| June 8, 2021 Opening statement: “Good morning everybody. I wanted to start today and talk quickly about the passing of Jim Fassel. I played for Jim and the Giants when I was there. I was drafted by him. I was there for four seasons with him. Just a number of things come to mind, but first probably just the people that he surrounded himself with, from the coaches to players. It was one of the best experiences I ever had were those years. Some of my best friends I ever had were there. Some of my closest friends and some of the best coaches I ever had were there. You think about some of the people that he had surrounded himself with just from a coach’s standpoint, certainly Sean Payton, John Fox, Mike Pope—who I thought, and think, is the best tight ends coach to coach this game—Jim McNally, legendary O-line coach. I was on staff at the time—not on staff, but as a player—and then certainly as a coach, Jason Garrett was our number two quarterback. Just from a player standpoint, Michael Strahan, Jessie Armstead, Michael Barrow, Jeremy Shockey, Glenn Parker. We added Lomas Brown and it was the year we went to the Super Bowl. He was a pivotal part of us getting there. Ike Hilliard, Amani Toomer, Ron Dayne, Jason Sehorn, Ron Stone, Kerry Collins, Howard Cross—just a number of these guys that were good football players, but good dudes. We had a good locker room, and that was a credit to Jim. There were three things that I think about with him, too, as it pertains to the football side of it. In 2000, we were 7-4. We had actually just lost two in a row. We had just lost to the Rams. It was the greatest show on turf. Then, we lost to Detroit. I remember there was a lot of doubt as to what kind of team we were going to be. Philly was on our heels. Andy Reid had Philly going at the time and they were all over us. They were one step behind us. He guaranteed that we’d make the playoffs that year, and we won seven in a row. We beat Philly in the playoffs. We actually beat them three times that season to win the division. We were number one in the NFC. Then, we beat Minnesota 40-0 in the NFC Championship game and went on to later lose to Baltimore, but it was a special season. We rallied. It’s a credit to Jim. Then, in 2001 obviously 9/11 happened. It affected everybody, but when you were in New York City, it really hit home because we had so many people in that organization from the Mara’s to Jim himself to plenty of the players. There was an immediate impact, an instant impact, on those people’s lives, on all of us really. For him to really keep us together meant a lot. Lastly, 2002, possibly was the best team we had believe it or not. At one point we were 6-6 and we had just dropped two in a row. We rallied together and came together as a team and won the last four in a row. The last game we had to beat Philly in overtime to become a Wild Card team, which we did. We played San Fran, which everybody knows that game. The Wild Card game, everybody knows that game, we were up 38-14 and they came back and beat us. We did everything wrong in the end. But we really did have a pretty good team that rallied to find a way to get in. That’s a credit to Jim. Just thoughts and prayers to his family. I wanted to make sure I passed that along. I know that was long, but I needed to say that.” “Now, I’ll open it up to questions.” On the media criticism for wearing a helmet to start off his last press conference: “Honestly, I’m not worried about it. I get it. Again, my whole thing was it was kind of a joke. The helmet was sitting here. But it was also like, ‘Hey, man, it’s the Detroit Grand Prix. I think that’ll be a pretty cool deal for our people, our fans to see that.’ I think if I’m associated with the Detroit Grand Prix, that’s pretty cool. So that’s really as far as it went. I’m not worried about the criticism. I’m going to get criticized either way. That’s what you guys do. That’s what you and everybody outside this world does, and ultimately, I’m going to be judged on wins and losses. Again, it was just kind of keeping it light. Those things aren’t going to happen during the season. Right now, I’m just being me. I’m having a good time with it. I hope that answers it.” On former Lions WR Calvin Johnson discussing the need for the hard-hitting mentality in Detroit: “Well, look, anytime you get comments from somebody like Calvin that kind of sees it the way we do, it’s a good thing. There are a lot of things I could say about Calvin, but here’s what I always remember about Calvin. First of all, we all know what kind of athlete he was. He was a rare athlete. To this day, he’s a rare athlete. Size, speed, length, everything. But sometimes I think what gets lost is this guy, I remember from the first time he walked in, it was like, ‘This guy is too good to be true.’ He worked from the time that he walked into the time that he left. He was a worker. He was smart, he put in the time, he studied, he did all the things right. He was unselfish. He was a great teammate. Then, when you’re able to have that type of mentality and that type of work ethic and you have the type of talent that he does, there’s no secret to why he was as great as he was.” On the wide receiver corps: “Look, I think that’s what all of this is about right now, to get a feel of who we have in this building and what they’re capable of and who they are and how we use them. That’s what this is right now is a starting point. I’m not worried. They’re not worried about the narrative out there. I’ll tell you this, there are guys out there that we’ve been impressed with. We all have been as a staff just over these last two weeks, really. Tyrell Williams is going to be able to help us. There are things he can do. I see it. (WR) Breshad Perriman is going to be able to help is. There are things he can do. Kalif Raymond, there are things that he can do that you see. Victor Bolden’s impressed us as well. (Quintez) Cephus was much better last week than the week before. There are guys that are impressive. (Amon-Ra) St. Brown, he’s improving. It’s a steady group. It’s a group that’s competing every day. What does that mean? Right now, it means that they’re getting better. We’re trying to identify the guys we can depend on. Out of the guys we can depend on, ‘How can we use them? What do they do best and how do we use that skillset?’” On the next step to building a new culture: “Look, again, I think the culture building is just being around each other. It’s them being around each other, getting a feel of us, of the staff and what we’re looking for, which ultimately is doing the right things and competing. Competing, competing, competing, competing. Everything’s got to be about competition. Right when you walk out there, it’s about the scheme. What is the scheme, how do we use the scheme, how do you use your help? We’ve got to win our reps. You’ve got to win those on-on-ones. When you get put in a scenario, this is not just going through the motions. This has got to be something that you’re playing for. You have to think that way every time you’re in practice. Every time you’re put in that situation, you’re trying to win. That’s what we’re trying to inject into these guys. There is no such thing as a ‘go through a rep’ or ‘just line up and do it.’ No, you have to find a way to win on both sides of the ball. One day, you’re going to win that rep offensively or defensively. You’re going to find a way. Now, the next time that comes up the next day, you don’t want to be the one who loses again. You’ve got to correct that problem and move on. To me, that’s what we’re trying to build here, the culture.” On how he’s worked with QB Jared Goff to form accountability: “I’ve tried to be – look, I’ve sat down with him, we’ve talked. We’ve talked about the offense, we’ve talked about plays, we’ve talked about things that he did at the Rams, things that he feels comfortable with, things that I like, things that certainly A-Lynn (Anthony Lynn) likes. That’s step one. Step two is I’ve tried to go down in that quarterback room a little bit and just be down there with him as we talk through some of these looks or things that, just the way that he sees – I want him to have flexibility. I do. I want him to feel comfortable enough to say what’s on his mind, like, ‘Why are we not converting these?’ And either I’ll tell you, ‘This is why we’re not,’ or A-Lynn (says), ‘This is why we’re not converting these,’ or, ‘You know what, it’s a good idea. Let’s do it.’ I want him to have open dialogue with us, I want him to have feedback. There’s things that if he feels like this is something he can do, and we feel good about putting it in his hands, that’s what we want to do, because I think if you do that and you feel like he can handle it, he really does gain a lot more ownership into it and the guys will feel that, the guys around him. That’s what we want. I don’t want to just put him in a box and say, ‘No, no, no. This is who you are. You have to stay in this confinement, and you cannot deviate out of this box whatsoever. No, no, no.’ I want him to be able to come out of that box at times. You’ve got things that you feel like you can do, you can handle, we can handle as a team, then we’ll put on him whatever we feel like we can put on him because I think that will help him grow and become better as our field general.” On where he learned how to take player input and use it to help the team: “Look, I’ve been fortunate to be around – as a player and as a coach – some pretty good quarterbacks, obviously, but also quarterback coaches (and) offensive coordinators. I mean Sean (Payton) was as good as anybody about flexibility. Now, granted, we had one of the best in the game in Drew Brees, but I know this; when they see the game a certain way and they know what we’re trying to get done and inside of that parameter, they can put their own spin on it. But yet, really, it’s more than that. It’s to know that the guys around him are on the same page as he is. That’s really the critical thing. It might not even be that the quarterback can handle it, it’s, ‘Can our skill position handle this? The skill positions, the tight ends, the receivers?’ Can the offensive line (say), ‘Are we OK with this kill or this check in protection?’ And so, a lot of that does fall on your quarterback because he’s the one who’s got to communicate these things and make sure we’re all on the same page. Yeah, I think a lot of that really grew in New Orleans, to be honest with you. Just seeing the flexibility that we had and the dialogue that goes back and forth on those things. I just think – look, ultimately, you can’t just turn everything over to him, because what you don’t want to do is bog him down. You don’t want to put so much in their heads, in his head, in their heads, that they play slow. That’s what we don’t want. But at the same time, man, to give him some tools in his toolbox that he can go to for the perfect look I think only makes sense, too.” On if the team has any tryout players at camp: “We do not. We did not bring in any tryout (players) for this. We left it as what we have signed to this point.” On what stands out about WR Victor Bolden: “Just his ability to separate. That’s what’s the most glaring. I mean this guy can separate, he can run, he can change direction. He’s been pretty good offensively, mentally. He’s no different than anybody else, there’s things he’s got to clean up, but just the ability to separate clearly shows up to us.” On the team’s depth at safety: “That’s one area where our depth is pretty good right now, for sure. It’s not the only area, but yet, I would say just overall, we feel pretty good about that unit as it pertains to having depth and competition. Let the best men rise to the top, because whoever the best is out of both safety positions, are probably going to be pretty solid players for us. We feel real good about it.” On what he has in S Dean Marlowe: “Listen, Dean, there again, Dean is one of those players that was, on tape, he’s always been solid and steady. Not only that, he came from Carolina, so I knew him well, being at New Orleans. But then he goes to Buffalo, so all he knows is how to win. That’s all he’s been a part of, is winning programs. He knows that there’s a certain way to communicate, a certain way to practice, a certain way to play, and that caught our eye. But also, he was always a box safety. Box linebacker, box safety. So, if it was a dime package, he became like a linebacker on third down. That’s kind of what he’s always been, and he does pretty good at that. We’re giving him a chance to play more of this shell safety, this strong safety position to where he’s a little more in coverage at times but has the ability to fill in the run, so we’re trying to open up his repertoire, so to speak, and see what he does. We told him we’d give him the ability to compete at one of our safety positions. Look, he’s improving and honestly, he’s really growing too. Look, he gives us veteran leadership, he gives us somebody that’s done it, so look, we’re happy to have him.” On if S Dean Marlowe has done well with his transition: “He has. You can see improvement out of him, but also, there again, he’s pushing Will (Harris), he’s pushing Tracy (Walker), he’s pushing all these young safeties we have. And there again, I just bring it up, let the best man rise to the top, the best man for the job. That’s all you can ask for, is competition in each room.” On if he’s had an example of when his experienced coaching staff has resonated with him: “Well I think there’s a number of things just to this point. So much of what we’re doing right now is trying to feel each other out, but also get our players accustomed to us and our scheme on both sides of the ball, special teams as well. And so, I think just from the way we practice – I can tell you that scheduling and some of the logistics and those things, I’ve gotten help from A-Lynn (Anthony Lynn) and Duce (Staley) and those things are invaluable. But also, when you watch some of these – not some of them, really, all of them – I love our position coaches and their drills. They have some drills that I think are very realistic to what you’ll see on gameday. You’re trying to make it as close as you can (and) that helps them prepare for when that time comes. I think that’s one of the things you see. You’ll look over there and some of Duce’s drills are like, ‘What the?’ But it’s unbelievable. Everything’s about dropping your pads and having the ball tucked to your ribcage into the bicep and having to drop down low. You’re getting a tennis ball coming back through, you’re back over the bags, here comes one of these big ole medicine balls at you and you’ve got to dodge it. So, I just think there’s a lot of these things that as it pertains to the experience of the staff, them understanding how to train these guys for what they may see when game-time comes.” |
