January 6, 2022 Opening Statement: “Starting out, exactly how we wanted with our keys to victory this past week was we wanted to start fast. We came out with a three-and-out, so I was happy about that. Everything after that, highly disappointed with how we coached, highly disappointed with how we played. I have to move on to this week and got to get better.” On rookies like LB Derrick Barnes and NT Alim McNeill playing in every game so far this season: “You have to give a lot of credit to our strength staff because for the most part, those guys do a really good job as far as keeping our guys healthy as far as their body is concerned. Also, their preparation during the week with getting themselves ready to play. Any time in this League, because this is a physical game, that you go out as a rookie and you can play 16 games, the wear and tear of this League, that’s something you’ve got to give credit to the player and give credit to the strength staff also.” On what kind of learning experience the Seahawks game can be for the defense: “I’ll tell you what, I wish this League was a League to where every game you will be at your best. I wish this was a League where every game you can go out there and win every game, but that’s just not how this League is. It’s the NFL. And sometimes, games like this happens. I told our guys at halftime, ‘Listen, I’ve been a part of this as a coach and I’ve been a part of this as a player. So, the one thing that we have to do is continue to play hard, continue to play fast, and continue to play physical.’ You always look at these games and wonder, ‘What the hell happened?’ And sometimes, you just get steamrolled. I mean, some teams just have your number that day. To me, that’s how I see it, that’s how I’m looking at it and I’m going forward to the next week.” On how he has applied his experience coaching and improving the secondary in New Orleans to this season: “I can say exactly what I just said before. At that time of the year, you just said it as far as our defense in general wasn’t at the top of our level. What we did was we kept plugging along. There was no – we didn’t waver in what we believed it. Schematically, we did some things that are different. Obviously, you start bringing players in, other players leave. But, that’s just how this League is. But, the thing that I think that was most important is the players didn’t waver and the coaching staff didn’t waver. There is a belief system that we have and we continue to believe that. And, once you start to get that, the players really start to understand the culture of the team. You start seeing teams start winning consistently after that. To me, I see it the same way, us being here. We’re not going to waver at all. We understand the outside noise is going to happen, but we understand what we believe in. We know how we’ve been playing and this is one of those games that just happen.” On how S Tracy Walker has improved from the first game of the season to now: “I think the communication aspect of Tracy has improved drastically since Week 1. We ask a lot of our safeties, we really do. And, the one thing he’s done, he’s bought into everything that we’re trying to get done in this defense as far as a safety’s perspective and he’s grown. He’s grown in that and he’s also become a leader as far as linebackers, as far as getting everybody together and watching some tape. That’s what we expect of our safeties. Again, they are one of the captains of our team because of the communication we ask them to do and he’s going to continue to grow. Now, as far as making plays and all of that, that’s one thing you saw flashes of with him throughout the season. And, you’re only going to see him get better at that because I think he’s understanding the scheme a lot more than he did from Week 1 to week now.” On if re-signing S Tracy Walker will be a priority in free agency: “We like good players and if you’re a good player, we’re looking to sign you.” On if the defense has hit a wall this season because of injuries and COVID-19 and if there is enough time to break through the wall for this last game: “Is there enough time to get back for this last game? We have no choice but to get back for this last game. Listen, we have no excuses. This is a League to where they don’t care, no one cares. The only thing that people care about is who is lining up and who’s playing. And, once you’re on that grass, you’re expected to go out there and perform. I’ve said this the past couple of weeks, every one of these guys that we have, they’re in the meeting rooms. Everybody is cashing checks, so I expect you to be at your best every time you go out there. We’re definitely not going to sit there and have a pity party on who’s playing and who’s not playing. The thing that we have to do as coaches is get the guys ready to play and the players have to execute what we’re trying to do.” On which role S Will Harris is best suited for in the future: “Will Harris has a lot of value as far as a player just in general because he’s playing every position in the backend that you can imagine. And, there is a lot of value to that because – now, I had a guy like this named P.J. Williams with the Saints and he was just like Will. Actually, he wasn’t as good of an athlete as Will, but the one thing that he was, he was very smart. At the drop of a hat, we could put him in that position that he didn’t get a lot of reps in that week. And, you see Will doing the same thing. It’s just the fact of his mentality of being that type of guy because there are not a lot of guys that want to do that, especially in this League because they care about who they are. They care about being comfortable at one position and Will is a guy that says, ‘Listen Coach, whatever you need me to do, we’ll do it.’ So, there is a lot of value in that player. So, I can’t just say that he’s going to be this, this or that. He’s that piece that we can put anywhere we need to at the drop of a hat, we need him.” LIONS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR ANTHONY LYNN QUOTE SHEET (VIA ZOOM) January 6, 2022 On WR Amon-Ra St. Brown playing in every game so far this season: “We’ve had a few rookies play a lot of football games this year. They didn’t have a luxury to hit the rookie wall. We were counting on those guys and after a few games, they’re not rookies anymore anyway. They definitely played more football games they’ve ever played in their lifetime and it’s impressive to see how they showed up every single week. I’m talking about all of our rookies and they were professionals. These young men have grown up fast and they work hard every day and they’re getting better.” On how he ensures WR Amon-Ra St. Brown does not get worn down during the week: “He does an excellent job with taking care of himself. He stays in great shape, he eats the right foods, he gets plenty of sleep and that’s what it takes to do what you do in this League. I give him credit for that. That’s just being a young professional, but we also look out for him. There are some times when we cut back on his reps. Our strength and conditioning department, they do an excellent job of knowing when to turn it up, knowing when to ease off of these young men. So, they lead us in that direction, but they’ve done a good job of that. That’s (Director of Sports Performance) Mike Clark’s business.” On how WR Amon-Ra St. Brown has kept up his productive performances throughout the last couple weeks of the season: “Not every rookie will have that rookie wall and we’re always looking for it. But, in this culture and this environment, it’s very competitive. You don’t have a luxury, like I said earlier, to hit a rookie wall. You’ve got to show up every single week because no one’s job is secure. These kids, they compete every single week and a lot of our young guys, they play because of the way they competed in practice. We make practices very competitive.” On the advice he gives WR Amon-Ra St. Brown about the offseason and the next steps to take: “I think number one, you tell him just to get the hell away from football, relax, don’t do nothing for about a month and then you come back, study tape. Study tape on some of the best receivers in the game. Watch yourself, see what you could have done better. A lot of these players are very visual. I love it when they study tape of the players around the League, even guys that they grew up wanting to be like. We have access to all of that information. Just to continue to grow that way.” On how QB Tim Boyle has grown from his second start to his third start last Sunday: “A lot of things that Tim does doesn’t show up in the stat column. He makes everyone around him better. His field vision, his second vision as far as helping his teammates, making sure this is aligned properly, he can fix things on the field. I saw him grow in that way. His arm talent has always been there. His accuracy was good at times. Yeah, he threw some interceptions, lack of experience. The more this young man plays, the better he’s going to get. We’re fortunate to have him right now as our backup because if something happens to Jared (Goff), we know this guy can step in and he can play. And yeah, he made some mistakes, but this is a type of player that learns from his mistakes and he gets better.” On how he plans to approach the offseason from a coaching perspective: “I’ve been preaching to these guys all week about this week and focusing on this week and not get too far down the road because the offseason, it will be here in four days. When it gets here, we’ll deal with it. But right now, we’ve got our focus on this game this weekend and try to finish this season out the right way. But, I’d love to answer that question next week.” On how QB Jared Goff has performed in practice this week with his knee injury: “I thought he moved around just fine yesterday. I’m sure he’s not 100 percent, but who is at this point of the season? He threw the ball well. We’ll see. Like I said, if he can’t go, then we feel like we have a good backup in Tim (Boyle) and we’ll go and play with Tim like we have the last couple of weeks. But, Jared looked fine yesterday.” On the challenge of game-planning for the Packers’ defense: “Their defense, it’s aggressive. They have two really good edge rushers, those 3-4 style linebackers outside that create matchups for running backs. You have to put offensive linemen on those guys and sometimes that puts you in 1-on-1’s up front. They’ll come after you. They’ve played tight coverage. They do a good job, but it doesn’t really matter who they play. We’ve got to go out and execute and play our game.” |
