September 8, 2023
On how the rookies’ contributions in last night’s game will affect their confidence: “Well, certainly it’ll help. I think there’s a few things that came out of it that are encouraging and I think – well, one of them is, I didn’t feel like any of those, any of our pups, that it was too big for them. I felt like, boy, they settled in and the stage wasn’t too much for them. And, man, that was really encouraging. And I really thought all those guys really helped us out and had a part in that win last night. (Lions TE Sam) LaPorta, I thought did some really good things, and honestly, he blocked well. It’s some of the best blocking I’ve seen out of him even through camp, so that was encouraging. (Lions RB Jahmyr) Gibbs is – he’s pretty electric and he’s only going to get better and he’s going to get a bigger piece of the pie as we move forward. I thought (Lions LB) Jack (Campbell) really stepped up. Man, he played his – I’m watching his tape and I’m like to me, he didn’t play like a rookie which is encouraging. Now, he’s got a few things to clean up, but that was pretty good. He was on it. And (Lions DB Brian) Branch, the thing about Branch is man, he’s a playmaker and he came up with a big one for us. And I think what’s most encouraging is he’s got a ton to clean up, and when he’s got that stuff cleaned up, he’s going to be that much better, but he’s got a knack for finding the football. So, those guys helped us win, but yet, there’s room to improve and grow with all of them, so that’s a good thing.”
On what Lions QB Jared Goff has learned in the past year about ball security that has allowed him to extend his passing streak without an interception: “Well, I think – look, yeah, certainly the ball security, but I think a lot of it is man, he’s worked hard on his footwork, getting his hips in position and then playing fast and efficient, getting through his progressions, ‘It’s there, it’s not there. Man, I’m working the next one.’ And I think all of that helps with the ball security and being smart with your decisions. Now look, I appreciate that, we all do, but it’s going to come at some point. It just does and that’s OK when it does, but right now, I like where he’s at and the way he’s playing the game because he is, he’s playing a steady, solid, smart game right now and he helped us win last night.”
On how the defense displayed its improvement last night: “Yeah, I mean it’s – look, I think it really shows what we’re going to be capable of this year. And I just bring it up again, we played some good football defensively last night and yet, there’s so much room to improve. I mean we’ve got a lot of little things we’ve got to clean up that are going to make us so much better. So, I think, man, I thought we played really well. I like where our defense is at and yet, when we get it where we really want it, I think we’re looking at something defensively that we haven’t had in a long time. So, I thought those guys played their asses off and I think what always gets lost is, ‘(Chiefs QB Patrick) Mahomes, Mahomes,’ but we honestly knew we had to stop (Chiefs RB Isiah) Pacheco first and stop that run game and we did that. And that made them more one-dimensional which helped us and the fact that we were able to take away – look, they came out of the game with six explosives. You limit the Chiefs to six explosives, that’s a hell of a day and we did that with all of the fabricated stuff they get, the scrambled plays. So man, I was proud of those guys and we’re only going to get better. I believe that.”
On the dialogue between him and the officials on the disputed pre-snap movement from Chiefs T Jawaan Taylor: “Yeah, I can’t talk about the officials. I’ve been told that, so I’m not even going to go there. But here’s the thing man, the officials are going to call all or not call what they’re going to do. Every crew is different, and they decide what they are or aren’t going to do and we’ve got to play by the rules, so. They were good with it and we’ve got to adjust.”
On the broadcast saying an asterisk should be placed next to the Lions’ win because Chiefs TE Travis Kelce and Chiefs DT Chris Jones did not play: “Well, is there an asterisk by the 1-0?”
On his top priority to clean up after watching the game tape: “I would say – look, well that’s a good question. I’ve got a whole list of things here. Probably offensively is tempo. Man, we’ve got to improve our tempo. That’s probably top of the list right now and then third-down offensively. And we weren’t great on defense either in that first half, now we turned it around there, but I think those are a couple things we’ve got to clean up that would be top of the list here. And they are very correctable issues that we’ve got here, so that’s what fires you up. We’ve got so much room to grow and get better. But I just know that was – when you said, I guess the first thing I thought of was just tempo offensively. We can be so much better.”
On how much the need to increase tempo is due to getting rust off in Week 1: “Look, you never want to make excuses, but at the same time, yeah, I think that’s a lot of it. It is game one. You’re getting your crew out there for a full 70 plays, you’re on the road in a very loud environment, but you also want enough ammo to be able to score if you need to score or not in one of those affairs against a dang good offense and quarterback. And so, man, I – in my head, I have a feeling of where it can go and what my expectations are, so coming out of that, yeah, of course we want to be better, but at the same time, some of these things that popped up didn’t surprise me. And ultimately, like I told the staff and players, all that matters is that we win by one. As long as – you end the game and we’re up at least one point and defense, we hold them to at least one less, then that’s all that matters and that’s what we were able to do last night.”
On if the number of snaps Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs received was the original plan or it was dictated by the game: “No, I would say that was what we talked about with him. First game out of the gate, there again man, and we really didn’t want to overload any of those guys. I think it’s important you go in and let them get a feel of what it’s going to be like. It’s the first one, let’s go in and make sure that the guys that have been around here, the guys who have taken a load for us that we’ve been in games with, that they take on a bigger load and we work these rookies in and get them a feel of it. And now they’ve got that one under their belt, so for Gibbs, he’ll begin to get more touches now. So, that was just the beginning last night.”
On any injury status updates from last night: “It’s good. Yeah, we really came out pretty good. (Lions T Taylor) Decker had a little bit of an ankle that he got early in the game, and he played the whole game with it and finished out and – which man, that was outstanding. I mean Deck’s a tough SOB, man. So, man, to watch him battle out there, it was impressive, so. Look, we’ll know a lot more in a few days, but I’m encouraged because I know, there again, he finished out that game and we’re pretty good everywhere else.”
On how mentally and physically beneficial the extra days this week are for the players: “I think it’s big to be able to now rest the body for about three days here before we start back up, get ready for Seattle, man, I just – I think it’s huge. I think it worked out perfect for us.” |
