Opening Statement: “I want to congratulate Coach (Dwayne) Casey and Troy Weaver last night on the Draft. That was pretty cool for the Pistons. It is a good time to be in Detroit. I would say this too, I want to wish Melissa Blough the best of luck tonight and David (Blough) for that matter. We said something last night in the team meeting. I asked David, ‘When is Melissa running?’ He was like, ‘8:00, tomorrow night.’ The team man, they went crazy. So, that was pretty cool. They’re all in tune for it. We’ll be watching her tonight. I would encourage everybody to watch it. It is pretty cool. It’s one thing to be doing what we’re doing, but on the Olympic stage, that is as good as it gets. Best of luck to those guys.” On what he wants T Penei Sewell to learn to have success: “It’s about just taking it day-to-day and rep-to-rep because what can happen with those guys – he’s got the talent, he’s got the ability – is not to lose confidence. I think that’s a big thing because he’s going to have a couple of bad days. It’s just going to happen. It happens to the best of them. I think for him it is just take it in, ‘Why did it happen?’ How do you correct it? Why did it happen? How do you correct it? Move on to the next one. To me it’s just about, ‘Learn from it. Let’s move on. Learn from it. Let’s move on.’ The best thing for him is going to be Romeo Okwara. That is the absolute best. That actually gives me hope because I know Romeo is going to give him a full day’s work every day, walkthrough to the finish of practice, start to end. He’s going to get somebody that’s got length and a motor. He’s crafty, knows how to use his skills. He’s going to force this guy to get better fast. He’s going to have to. That is encouraging.” On if he has OLB Romeo Okwara practicing full speed right away: “Oh, yeah. It’s coming. This will be good.” On RB Jamaal Williams’ role in the backfield: “It’s big. It means a lot to me because I have been fortunate to be around some good ones. The place I just came from, obviously with (New Orleans Saints RB Alvin Kamara) AK, and to have (former Saints RB) Mark Ingram when I first got there. Mark was a stud, still is a stud, by the way. That’s my vision of this one-two punch. To have what we had after we left with (New Orleans Saints RB Latavius) Murray as well. Murray was that guy for us and that’s how I see Jamaal Williams for us, for Detroit. He’s high energy. He’s a bit of a hammer and I think he’s a guy your team can feed off of a little bit. I said that when we signed him. That was always what Mark was for us and Latavius Murray when Mark left us. That’s what Jamaal is.” On if he had spelled out RB Jamaal Williams’ role to him when the Lions signed him: “Absolutely. He knew exactly what he – and he embraces it, he wants to be here. By the way, it’s a one-two punch. We’re going to use both of those guys, they know that. A guy gets a hot hand, he’s rolling. If Jamaal is in there, we’re rolling. Jamaal is going to be rolling and we’ll use (D’Andre) Swift for other things, which is fine. That’s a good problem to have. I’m glad we got him; I know that.” On if he likes QB Jared Goff’s start to camp: “Oh, yeah. I really have. He’s been good. You can just see him from where we were in the spring to now, you can see how much more comfortable he is and how much more he has taken ownership of this offense, which is what we want. We want him to feel like – listen, dialogue, communication, ‘Is there something you want, or you feel like we could do better with?’ We take it. Sometimes we’re like, ‘No. This is why we want to do it.’ He’s really growing into it and he is embracing it and it is becoming – and that’s what we want. We want it to become what is best for him and his vision, as well ours. He’s been great, he really has. You can see him grow inside the offense.” On QB Jared Goff’s vision: “I think for him, there are certain things that he really likes, and he does really well. He loves progressions. He loves progression reads. He loves throwing it downfield, he really does. A lot of that comes with run play pass, things of that nature. We’re in install one, install two, we’re going to do install three today, which is really third-down. We’re going to do red zone tomorrow, and then a day off. When they come back, we start all over. Then, once we do that, it is really more of a detailed – like right now, we’re going to throw everything at them for four days, then we start back over basically once we get the pads on. So now it’s back to one and you can really start to dig in deeper into the playbook and open up some stuff. We’re not in the world of true shot plays right now. We’ve got throws downfield and things of that nature. I just think there are certain things that he’s comfortable with and so we’re trying to give him those things, which, there again is a lot of progression, but he’s been great.” On how he views the backup quarterback position battle: “Certainly somebody you know if something happens to (Jared Goff) JG that, ‘Alright, they can go in there and run this offense.’ I don’t think it’s any different than him. You want to feel like, ‘Alright, whoever comes into that game is going to be able to function in this offense. They’re going to be able to run it. They’re going to understand what we’re trying to do. I’m not looking for somebody to sling it all around the field.’ We just need to know you’re going to be able to communicate what we’re trying to do, you’ll get us to the right play, you’re going to take care of the football, a smart football player. Somebody you just know, ‘Alright, I trust this guy. I know he knows what to do with the football.’ I think that ultimately is what you’re looking for.” On G Halapoulivaati Vaitai’s development so far in training camp: “There again, two days in, but even from the spring and to see him come back, there’s another guy. His weight, he’s got his weight in check. The conditioning test, he was good. To this point, it’s good. He’s a big man. He’s a big man that can move. He certainly looks good. When you look at (Frank) Ragnow, him, and then there’s Penei (Sewell), it looks good. Up to this point, I would say he’s in a good place. I know he physically looks good. I know he likes where he’s at right now. So, we’re pleased to this point.” On TE Alize Mack’s progress: “He really hasn’t played football. Honestly, since he left when I was in New Orleans, this is the first time he’s played. So, it’s not like he went off and had a couple of – there were a couple of practice squad stints he had after he left us, but really, he’s been out of football. For the most part, he’s a rookie. So, he’s still learning and trying to grow here a little bit. I know this, the talent that I saw when I had him is still there. I know that. The more comfortable he can get in the offense to where he can play faster and really use it because I’m telling you he’s gifted. The kid is gifted, but the more comfortable he gets to where he can cut it loose, he’ll really grow. I’m hopeful. We’re going to give him an opportunity here to see what he can do. We’ll see where it goes. We’ll see how he handles it.” On splitting up the personnel groupings on the sidelines in practice: “We’ll do that during the game, too, but that’s exactly what it is. It just helps them. You have your own personnel in the game with your call, but once that comes in, it really helps the secondary and the linebackers know, ‘OK, they have their base personnel in, they have their sub.’ Honestly, I’m not so sure we shouldn’t do it on offense because there things sometimes that sound good on paper like, ‘Hey, man, we’re going to run it in sub.’ Sometimes it messes you up because you forget that little nickel is really now a SAM linebacker, or a WILL, or whatever he is. I think it really clears things up when you truly know without having to try and search for it. If you could just look to the sideline and go, ‘I know what they’re in. They’re in base or sub.’ That’s what it does. It really helps them.” On how he plans to use the preseason games with the new preseason schedule format: “It’s been crazy. All summer I have gone back and forth and I’ve thought about, ‘Well, what if you did this? What if you use two as three and then three you didn’t?’ The reality is for the vets they’ve gained a game. They’ve lost nothing, but they’ve gained an extra game because they weren’t going to play the fourth preseason game anyway, which is why you’re asking it. But my gosh, we’re a new staff, have new players, everything, and you want them to get in the flow of a true game with each other before you get to the season. Even between preseason game three and when you play, you’re talking about two-and-a-half weeks or whatever that is. That’s a long time. So, you’d hate to get into the game and be like, ‘We finally found our rhythm in the third quarter against San Francisco.’ My gosh, we would be down. You know how it is, but then you’re trying to weigh where you’re at, what you feel like. I think a lot of it is going to be predicated on where we are at on the roster injury-wise. Hopefully we’re healthy and all of that and feel good. How do we feel about our practices and how we’ve looked? I think a lot of it is just going to have to be how myself feels and the staff feels with where we’re at. What do we truly feel like we need?” On if the preseason game strategy is to be determined: “I would have to say that. I’m still back and forth with it. Every day I wrestle with it. It’s funny you brought it up. I was actually thinking about it last night again driving home.” On his thoughts on Defensive Backs/Pass Game Coordinator Aubrey Pleasant: “He’s a stud. I was in his meeting – I try to go to all of our coaches meetings at some point or another to watch the practices after the practices, watch the film, or I’ll go in for installs and kind of get a feel of them with the players and get a feel of the players interacting with them, just the feel of the room. He is as advertised, I would tell you that. He is a hell of a teacher. He is engaging, he’s thorough, he’s interactive, he’s energetic, he’s vibrant, he gets it. There’s a reason why he’s good at what he does, and he’s coached some good players and developed good talent. I’ll be honest, the whole staff is. I was with (Assistant Head Coach/Running Backs) Duce (Staley) last night, as well. Let me tell you something, if you want to have a good time and go in there and watch guys grow and learn, but laugh, it’s impressive. He is on it. I’ve said it all along, we’re teachers, we really are. We might not always have the proper grammar or say all of the right things, but that’s what we are, we’re teachers and we teach football. You have to learn how to communicate and how do you pull out the most out of these guys and help them live up to their full potential. The only way to do that is to connect with them. Once you connect, then you can really teach them because now you got them. It’s impressive, it really is.” On the status of S C.J. Moore: “He just had a back spasm from lifting the day before. He was good. We wanted to make sure he was fine. He’ll be out there today. That is the plan. So, he’s good.” |
