On what he will say to rookie Lions CB Ifeatu Melifonwu before Monday night’s game against the Green Bay Packers and if he expects Packers QB Aaron Rodgers to target him more often: “’Welcome to the NFL as a rookie corner.’ So, I would say that. It doesn’t matter who you are, when you were drafted, where you came from, I think every quarterback and every offensive coordinator is going to try a rookie DB. But, it’s all about playing that position. I think he expects it. We expect it. He’s been having good practices. He’s had a good training camp and I look forward to seeing the player play.” On if he remembers a time when he was specifically targeted by a quarterback as a young player: “Yeah, I do. I do. My first game I can recall we played against Buffalo. That was in the (former Bills WR) Andre Reed, (former Bills QB) Jim Kelly era, and I can recall the first play my coach was yelling at me because I was up and under Reed’s face. I said, ‘If I’m going to go down, I’m going to go down challenging.’ Luckily, we had a good game, we won that game, but I do remember it. Like every corner understands, they know – I mean, we don’t have to remind (Ifeatu Melifonwu) Iffy about that. I think we want to make sure Iffy does go out there and play well, play hard. I think he will be OK.” On if he was ever targeted heavily by former Bills QB Jim Kelly: “I’m sure he did, and I hadn’t gotten beat. Corner mentality, right?” On former Lions CB Bennie Blades’ comment on the Lions defense being physical in Week 1: “Well, it’s good to hear that he said that, that he noticed that. I think that is the essence of football. I think the one thing the NFL has done, it’s taken away the aggressiveness of defense and I understand why, I understand why. I think the only thing that we have as a defense is to put on tape exactly who we are as a team and to know that we’re going to play aggressive, we’re going to be physical, be physical the right way. I think that’s the one thing that I try to make sure that I preach to our guys is, ‘There are certain things in this League that never go away.’ I don’t care what generation, I don’t care who you are, football is going to happen 20 years from now, and being physical, being able to run, and being able to make plays, that will never leave this game.” On how he will dial up the aggressiveness for Monday night’s game: “Well, I think we dial it up just the way we coach. I think that’s any team. I think that goes offensively and defensively. The team that is the most physical is going to put themselves in a position to win the game, I really believe in that because that’s the nature of the game. If you can go out there and have that presence, like, every time, I think at some point it wears down your opponent and if you can continue to hammer, and hammer, and hammer and be physical, by the time the fourth quarter comes around, I think you start to see a difference in the team that’s been the most physical.” On how much of playing with aggressiveness is in the mental aspect of the game: “Well, this game is all mental. I think you heard the 80-20 rule, 80% mental and 20% physical. We try to preach that to our players. Easier said than done, now. Easier said than done, but the one thing I do believe is our players are responding to that, and I think you saw that in the game this past week. Now, there are some things we got to clean up and I know that, and we will do that, but I like the foundation of where we are at and it will never happen overnight. That’s not how this League is, but when you always pick off those things, those little things that say, ‘Yeah, this is it man. This is it. This is who we are, and this is how we continue to improve.’ So, my goal is each week, from going through this next game, how can we take that next step? How can we take that next step and just continue to do that as these games continue to go on?” LIONS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR ANTHONY LYNN QUOTE SHEET September 17, 2021 On what he saw from T Penei Sewell’s performance after he went back and viewed the game film: “Now when you said, ‘Went back,’ that was a long time ago. We’ve been Green Bay, Green Bay, Green Bay, but I thought after watching that game, I thought he did a nice job on the left side. Of course, that’s natural to him. That’s where he played the last couple of years. It didn’t surprise me.” On what jumps out to him about the Green Bay Packers defense: “You know what? I think the pass rush is somewhat underrated. Those (Packers OLBs Za’Darius Smith and LB Preston Smith) Smith boys, they have a lot of sacks. Last week, we were talking about (San Francisco 49ers DE) Nick Bosa a lot, but this week, I think those Smith boys, I think they can raise hell, too, on the edges. Our protection plan has got to be solid, especially in a hostile environment.” On how he plans to build off of the run game to complement the passing game: “When you’re running the ball well and you’re making the defense defend the run, it’s a lot easier to throw the ball down the field and get your run action shots. If we continue to run the ball well, we will have those shots down the field.” On the San Francisco 49ers committing more resources on defense to stop the run game in Week 1: “When we were in the game where we could run the ball, they had to because I thought we were running it pretty well. But in the second half, we kind of got away from it a little bit, but things happen.” On who needs to step up in the wide receivers group with Lions WR Tyrell Williams in concussion protocol: “We’re definitely going to need some guys to step up because Tyrell, that’s going to be hard to replace. He was a starter in this League and a veteran at that. That’s hard to replace at this point with a young group, but guys have got to step up and start making a name for themselves at some point, might as well start this week.” On who could take more snaps if WR Tyrell Williams were to miss the game: “(Trinity) Benson is getting better every practice. We threw him out there last week. I think he had been here for three days, and he did a good job for the length of time that he’s been here, but he’s gotten better. So, he will play more. He will see more reps and (Amon-Ra St. Brown) Saint’s reps will go up this week. We’ll see what happens. (Tom) Kennedy, I believe he’s going to play this week.” On how having two pass-catching running backs creates challenges for opposing defenses: “Yeah, (D’Andre) Swift caught a few balls for us, him and Jamaal (Williams). So, we have backs that can come out of the backfield and catch the ball. If they do want to play off coverage, soft zone, it’s always nice to be able to throw it to a back and let him run with the ball.” On if QB Jared Goff needs to be more aggressive throwing down the field: “The play before the interception – man, that’s a long time ago. I think it’s too soon to say he needs to be more aggressive throwing the ball down the field after one game, I do. He’s been very good at taking what the defense gives him and that’s what you want in a good quarterback. (Buccaneers QB) Tom Brady will check it down 23 times. He did it on me 19 one time. I like that mindset, but there will come a time and place when you have to go down the field with the ball and he’s got the arm to do that.” On if a deep passing game can be used to keep the Packers defense honest in defending the run: “You can. You can go deep, you can pass to run and run to pass. But that deep passing game, it’s more than just Jared (Goff). You have to have the right people around him to have a deep passing game as well.” |
