August 2, 2023
On if he is OK with the type of low hit that caused Lions TE Shane Zylstra’s injury: “Yeah, no. First of all, feel awful for Zylstra, my gosh, man. He had the injury two years ago that was – man, was a tough one. That was a tough injury that he fought his way back from and then you saw what he was able to do for us. He was a pivotal part of our success last year once we started turning the corner, and he just does everything right, man. He works, he’s a grinder and then this one happens and so – harsh with him, and honestly it shouldn’t have happened. No, we’re not OK with that, and it’s been addressed, so. These things happen. The physicality of the game, the pads, but that was preventable. That’s not what we do. So, and believe me, (Lions CB) Khalil (Dorsey) feels awful too. We get that, but we have to take care of each other. We still have to be physical, we have to work each, we have to compete, but we still have to take care of each other. So that was – we talked about it, and we move on.”
On if Lions TE Sam LaPorta is dealing with anything of concern leaving practice early on Sunday: “No, he just had a little bit of an ankle. He’ll be back out there today running around, so we’ll see how he feels with it.”
On where the kicker competition between Lions K Riley Patterson and Lions K Parker Romo stands: “Yeah, it’s been good. We all know that Riley, there’s a steadiness about him, and I would say this about Riley, one of the things that we’ve noticed that’s really shown up from two years ago when we kind of parted ways is he has a stronger leg as it pertains to kickoffs. Like his kickoffs are much better. He’s getting more hangtime, he’s getting more depth. He’s been pretty steady on field goals, so it’s good. And then Romo, as we know, man he has a massive leg and his will always be just a little bit of working on that accuracy and control, which we kind of know that. It’s about just competing and developing and getting a little bit better, but we like those two guys, we do.”
On if the performance of Lions K Riley Patterson and Lions K Parker Romo in training camp could decide their performance in games: “Could be, yeah. I mean there’s nothing that would necessarily tip you one way or another right now. We’re just – we’re letting them – we are, we’re letting them compete.”
On what he is looking to see from Lions WR Jameson Williams leading up to the preseason games: “I would say this, man we – and I told him this back in the spring, you want to feel like by the end of camp, man there’s a level of polish. Man, the splits, the route depth, the – you want to begin to feel like there’s a lot of polish to detail and that he has this pretty good rapport with (Lions QB Jared) Goff by the time he leaves because I think if we can get there, I don’t think it will take very long to pick it back up once he comes back, so I think that’s the next step, but I go back to this, he – and it’s not an excuse, but he hasn’t practiced. I mean he didn’t practice last year. He came in during the year and we kind of had a couple plays for him here and there, but it’s not like – this is his first significant time to get – he was hurt last week. So, man, the longer we can keep him on the field and just keep working through these things, he’ll get better, but I would say that’s the answer.”
On what Lions WR Jameson Williams has to do to limit the amount of dropped passes: “Yeah, those do – they show up and that’s something that we’ve talked about with him, and he knows that too. I think man, working his hand mechanics. He has to work those pre-practice, he has to work those post-practice. I mean really, he just has to grind on it, and even then it’s not – it’ll never be probably be one of these elite pass-catchers that you’ve seen, but it’ll be just fine with his speed and what he’s able to do, but there’s a number of things that he can clean up with it and I think it’s just, man, time on task, work through it, because honestly there are some things that – just the simple change of the way your hands are by ball location, pinkie to pinkie, thumb to thumb, that’ll go a long way for him. And so, we just have to keep working through it. We just have to keep working through it.”
On if Lions WR Jameson Williams’ need for improved catching is a product of his standout speed: “Yeah, he just – he can run, and he’s been able to create so much separation where he came from that it was – that wasn’t as big of a deal, but in this League, you’re getting contested catches, but I think that’s why I brought up the details of his routes. With his speed, the more he can really hone in on the details, his explosive speed, man, there’ll be a level of separation, you’d like to believe, different than most to where it’s not always going to be these contested catches. So, there’s a little give and take there.”
On the importance of getting WR Jameson Williams preseason game reps: “It’s going to be huge. It’ll be imperative. I mean it’s – he’s going to – we’re going to douse him with a ton of game reps. He needs that. He needs that. As he does practice, but man, and I’m telling you, as with anybody, the more reps he gets, the more time on task, the more consecutive practices and reps he can put together, he’ll just grow. I really believe that. And I do think he – I do believe he wants it. I do believe he wants to get better, I do believe – so he’ll grind through this and let’s see where we can go with it.”
On what Lions LB Julian Okwara needs to do to improve before the preseason: “Consistency, consistency. And that’s really always been that for him, which we’ve talked about as well with him. He’s a flash player, man. He does something really impressive and then it just kind of reverts back at times. He doesn’t use what he’s been taught and so he – man, he just has to continually put on tape what he’s been taught and those little flash plays, they have to become the norm. We’re at the point now, we’re year three with him, with us, and so those things have to show up every time because he’s too talented, he just is. And I would say that’s it, consistency.”
On if Lions T Penei Sewell will return to practice today: “He’ll be out there. He’s cleared.”
On if the Lions signed a new tight end: “Yeah, we did, and actually we’re going to have a couple of new guys out there today and get a look at them, so.”
On if the newly-signed players are tight ends: “Yeah, both tight ends.”
On what he has liked from Lions WR Denzel Mims so far: “I like Mims. Here’s the first thing that shows up to me, aside from the size because he is kind of an opposing figure for a receiver out there at X, but man, he’s physical. You get up there and press him and it shows up, like it’s different. He can fight out there, he can battle versus press, and here’s the other thing I love, he’s never been a special teams guy. We told him from day one, ‘Man, you have to do some things. We have to see if you can do some things on teams.’ And to his credit, a guy who’s never really done it, I mean he’s out here, he’s going, and (Lions Special Teams Coordinator Dave) Fipp and I were talking about him last night, we were watching these clips, I’m like, ‘This guy’s just competing.’ Now, he has a way to go, he’s raw in some things, we don’t know – but man, I appreciate the fact the guy has come in and is doing everything – and he said he would. He said, ‘Coach, I’ll do whatever and I’ll give you whatever I got,’ and he’s doing it. So, I respect the heck out of that. He’s somebody that I’m really – man, I want to see if he can take another step and there’s some things he can do for us on offense.”
On the reason for signing two tight ends: “Yeah, I would say – well, obviously the one is injury-related and the other is, ‘Let’s upgrade the competition,’ so.”
On how he feels the tight end group has performed so far: “As a group, we’re pleased. As a group, we’re pleased, because (Lions TE James) Mitchell just quietly gets better and better. (Lions TE) Brock (Wright) is somebody we trust. There’s a high level of trust with him because he doesn’t – he’s always going to be where he’s supposed to be, and he’s going to give you all he’s got, and so, we built a three-year trust with him, that just there’s nothing would tell us that you can’t trust the guy. And then (Lions TE Sam) LaPorta’s come – he’s getting better, he’s developing. And so was (Lions TE Shane) Zylstra, that’s why it hurts to lose him. I hate it for him.” |
