November 7, 2025
Opening Statement: “Red zone day. Last big day here, man. Try to find some touchdowns, get some good stuff in. And then stop them from scoring on defense, special teams. So, we’re in a good place, man. It’s been a good three days, or two and a half here going on our third day. Guys are locked and ready and ready to go.”
On how much losing to the Commanders in the playoffs last season is fuel for this week’s game: “There may have been a place and time, but it’s like – we just all want to win. I mean, we just lost. And that, more than anything, you want to do everything you can to put in all the work you can, do all the little things right, check all the boxes to give yourself the best chance to come away with a win after a loss. Honestly, that’s what I’m thinking about right now. That’s what I’m thinking about. I don’t want to have another loss, and I know our guys don’t either. So, we’ve got to be ready to go though, man.”
On the difficulty the Commanders defensive line can cause: “Good players, man. Those guys can push the line of scrimmage, and they can edge you, too. (Commanders DL Daron) Payne, he can do everything. He can play the run, he can get an edge, he’s quick, he’s strong, he plays with leverage. (Commanders DL Javon) Kinlaw’s a big man. They’ve got a stable of those guys over there. So yeah, I think it’s one of the strengths of their team is that D-line. So, they can make it difficult. But there again, I like our matchup, too. I like our O-line, and I know they’ll be ready to go.”
On how much his role and involvement changes when there are lulls in the offense: “Everything we do offensively, we do together. So, we all have ideas, we all have input, we all come together. A lot of times it’ll start with something, and it grows to something else because of another coach, put an idea on top of what somebody else brought up. So, that’s all we think about and talk about is, ‘Man, how do we become more efficient? How do we help our guys?’ Just find the rhythm, that’s all. We’ve just got to get a little rhythm. We find our rhythm, we get some early first downs, we get some explosives. And I think of a little bit like you’re trying to get that fire started and it’s smoldering, it’s just smoke and you see some embers, but you can’t get it lit, and you just need a little oxygen. So, that’s what us as coaches – just give them a little oxygen and they’ll do the rest, this thing will go. And so that’s what we’re charged with. So, I like our plan to this point, and we all have to do our job.”
On if it is more or less difficult to fix a lot of small things rather than one big thing: “It’s all encompassing. It really does take everybody. And you’d be shocked by – you tweak one little thing, I’m telling you, you tweak one little thing and all of a sudden it just cleans everything up and it just takes off, and the knock in the engine is gone. It can appear to be – it’s not as bad as people think it is. And it really doesn’t take much, just a little tightening here. I really believe that, and I know you’ve been sitting hearing me say that for two weeks. I got it, it’s coming man. I told the guys, and they know this, man, I’ve got a million ideas. And I believe it’s going to work this week. And if it doesn’t, I’ve got another idea. I’ve got plenty. We’ll get this thing going. But I trust these players, I like the plan. We’ve got to do our part as coaches and get them ready and make sure they have a plan that they can win with, and they’ll do the rest, man. They’ll roll.”
On an example of a tweak that he has applied in the past when things are not working on offense: “Part of it could be with the way the game is called. It could be maybe rhythm of how you call it. It could be what you go to. It could be who you’re trying to get involved. I hate to give away a plan. And I’ve got it, I understand what you’re asking, too, it’s like, ‘I don’t get it.’ But it can be a number of different things. That’s about as good as I can do for you right now without giving anything away.”
On if he is surprised by some of the third down issues on offense: “Of course we want to be better, we expect ourselves to be better. Surprised, yeah, none of us felt like we should be where we’re at. That’s not us, we believe we can be better. There again, it does, it takes every one of us, man. It takes every one of us. We’ve got to be able to give those guys something to work with. We’ve got to get early momentum. We all have to do our part early, man. We can’t have the one guy here, one guy there or something. And honestly, when we’re playing our best ball, those don’t show up. They rarely show up where we had one guy out of place, or something’s not happening, or we didn’t do our part as a staff. It really is. And once you find your place, you find your rhythm with what this 2025 Detroit Lions offense, we’ll be humming.”
On the media and fan reactions even though the team is 5-3: “I know, I kind of like it though. Nobody likes the – it’s good to be a little bit of an afterthought again. It’s nice. It’s like, ‘Hey man, all good.’ There are some teams playing some good football, and we’re whatever, and that’s all good, man. This is good. We’ll just go about our business over in the corner and get our stuff right and come out humming. So, it’s good.”
On the last time it felt like the team was operating in the shadows: “I know where that’s going, but I think more importantly – this does not surprise me. This does not surprise me because I told the team before it started – the reality is when you win 15 games and you only lose two in a season, then boy. It’s going to be looked at differently when you lose a game. And surely if you lose more than two games, you only last two last year, so you lose three, ‘What’s going on?’ So, I told our guys to be ready for that. Hell, ‘There’s a chance we may lose more than two games this year, guys.’ And that doesn’t mean anything. We could be a better team. By the end of the year, you’re a better team than you were with 15-2. And I don’t know what that record is, but that’s a real thing. I think that’s going to happen.”
On Lions EDGE Josh Paschal and his progression throughout practice: “I kind of dropped the ball on that one, because that was literally – after we talked about that, I think I went up to my office like, ‘Hey, Paschal’s ready to go.’ I was like, ‘What? OK, that’s great news.’ So that’s my fault. He looks great. As you would expect, a little bit sore. But he got a really good day on Wednesday, did a little individual yesterday. We probably won’t have him practice today, but then he’ll be roaring next week again. But, very much like (Lions DL Alim McNeill) Mac, he was in there on Wednesday like tearing it up. Really pushing our guys, which is good. He’s ready to go, I mean, he misses it. It’s been a while. Looks good. So yes, we’ve started his clock.”
On Lions CB D.J. Reed and his timeline to return: “Reed’s doing well. I don’t know if I can give you that timeline. There again, I’d say early December. Somewhere in there. But he’s looking good, he’s getting better and better.”
On if he reminds the players during a lull about the team’s ability to bounce back from one during the 2023 season: “Honestly, I don’t make too much of it. I try to stick with what we need to fix as to, ‘Man, what’s wrong with us, what’s going on?’ Let’s just focus on what we need to focus on, man, let’s work on our fundamentals. Let’s work on the way that we set. Let’s work on our landmarks, let’s work on our get-off, let’s work on our progression, and just hone in on the little things. Because that’ll clean so much of this up. And if you get better at what you’re doing inside your job, it makes the guy next to you – it elevates his game. And then all of a sudden, you start getting confidence. You get your confidence back. we’re starting to play good ball, ‘Oh I’m starting to – I really trust this guy again.’ And then the fire is lit. So, that’s really kind of what I think about. And ultimately at the end of the day as the head coach, man, I just want to know we’ve got the best version of our team by the time we hit the year. And I’m talking about team – offense, defense, special teams. Because that’s what wins in this League, man. It’s hard to win on one side of the ball totally. So, it takes all three phases. I like where our defense is at right now. Always things to improve, but (Lions Defensive Coordinator Kelvin Sheppard) Shepp’s doing a hell of a job. Those guys are, I think, playing at a high level right now. Special teams, that was an outlier last week. We’ve got to come back, be ready to go. This unit, by the way, is really good. Washington, I think they’re probably the top unit in the League right now. I mean, these guys are humming. But it’s a great test for us that we’re ready for. Offensively, man, we’ve got to do our part. Offense has got to pick it up and get back to what we were and just get more efficient. Plain and simple. More efficient, first downs. First downs lead to explosives, explosives lead to touchdowns and so on and so forth.”
On if losing a key player on a team in the NFL is the same as losing a key player on a team in the NBA: “I think it’s a lot harder for that, because there’s so many guys. You lose one guy, you’ve got another 10 that are on the field that can really alleviate a lot of pressure. NBA, man, you lose one, and all of a sudden – that’s significant when you’re only dealing with those five that are on the court. I think that has more of an impact. Is it a gut punch? Can it knock the wind out of you a tick? Yeah, it can. I think you can get over that, too.”
On if Lions T Taylor Decker and Lions T Penei Sewell are trending toward playing: “Yeah, I think they’re doing well. I don’t see Decker practicing today, but he looked good yesterday.”
