that time off and not running plays with guys in our offense. Just continuing to work on those little details, making sure that our feet are helping us get through progressions, helping us make the decisions and that we bring our feet with us through all our throws.” On if fixing the feet of a quarterback is something easily obtainable or if it’s hard to rewire after the muscle memory kicks in: “I think it’s something that can be fixed, yes.” LIONS DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR CORY UNDLIN CONFERENCE CALL QUOTE SHEET (VIA ZOOM) On what has been the biggest issue with the run defense after assessing the defense more during the bye week: “I won’t say the biggest thing, we could go around on this for a while – the biggest thing is just the consistency part of it. I can pull off six different plays, one time it goes for zero (yards) and then the next time it goes for six (yards) and then the next time it goes for seven (yards), whatever it is. So, the big thing is watching with the players and going back through and having those discussions and then going out and practicing, we’ve just got to be more consistent up front, in the backend, linebackers, everybody. I think we talked about this last time as well. The run game is not just the d-line and the linebackers, it’s all 11 guys on the field, so we’ve got to just keep pressing forward. Had a great week last week, really proud of those guys coming in with great energy, great mindset to get better. We’re 1-3 and we got a lot of ball to play, great opportunity to this week, great team, great opponent. So, we’ll have our hands full like we do every single week, but we’re looking forward to that opportunity and getting back in here on Wednesday. You know, when you lose going into a bye, you’ve got to kind of sit on it for a while. You know, I think everybody would’ve like to just run back out there and keep playing another game, but it is what it is. Proud of those guys, great, great week of work last week and quick meetings today. So, we’re back in the groove here and look forward to going forward this week.” On why the interior pass rush has been a struggle so far this season: “Well, when teams are running the ball on you, the opportunities to rush the passer end up being a lot less than they would be if you were stopping it. That would be my first go. Obviously, we can get better on a couple different things, that being one of them. We’ll continue to keep looking at it and see if we can start mixing up and putting the best personnel groups out there and then we can generate some more of that. But definitely, I think we all know that we’ve got to create some more pressure on the quarterback, and we’ll see how we can do that going forward this week. Tough challenge, this guy’s a good player too, he’s happy in the pocket back there, he can make some good decisions, he can make some plays with his feet, so we got a great challenge this week, the kid’s a good player, so, keep going.” On S Duron Harmon saying trust is an issue on defense following the loss to the Saints: “Yeah, that’s a good one. It doesn’t shock me that Duron would say that. He’s got a lot of good insight when it comes from his conversations. Yeah, I would say the biggest thing when you trust, obviously it takes time, just like in any relationship, anything that you’re trying to build. We’ve played four games so far and I would like to think players and coaches wise, the more we get going and the more we play, the more we can build on that trust, so that everybody is on the same page. So, time will tell on that, I would say that.” On the level of difficulty to correct small issues in the run defense: “Anytime the team is running it on you, like they were there after that first drive, yeah, I can start searching a little bit, for sure. The biggest thing I try to do is just try to settle them down as fast as I can. It took some time in there, obviously, not until we ended up getting late in the game did we find a way to make a stop. So, you talk about it on the sideline, listen to the players and then try to put a plan into place and stop it as fast as you can and sometimes what ends up happening is you’re trying to fix that one and another one pops up. So, you just keep grinding, man. You keep going back to the pictures on the sideline and what you do is you do not lose faith in your players. You do not lose your faith in the scheme, kind of going back to the trust thing and you keep grinding it out. You keep going back out there. You keep fighting until you can find a way to stop them. And I was proud of those guys. It could’ve gone a couple different ways there. We ended up staying together there, getting a couple stops and then obviously the offense went down – we came up short there, but I was proud of the way they fought there at the end of the game because that could’ve gone the wrong way quick. So, we’ve got a way to go still and I feel really positive about that happening going forward.” LIONS SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR BRAYDEN COOMBS CONFERENCE CALL QUOTE SHEET (VIA ZOOM) On what he wants to improve on after four games: “Honestly, I would say I would like us to continue getting better across the board. I know that’s a little bit cliché, but kind of the thing that we talked about over the bye week is just what are our standards? What are we trying to accomplish here? I’ve always told the guys I’m not really interested in being second best. Our goal is to be the best group in the League and we’re definitely not there yet. So, we’ve got plenty of work to do across all phases. I don’t know how much better we can ask Jack (Fox) to punt than he has been, but he’s got other areas of the game where he can improve in, obviously. So, just kind of continued improvement in all four phases. If you really cornered me and wanted me to specify something, I think we can certainly be more consistent covering kickoffs. Obviously, we had a tough matchup there in Week 1, and we allowed him (Cordarrelle Patterson) to make a couple plays on us. So, that’s probably something we’re definitely still looking to clean up. In my opinion, we haven’t made enough game-winning plays, explosive plays. We’ve been fairly consistent, but we haven’t done anything to break any games open, whether that’s scoring a touchdown, popping a kick, whatever that may be. Our job is to help the team win games. Until we start doing that in a little bit more explosive matter, we’re not going to be satisfied.” On how close RB/WR Jamal Agnew is to breaking a game-changing return: “Yeah, definitely. I think he’s close every time he gets a chance just because he’s got the kind of ability where – we want to have it dialed up perfectly every time, but we’ve got a little bit of a get-out-of-jail-free card with him where he can cover up some mistakes just with his natural ability. He’s been close a lot in the limited opportunities we’ve had. I think the big thing right now with him and with myself is being patient, not trying to force it. Right now, I think he’s only had two punt returns. We’ve just got to let the game come to us. He’s got to let the game come to him. But certainly, we have a lot of confidence in him, in his ability, and really, like I say a lot, it takes all 11 guys. So, he’s been close, but I like to say we’ve been close, in the return game. We’ve had multiple plays, really, where we’ve had 10 guys do it exactly the way we want it done. It just takes one guy to let his man free or to not sustain his block quite as long as we need him to, and that guy’s able to trip up the returner and stop us from potentially scoring. So, we’re going to just keep knocking on the door, and (we’ve) got to do it patiently. Can’t try to force things, that’s when you expose yourself to mistakes. But hopefully we get some more opportunities here in the next couple of weeks and we can break that thing open.” |
