Opening Statement: “It looks like we’ve got the faithful here. A light box. We’ve got the faithful. I love it. I’m taking this all in. Let me start with this—the guys have done a hell of a job up to this point, the way they’re practicing. It’s what I had hoped for and I’ve really felt like these guys have attacked it. They’ve come out, they’ve put in the work. We had an outstanding day yesterday. Yeah, there was slop we’ve got to clean up fundamentally, but I’ll tell you what, as far as coming out and knowing what we’re trying to get done and putting in the work, competing, giving everything they’ve got, trying to win the rep, understanding what we’re trying to get done, it was a pretty aggressive practice. I do think hitting, I think tackling has to be a part of it. It’s the essence of defense, breaking a tackle, run after catch, those things. So, I think you have to do a little bit of that, and we did some of that. Now, I knew leading into this week this would be a tough week for them. I told them early in the week and I put it up, I said, ‘Listen, when we come off the day off, it’s very much like an acclimation day,’ which was Monday. Then I said, ‘We’re going to redline you for two days, full pads,’ which we did. And then I said, ‘I’m going to back way off on Thursday,’ which is today. I said, ‘But, you’ve got to put in the work,’ and they did. This is what I wanted. So, we’re going to have an extended walkthrough today. I’m much more about quality over quantity. I didn’t want to come out and just continue to try to–you can only redline it for so long before something blows out and you’re not going to get the work you want. You come out here and at some point, your body just regulates itself and you can’t get the output that we’re getting. We are getting excellent work. These guys are revving hot, revving high and so now we’ve got to back down, and we’re going to do that today. So, it’ll be more of a walkthrough. We’ll give them some striders and then we’re in the door. Evan Brown is coming off NFI officially today. Now he’s able to go practice and be part of it with us out there and certainly will be out there tomorrow, too, when we get back after it.” On the status of CB Jerry Jacobs, RB D’Andre Swift and OLB Julian Okwara after leaving practice early yesterday: “Yeah, they’re good. I think Julian we’ll find out more today, but I think he got a little bit of a bruise, a kind of contusion of the ribs. He’s fine. He should be fine. So, I will expect him to be back out there. He’ll be out there today, tomorrow. Then (Michael Brockers) Brock—look, we’re just trying to be smart with Brock. Brock’s a 10-year vet. He’s slugged it out for a long time now. We kind of know what he can do, so we’re just trying to be smart. He’ll get his reps. He’ll come, but we kind of know what he is, so we just want to be smart with him. And then Swift, you know Swifty, he’s good. Listen, he’s another one now. Swifty’s bound pretty tight and he runs hot and so we’re trying to get him a load and then back him down. We’re kind of working him in. We just want to make sure we’re being smart with him. We’ll get him his work. He’s had a little bit of a kind of a tight groin and so he’s out there practicing. He’s pushing. We’re getting good reps, and then we’re getting smart with him. Every day we give him just a little bit more. So, he’ll be out there at the walkthrough, but he’s getting better, he feels better. I think we’ll be good.” On what attracted the Lions to QB Tim Boyle: “I can tell you this, the first thing is being in this division, I really didn’t know anything about him, me personally. But the one who got us on to him—I said this when we signed him—was (Director of Player Personnel) Lance (Newmark). Newmark got us on to him. Talking about player personnel scout, he’s been here a long time, and so he had his eye on him. I know this, I remember when he was talking about him in the spring and we’d been together for a little bit, for about a month. We go to those meetings and—like I say, I remember Lance when I was here from afar, but very quickly you learn, ‘Hey this guy knows what he’s talking about.’ So, when he brought that up and Lance brought it up, he was like, ‘Hey, I would check this Tim Boyle out.’ I know there’s not a lot of tape, so when you just kind of watch him, even though it was preseason games and things of that nature, it was like, ‘Oh, there is something to this kid.’ It was intriguing and it was like, ‘This is a perfect year to—if you’re going to do something, if you’re going to take a flyer on a guy, this is the year to do it.’ So, that’s what attracted us to him. I know this, now that we’ve got him, we really, really like him. We like everything about him, his attitude, his decisiveness, the way he runs a huddle. He throws the football well.” On how the organization will excite fans on game day without having Eastern Market tailgates: “Yeah, I mean it’s—you really want my reaction? I mean, I know you want my reaction. I’m just going to get myself in trouble. Yeah, it stinks. It’s unfortunate. There’s a number of things in my head that I think of when you just said that, like what I would do as a tailgater. But I’m not going to say that. So, it’s tough. It’s tough. I hate it for them. I hate it for us. I’ll tell you what, I’m going to find a way to adapt and figure something else out quickly. I know that to where I can still tailgate and have a good time.” On T Tyrell Crosby’s injury: “He’s got a hammy. His probably looks about a grade one right now, so you’ve got to be down a little bit. We think this could be a good week, it could be. We’ll see where he’s at today, tomorrow, but yeah, he did. He pulled his hammy.” On the offensive line adjustments with T Tyrell Crosby sitting out of practice: “Well, I think it can be a positive because now we’ve got (Matt) Nelson getting a lot of those reps, which is good because we’re working him on how to play guard and tackle. (Offensive Line Coach) Hank (Fraley)’s got him moving kind of across the board. Let’s find out who’s up next. It’s Nelson, it’s (Logan) Stenberg. You get more reps on guys you want to see out there. Maybe it’s (Tommy) Kraemer, the young rookie from Notre Dame who’s getting some of those reps that we just brought in. We got Evan Heim back. We’ve got all the Evans are back, so we’ll just pull a name out of the hat and say ‘Evan get in there,’ and see which one runs to lineup get some reps and see what happens.” On if any players have stood out during padded practices this week: “Good question because it is more than we’ve expected. I don’t know. I think the staff and myself came in with an open mind and gave these guys the benefit of the doubt. Let’s kind of look at it with a clean slate. I can tell you this, certainly they wanted to see Julian Okwara. Let’s see what he looks like in pads and how he responds. In the early part of practice, I thought he was physical and it showed up. Now, we’ve got to get him to a practice, but that was encouraging to see. Let’s see how he does with these ribs and everything, but just to see him do it. Let’s see him do it Friday if he’s back and let’s see him do it Saturday at Ford Field and then let’s see him come back next week after the day off and do it again in pads. Those little things are what I’m looking for with some of these guys, but that was encouraging. I would say there’s a number of guys that I feel like—I knew Charles Harris was not an issue in pads. Now I tell you what, he’s made a big jump just from spring. We’re getting good team reps in spring but he’s really embracing this. He’s much more of a natural outside linebacker. You see him really progressing. I think he’s taken a pretty big jump just from when he walked in the door here. You see his ability to set an edge and snap his hips. He fires me up pretty good, but there’s a number of guys.” On the secondary’s performance in pads so far: “I would say I’m pretty fired up about our secondary. I know it’s early, but I just like where they’re at. I like where they’re going. There’s a lot of growth that still needs to take place, but I think (Aaron Glenn) AG and Aubrey (Pleasant) and (Dom) Capers are always working with our safeties, all three of those guys. They’ve been doing a hell of a job and I think those guys are buying in, and you can see them beginning to grow together and communicate. They understand their own weaknesses. They understand where they’ve got to help. Even with pads on to watch them, like (Jeff) Okudah, I think he’s really starting to come home. He’s playing like, ‘Alright man, I am a mad dude and I dare you to throw it over here,’ which is what we want. I see Amani (Oruwariye) growing over there on the other side. Just Will (Harris) and Tracy (Walker), their communication is pretty good. CJ Moore is doing a heck of a job. We know he’s going to be able to help us on special teams, but he’s also pretty good on the back end and he can go on the box and play like a linebacker for us on third down. So, there’s a number of guys that I feel like are growing. If you’re talking about that unit in general, it is growing. AJ Parker—nickel, Mike Ford battling it out. They’re coming. Jerry Jacobs, who went off with a contusion, that’s one of them you asked about. It was really a contusion. He got stepped on. He got stepped on in the thigh. I was like, ‘OK well he’s good.’ So, it’ll be a little sore but it’s not like he pulled a muscle or something. That kid’s showing up too.” On former Lions WR Calvin Johnson being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame: “You never truly know where somebody’s going to be 10 years from that point. We all know that, but I know this—I’ve never seen anybody like him. I’ve never been around anybody like him that had the size, length, speed, ability to adjust to the football, flexibility, was hungry and just went to work like him. He had he it all. He checked every box. He was just unbelievable. This is the type of guy that you’re like—if he called for the ball every play, then you would be like, ‘I get it. I know why he’s calling for the ball every play. You’re going over here? I’m going to block over here. If you tell me to block this safety, I’m going to block this safety. I got to go beat this safety on a sting route? I’m going to beat him. You’re going to throw me this? Great. You’re saying this is for Roy Williams or this is for Mike Furrey? Great. I know that my little piece of this puzzle, hold the safety here so they don’t get on Mike’s route over there.’ He just was a team guy and I just think he was great. If there was ever a dude that deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, it’s him, those type of players because those players to me—the production, it speaks for itself. All those guys, to be able to do what they’re doing to be good enough to go to the Hall of Fame, it’s well deserved. There’s a special place in my heart for guys that are team guys, that just put in the work, day in and day out and they have ultra-ability, which is what Calvin had. So, I’m proud of that guy. I’m happy for him and I know Detroit is proud of him, too. They should be. To be able to know that man was a Detroit Lion and that’ll be there forever, you can’t take that away because that’s what he was and that’s what he is. That’s the jersey that goes up in the Hall of Fame.” |
