Opening Statement: “Cincinnati week, so this is a good opponent. These guys have done a hell of a job, they really have. They upgraded that roster and I know this coaching staff pretty good. I had (Bengals Head Coach) Zac (Taylor) and (Defensive Coordinator) Lou (Anarumo) with me and I know what they’re about and they just stayed the course. It’s a group that – they’re coached well. They know exactly how to play what they’re being asked to play. They have some weapons, and so this is a tough opponent. We’ve got to be ready.” On his relationship with Bengals Head Coach Zac Taylor: “The first time I met him was at (Texas) A&M. I was actually down there – I had called (former Texas A&M Head Coach) Mike Sherman, who was the head coach and asked Sherman if I could come down there and just – this was literally right after my last year as a player in New Orleans – and, ‘Could I just piggyback and be apart of it?’ And Zac was a grad assistant, who was really coaching tight ends. So, I came down for spring, three or four weeks, and I just sat in a room with him and helped him with that. That was new for him, just that position per se, but I quickly learned like, ‘OK, this guy – this kid’s pretty sharp.’ Like, he had a real good grasp of really all of it, but some of the fundamental stuff is what he picked my brain on. Anyway, so that’s where it started and then certainly Sherm brought him on and I got retained at Miami and then we went on from there and then he became my coordinator for a few games.” On if Bengals Head Coach Zac Taylor lived in his trailer with him: “No, he was not in the trailer. No, he was with his wife and his home. I was not, I was in my trailer.” On the challenge of game planning against Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase: “It’s a challenge. It’s a big challenge. He’s an explosive player and it’s one thing to be as explosive as he is, but it’s also – (Joe) Burrow, he knows when he’s got it and he’s looking at the rotation and he’s reading safeties and he’s got a green light, and so if he feels it, he’s going to throw it and he’s making some dang good throws, too. It’s a threat, but however, we just came away from a threat, too. (Vikings WR Justin) Jefferson was no joke over there at Minnesota and we had a plan and we’ll have a plan for him. It’s not going to be easy, but our guys will – they’ll be ready to execute and we’ll have something to handle these guys.” On if C Frank Ragnow will miss the rest of the season after having toe surgery: “Frank had surgery yesterday. It went well, and yeah, he’ll be down for the year, so we’re going to miss him. He didn’t want to do it either. He did not want to do it, but it was the right thing. But, we’ll miss him. We’ll miss him and there again, Evan Brown’s got to step up. I thought he did a good job last week and he’s our guy. I expect him to continue.” On if C Frank Ragnow could return to the active roster at the end of the season: “Once you do that you’re not getting him back. The rehab and recovery is going to take too long to get him back with surgery.” On how tough it is to have a conversation with a player who has to miss the rest of the season due to injury: “That’s tough, especially for somebody like him. It’s funny you brought it up, but it’s tough because he’s – look, he feels guilty and he doesn’t need to feel guilty. That’s why you love him though, too. Like, he wants to be apart of this and he feels like he’s letting guys down and that’s just the opposite. It’s like, ‘No, it’s not. You’re being unselfish when you need to be selfish about this.’ Maybe there’s a chance you get him back at the very end of the year, but there’s a bigger chance of however it scars in, it’s not properly healed the right way and we’re dealing with this for the rest of his career, or it gets arthritic sooner than later, and now it’s like, ‘What are we doing?’ So, it was the right thing to do. It was significant enough to where it needed to be fixed properly and let it heal properly.” On if he has had a moment of feeling sorry for themselves with the injuries they have accrued this season: “No, I haven’t done that yet. However I will say that we were up there looking at the big board two days ago, the roster board, and it was like – we took a scan of that IR pack and it was like, ‘Whoa, yeah, I guess that is right. We have lost (Jeff) Okudah, (Romeo) Okwara, (Frank) Ragnow.’ But honestly, I don’t – and maybe because I’ve been around it enough as a player and a coach, it’s like, ‘Man, this is not – I’m not shocked.’ Like I should be, but I’m not shocked because I do know that that’s the nature of this game and of what we’re asked to do, to deal with, and knowing that that’s why depth is important. That’s why it’s important to develop players because they’ve got to be ready to go at a moment’s notice and they may be your starter for the rest of the year.” On if T Taylor Decker will return to practice today: “We’re going to start his clock. He and (Kevin) Strong, we’re going to start their clock today. We’ll start working them into practice and see where that goes. That’s about all I’ve got. That’s about all I can tell you. I don’t know – we’ll just see where Decker goes and how he feels and just take it from there. But, at least we can start working with him on the field, true football.” On what it would mean for the team to get T Taylor Decker back from Injured/Reserve: “Yeah, I mean, it would be – look, it would be good. I mean, certainly Decker is – he’s a good player in this League. He’s one of the top tackles and to be able to get him back would – I mean, it would be good. Certainly, it would be good. Now, Matt Nelson hasn’t – Matt Nelson has gone in there and done a nice job, so we’re prepared to move either way. If it’s Nelson for another week at right tackle while Decker is still getting his feet under him and getting everything right and the feel of it, we’re good with that. We’ll be ready, and so will Nelson.” On what he learned from the film in red zone situations besides turnovers: “One of the things that we did say is that we have to still be able to run the ball efficiently like we do. Now, that’s not a – what that means is that’s been a positive for us and we have to continue that, and I think everything does start with the turnovers. So, you’re asking me anything better, well we can always do a lot of stuff better, but I do think we have to continue to run the ball and we have to eliminate these turnovers. And I think we have to be a little more creative in the red zone and be a little more – we just need to – I think there’s a certain way we need to play in the red zone, a certain style, let’s put it that way. That can help us.” On what he would say to fans who may feel disappointment: “I know, I know. And look, nothing I’m going to tell them is going to make them feel any better. All I can do is try to prove it, show it, and – not me, us, all of us, staff, players. Look, everybody is frustrated. And I don’t know all of the ins and outs of last year, I wasn’t here, but I do know this about this team that they’re – just like they did today, they came in ready to work, they’re hungry and they’ll be ready to go out there and put their best foot forward and improve. That’s really all we can ask right now. In the end, it will pay dividends and we’ve just got to stay that course.” On if he feels any similarities or differences in mood between this team and the 2008 Lions: “That’s tough to say because I wasn’t around very long. I got hurt, I guess, Week 1 and I was home by Week 2. I would say it’s kind of hard for me to say that one way or another.” On if he has any stories from when he coached in New Orleans about Bengals QB Joe Burrow’s national championship run at LSU: “I mean, no good stories as anything like – certainly, he’s a legend down there, LSU and you win a national championship. He can walk on water down there. We saw all of those games and he was the hot talk and just how much he really had blossomed from his junior, senior, I mean, he just really erupted and balled into this top-notch player. He’s been fortunate to have Joe Brady – who’s the offensive coordinator at Carolina – was with him and just raved about how smart he was, how much information that he could absorb and the amount of checks that he can get to and how he could ready coverage, and then obviously make all of the throws, which you see. He’s done a nice job.” On the growth of Bengals QB Joe Burrow from year one to year two: “You see a good football player. You see a guy that you can tell is – he’s getting them into the right play, he knows exactly what he’s looking for, what he’s been coached to do. And the run game, his run game checks, the pass game, they do play a lot in empty so he can see it, and he sees it very well and he knows where to go with the football, and he’s got some weapons. He’s got about three or four answers that he can go to by just the look, and he can throw the heck out of the ball. He’s a pretty accurate quarterback, he’s got poise in the pocket, he’s got the ability to scramble. He’s not a running quarterback, but he’s got the ability to scramble with his eyes down field, and he’s got pocket awareness, and those are tough.” On Jon Gruden resigning as head coach of the Raiders: “I just found out last night. I’ve been in, like, in a cave. So, I don’t really – I don’t even have a comment about it. It’s – he’s out and those comments were out and it is what it is. And so, I don’t see the workplace any – workplace to me has always been good everywhere I’ve been and what we’ve been apart of. I’ve never seen anything toxic, so I don’t know anything different than that if you will.” On former Saints QB Drew Brees talking about texting him during an NBC broadcast: “No, that was just – look, Drew is – I’ve got a lot of respect for Drew. I still go back – I probably wouldn’t be standing up here if it had not been for Drew Brees as the quarterback. Where I came from, that’s the reality. I mean, the better you are, the better everybody is. The better he is, the better we all are. Shoot, he shot a text to me just talking about how impressive it was. It was like, ‘My God, man, those guys are fighting – those guys are not giving up, they’re fighting.’ He goes, ‘You guys are close.’ And he doesn’t send me a text every week. I know him well and we’re friends, but I know if he’s sending me something, it’s because it means something, so that’s why it kind of spoke volumes. That was kind of the – that was it.” LIONS QB JARED GOFF QUOTE SHEET October 13, 2021 On where he thinks he needs to improve: “Plenty of room for improvement always. I think you look at everything. You look at getting rid of the ball, being accurate, being good with my feet, taking care of the ball, finding guys open, everything. There isn’t one little thing that I’m putting my finger on. It’s always just trying to improve.” On if he wants to improve his yards per attempt statistic: “I’m trying to find the guy who’s open every play, and if that happens all the way down the field, that’s the guy. If it’s not, then it’s not. I’m not concerned with my yards per attempt, or completion, really. I’m just trying to find the guy who’s open. If you guys want me to improve my yards per attempt, I’ll overthrow everybody 50 yards over and over again and my yards per attempt will go through the roof. So, I don’t plan on doing that.” On the verbiage this offense uses versus the verbiage he used with the Rams: “It’s less just because of where we’re at in the system. It’s the first year. I think back to when it was the first year in L.A. when Sean (McVay) came in, that system grew so much over four years to the point where we shrunk it and then extended it. We shrunk it and extended it and got to the point where we could handle a lot of verbiage there. But, when you’re on a first year of a system, it’s typically trying as much as you can to trim it.” On how much it helps to trim the verbiage from play calls: “Always helps, yeah. Always helps, especially when you’re young and there’s a lot of things going on. The more we can simplify it for myself, for all of these guys out here, the better.” On what a quarterback envisions when he receives the play call: “You can visualize it once. You hear it, you visualize it once, and then you usually visualize it again once you call it. And you kind of have to be able to see it while you’re calling it. Some of these plays are so hard, it’s impossible to actually rote memorization just to remember the words. You have to be able to see it when you’re saying it so that you can call it that way.” On if he is encouraged to see T Taylor Decker back at practice: “Very, yeah, of course. He’s a guy we always – we want back as soon as possible. Hoping he can be ready, but if he’s not, I know he’s doing everything he can to be ready.” On if he has gotten better at moving on from a loss through his career: “I’ve been on both sides of them, and you kind of have to treat them both the same. Obviously, it sucks to lose that way, but you give yourself 24 hours or whatever you want to call it and come back refreshed and rejuvenated. And to be honest, in our building, it’s not hard with the way (Head Coach) Dan (Campbell) is and the way our guys are. If you aren’t that way, you stick out and I think we’ve got a good energy about us and a good resilience.” On if he thinks about getting beat by two 50-yard field goals twice in one season: “I think that happens pretty early on in that 24 hours, but I didn’t know that was the stat until much later. That’s the way it goes sometimes. Again, I’ve been on both sides of them.” On his chemistry with WR KhaDarel Hodge: “So, KhaDarel and I, actually, were teammates in L.A. in 2018. He was our fourth or fifth receiver I believe, probably the fifth guy there. And he had to step in there and it was seamless. It was really like, ‘Whoa, OK. This guy can play.’ And then in L.A., he moved on and went to Cleveland and now we’ve got back with him and our chemistry is a little further along than it would be with somebody I haven’t played with. He’s a guy I trust and a guy that we want to get involved.” On how he can identify if a team is affected by losing: “I think you’re always affected by it. I don’t think you can not be affected by it. It’s good to be mad. It’s good to be pissed off. It’s good to be wanting to be better. I think the scary thing is if it went numb, right? If everyone’s out here just, ‘Oh, whatever.’ I don’t believe that’s the case and I don’t believe that will ever be the case. So, it’s definitely a thing that we have amongst us, that energy, that forward thinking of, ‘We can’t keep letting these get to us.’” On the changes he has seen in practice to improve downfield passing: “Again, we’ll take the shots when they’re there. I know we’re trying to scheme them up and I know that we’re trying to find ways to get the ball down the field, but if it doesn’t fit in the weekly plan or it doesn’t fit in what the defense does, or it doesn’t fit in what we do this week, we’re not going to do them. But if it does fit, we’d love to do them and if they get open, I’m going to throw them. But, it’s kind of just waiting for that to come together and I know we’re working on it. I’m conscious of it, I want to do it, and I know we all do.” On being named the Week 5 NFLPA Community MVP and the cause he was awarded for: “With the JG16 stuff, I’ve been able to start kind of a charity, I guess, there with selling those clothes and then giving it all back to – this year, we’ve partnered with the Detroit Lions Foundation, which is mostly like youth initiatives in Detroit. In L.A., it was with Inglewood Unified School District, and out here it’s with just any youth initiatives. But, we were able to partner with Forgotten Harvest and do that food drive the other day. It was fun. It was really cool to be able to give back. I said this I think last week, but I think a responsibility of guys like myself and leaders on this team and leaders in the community is to kind of step up and be there for people that need it. And I was honored by the award, but ultimately, it felt really good to just be able to give back in a way.” On his connection with Bengals QB Joe Burrow: “There’s always that fraternity, I guess. He’s a hell of a player. I think both him and (Bengals Head Coach) Zac Taylor – I guess I’m closer with Zac Taylor, but when he was coming out, we were joking like, ‘Stop playing coy. We know you’re taking him.’ He’s a hell of a player and I’m excited to see him back on the field this year. But, yeah, there is a little bit of that fraternity there with those guys.” On Bengals Head Coach Zac Taylor: “He was my quarterback coach in L.A. I loved him. He was awesome, one of my favorites of all-time and he’s done a tremendous job of getting that place right. They’re a tough team and a tough game for us for sure.” On his confidence in WR Amon-Ra St. Brown: “Saint’s done a great job and I think it’s our job to get him involved more. It’s on me, it’s on how we’re doing things. We need to get him the ball a little bit, and I think last week we did that. But, he’s done a great job ever since he got here. He’s a guy that as a rookie, he doesn’t look like a rookie. He’s stepped up and he’s a guy that four or five years from now, I expect to be in the top of the League of guys in the slot or even outside that can make those plays and do those things that you’d like to see him do. He’s – I guess to cap it off, I know I’m talking a little while here – but he’s done a great job since he’s gotten here.” On if it is hard to find positives in the offense after losses: “No, there are positives. There’s a lot of negatives too, though, and I think just working through both of those and, ‘What are we good at? What are we not good at? What do we need to clean up? What do we need to be good at?’ And making sure we’re on the same page.” |
