Opening Statement: “Like always, just to get a chance to talk about just defensively the positive that we did have, our third-down defense continues to operate the same way. We’re being really dominate in my opinion. Obviously, there are some things we’ve got to fix when it comes to our second-down efficiency, the big plays that we’ve got to make sure we stop giving up. Those are things we’ve got to make sure we fix, and each week as I always say, those are some things that we try to make sure we hone in on. We try to make sure we practice those things. We try to make sure we get those things fixed. It’s not more of a communication issue, you’re always going to have a little bit of that when you have new guys coming in, but it’s more or less of younger guys executing and us as coaches putting them in the right position. And also, it’s a sting to have one of our leaders go down, it’s tough. But, I will say this, this is the NFL. They’re not going to stop games for us, so we’ve just got to continue to move on. I know that’s a cliché when they say, ‘Next man up,’ but this is really how this League is. It’s really a next-man-up League and the next guy up has got to get ready to go. But, I have total confidence in the guys that we have. You see how Charles (Harris) has been doing a hell of a job for us. He’s going to continue to do a hell of a job, and then the other guys have got to get ready to step up, also.” On CB Jerry Jacobs’ performance last Sunday and the plan for him this week: “I will say this, going into training camp, that’s when we first started to notice what type of player he was. He’s a young player, obviously a free agent of ours, still needs a lot of work, but the only way to get those guys a chance to really see how they operate in game situations is to give them a chance, and he had his chance last week and he operated very well. So, between him and Bobby (Price) – both of those guys are going to play. Jerry is going to get a little bit more than he’s been getting, but we have to see exactly what we have in these young players. Again, as I said before, the only way you figure that out is just to put them out there. There are going to be some mistakes and we expect that, but we’re going to coach them up and try to get him to operate as well, as best as we can.” On what he saw in CB Jerry Jacobs in the pre-draft process and what he has improved on: “Well, the first thing that jumped out to me is that I always try to compare guys. When I looked at Jerry, body type-wise, he reminded me of (Saints S) Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, a guy that I drafted in the fourth round in New Orleans. The body type – so he’s around 205 and Chauncey’s around 210, same height, but ultra-competitive, ultra-competitive. So, at that point, I started to look at that, ‘OK, so let me see how this guy plays.’ I saw the same fight, the dog mentality, in training camp that you see from Chauncey. I don’t want to say this guy is Chauncey, but there’s a chance he can be trained and developed to be a nickel or outside corner in our system to be able to operate like that.” On Saints S Chauncey Gardner-Johnson’s positioning in New Orleans and how it relates to CB Jerry Jacobs: “Chauncey played a little bit of safety. He was more of just a nickel for us, and we know how nickel is in this League now. I mean, nickel is a starter. So, the thing about Chauncey is he played against 12-personnel, 11-personnel, 21-personnel, because of the size factor, and you see that with Jerry. There are a couple of opportunities for him to play corner, play nickel and still get the special teams reps, also.” On if he sees positives from last Sunday and how he continues to coach the positives: “I’ll tell you what, I’m just saying that in general and I’m going to elaborate on something a little bit further than that because if you look at us on third down, I think we’re like second in the League on third down. If you told me that we would be that at this point, there’s no way in the world I would have thought we would be 0-4 right now, seriously. So, each week I can continue to talk about, ‘Just keep chipping away, keep chipping away.’ And now, just with what you said, those are the things we’ve got to continue to chip away at. We’ll get in run defense and we took a step back against Chicago. So, we’ve got to get that back this week. But, that’s the one area that we’ve got to look at, and as coaches, too. ‘How do we get these guys in situations to where they’re not giving up these big plays?’ I was always told by Bill Parcells, ‘How many times do we’ve got to get hit in the face with a skunk before you smell it?’ And that’s a true statement. So, we have to do something also to be able to help these guys and we have done some things now, for the player and coach. The players have got to execute, the coach has got to put them in positions to where they can execute and be at their best.” LIONS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR ANTHONY LYNN QUOTE SHEET October 7, 2021 On WR Amon-Ra St. Brown’s development: “He is developing just fine. I love what he’s doing. Like I said last week, he’s doing a lot of things that don’t show up in the stats, but he’s helping this football team on special teams and on offense.” On the offense not huddling up for the fourth-and-1 play in last Sunday’s game: “We practice those situations all of the time. We have plays for those situations and that’s what Jared (Goff) executed. We just didn’t execute the play. But in hindsight, we didn’t connect on the route. Yeah, we would like to huddle up and probably run another play.” On if he had any issues calling plays in last Sunday: “No. Not that I can recall.” On how important it is to get more wide receivers involved in the pass game to open up the offense: “We’ve always tried to get our wide receivers involved, but at the same time, we’ve got to get those running backs going and that’s what we wanted to do last week until we got behind late. Those guys are developing and they’re coming around just fine. Kalif (Raymond) is stepping up and starting to be consistent. (Quintez) Cephus is showing more consistency and we hope to get (Trinity Benson) TB and (KhaDarel) Hodge going as well.” On what WR KhaDarel Hodge brings to the offense and if he will start to get more involved: “Well, we know he’s going to the game number one because he’s a really good special team player. So, we’re going to have to start involving him more and like I said, he just got here. Each week, his package is getting bigger and bigger and we’ll see where it goes from there.” On C Evan Brown’s performance after stepping in for an injured C Frank Ragnow: “I thought Evan did a good job last week of stepping in there. That’s what the backups are supposed to do when the number one goes down, next man up and it’s not a problem. I didn’t think it was a problem when Evan stepped in. Now, Frank’s the starter for a reason, but I think Evan’s a solid center.” On if there is value to C Evan Brown being with multiple teams before Detroit: “I didn’t know that, but there’s got to be some value in that. The guy’s been through a lot. I think he’s a young player and he’s been through a few teams and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t take anything for granted.” On his confidence T Penei Sewell will be active Sunday: “Right now, we’re planning on going without him, but if he’s ready, that would be great.” On if he plans to experiment with positioning on the offensive line after injuries to the unit: “You don’t have enough time to experiment in the week. You don’t have enough reps, so we have a pretty good idea of what we’re going to do there, but we’ll see what happens.” On if he has an idea as to whether or not T Penei Sewell will play: “Right now, the idea is for Penei to line up and go play if he can.” On if T Penei Sewell is not expected to play in the game: “I did not say I didn’t expect him to play. I don’t think I said that. We’ll see.” |
