Opening statement: “Good morning. It’s good to see all of you face-to-face again. I know it was brief in the spring. This is good. It’s starting to feel like normal. As it pertains to COVID, because I know this will probably be a question, we’ve worked with the League and NFLPA. The players have been great. We all know what’s going on with the rules as it pertains to vaccinations. They’ve been outstanding, the players. Then us, the staff, working with them. We’re ready. We’re ready for practice. We’re ready to move on. So, we’re good. We’re ready for day one. This is about to be real fun. These guys showed up in shape. We’re big, we’re long, and we look strong. We look explosive. They crushed the conditioning test. I’m pretty fired up about that. It was outstanding. I was extremely pleased with their output and the beauty of it was they didn’t have to say a word to let us know, ‘Hey man, we’re in. We’re in.’ All that shows us is that now we have a chance. So, it’s day one, here we go. But they’re open to it, they’re in tune. They came back ready to go. So now let’s see what we can do with them. Now it’s our turn as a staff to give them everything we can give them. We’re excited about that. It’s about to be good.” On the team’s vaccination rates: “I know we’re over 80 percent and I would say we are getting more every day. Every day we had our guys come in. From the first group to the vets who came in yesterday, every day we get a few more. It’s trending the right way. It’s been really good.” On the team’s hurdles to clear from the first training camp practice to the first game: “I was talking to a couple of our coaches yesterday, and I said it at the end of spring, and I’ll say it now. I think of what we gained; I really do. I don’t think of, ‘We lost this. We lost that.’ All I think of is, had we not had them, by the time we get to Pittsburgh for the second preseason game, we may get to where we got to in the spring. Maybe. So, to be able to have those guys, for them to come in and put the work in, it gave us an opportunity. It gave us a chance to get our legs under us, get this scheme under us, get our philosophy implemented with these guys. I look at it as a positive, thank goodness. It’s worked out. We’re excited. We feel like we’re in a good spot. Do we have a lot to learn and how we mesh with each other, (Jared) Goff with the receivers, and our defensive backs working the coverage and communication? Absolutely. But we are miles ahead had we not had those guys in the spring.” On what he is most excited about for the upcoming weeks: “I kind of told the team last night, there are a number of things that play into all of this. Competition is the biggest. But really it’s, ‘Enjoy this ride. Enjoy this ride we’re on.’ We know this is high stress. It’s about winning. It’s about finding ways to win. It’s about overcoming adversity. But enjoy this ride because this will be the last time this team’s together, everyone that’s in this room we all know, because of free agency and the Draft and all of those things. So, this is it. These are our months. But this is where you build your team, your philosophy, what you’re about. This sets the standard and the tone for how you’re going to be able to endure the ups and downs of the season and certainly to handle the downs. But we have to be able to handle the ups too because we’re going to have some of those. But enjoy this, enjoy everything about it, enjoy the laughter. (Michael) Brockers yesterday was outstanding. We had three groups on the conditioning test. Three groups of basically 18. So they’re doing it – he was in the first group and he was done. He does a great job, kind of catches his breath after two minutes, and then he’s just talking trash to the rest of the guys. But it’s fun. It just is to know you put in the work, you got it done, and now you can push your teammates and just poke at them a little bit and it’s just about the camaraderie. It’s about being around the guys. It’s about sweating. If you want something bad enough, you have to bleed a little for it, especially in this sport. That’s what makes it worth it. So, enjoy that. Enjoy the grind. Enjoy the grind of it. It’s not for everybody. That’s what makes it great. So, that was just one of the things I think about. But I’m going to enjoy this ride. I’m going to enjoy being around these guys. There is no guarantee I’m going to be with some of these guys on staff next year. I’m going to enjoy it. We’re going to push it. They’re going to know what we want. It’s not going to be a circus or something. We’re going to enjoy it. That’s what I think of.” On his emotions as a first-year head coach: “My first thought was, ‘Man, I didn’t sleep at all.’ But that’s OK because I’ve got plenty of energy without sleep. I do tell myself that and I want to tell myself that. It’s certainly a little easier in camp than once the season hits. It’s easier to say it now. When things come down the pipe – everything that motivates me, all I think about is, ‘How do I get these guys ready to perform and how do I give my staff the best opportunity to be the best they can be?’ That’s all I think about. ‘Are we going to practice too much? Are we not going to practice enough? Are we going to hit enough? Are we not going to hit enough? How do we need to set up the practices? How do we need to set up our installs for the coaches?’ That’s what I’m thinking. I don’t want to let these guys down. I want to give them everything that I have. That’s what I think about. That’s what motivates me is, ‘Give them everything you can give them. Give them an opportunity to win games.’” On the Lions hiring Mental Health Specialist/Clinician Dr. Michelle Garvin: “Listen, we all know this. I feel every year we’re a little more in tune to this. So much of the way that, particularly football players, have been raised and everything about the sport is that you show no weakness. For forever, not knowing what it was or wasn’t, when you had a mental issue, it was ‘You’re weak.’ So, you don’t say anything, but yet if you just got a little bit of help and had the right resources around you, you could live up to your potential and then some. I think there has been so much more that’s come to life on this. That was one of the reasons we hired Dr. Michelle Garvin. We thought it was important to have an outlet, somebody they can talk to, somebody that understands everything as it deals with that. Also, it deals with sports psychology because it is. It makes a difference and I kind of brought this up in my intro, but sometimes you never know what’s going on and it’s easy to say, ‘Oh, he’s not right. You can’t count on the guy.’ But there’s always a reason why. Some of it is physical, some of it pertains to just not getting the playbook. But what about the issues that are deeper than that that we need to get to? What’s going on at home? Did somebody come back into his life that was not good for him? There are just so many things that come into play. We felt like that was important to address that and have a resource on staff that can help with that. We’re all about top to bottom. Not only the athlete and making them a better football player, but most of that is between the ears. How do we help them with that? That is a credit to (Executive Vice President and General Manager) Brad (Holmes) too. That was one of the things he really wanted to attack this offseason.” On if players proactively seek out Dr. Garvin: “It’s more for players to seek out her. Although, she has been very visible. She spoke last night. She will be on-site. Everything she’s doing, she’s trying to get to know the guys a little bit, introduce herself, gain a little trust. It’s not like she is going to be, ‘OK, I’m just back here in this room and I’m not going to come out here.’ It’s not like that at all. She’s got access to our players.” On what he hopes to accomplish during the acclimation period: “I think just making sure that these guys truly get their legs under them. What I mean by that is – look, they’re in really good shape, but now here we go. Everything is football movements, explosive movements. Now you’re going to be blocking somebody in front of you or shedding blocks and working on your releases. You can train a certain way, which is good, and they have, but until you actually play football for an hour and a half after a walkthrough, it’s a two-hour practice, but 30 minutes is basically a walkthrough. But I think getting them acclimated – the reps aren’t that high. We’re going to have 40 reps these first two days total. That’s between three groups, that’s not a lot. Our starters are going to get 16 reps. When the season comes, they’re going to play 60 plays, 65 plays, 70 plays. We’ll work them in. They’ll have some individual, get their legs under them. We’ll be able to schematically get our system in because we’ll have the afternoon walkthrough as well. Let’s get their legs under them and get them used to this a little bit, because next week we’re rolling.” On leaning on his former coaches and teams in his first training camp as a head coach: “I think a lot of it is just knowing– I’ve been around some good coaches. I was fortunate. I’ve been around some real good players too. I feel like between myself and the staff that I built, we understand what winning looks like and how to get players there. We understand players, how to motivate, how to push, and then we’ll teach them the scheme. But just to get a swagger and an attitude of confidence, I think that’s going to go a long way. But again, we’re going to treat them like men until they prove otherwise. I gave them four rules last night. I’m sure you guys want to hear what they are: Don’t be late. Keep your weight in check, don’t disrespect your teammates, and don’t disrespect this game. Those were the four.” On why he did not get any sleep last night: “I think a little bit of everything. I actually went to bed thinking – I was thinking about – We’re going to work three situations this afternoon. Talk to them, walk through them in the afternoon walkthrough. I looked at one before I went to bed. Actually, it was just as simple as the victory at the very end of the game. Super Bowl XLVIIII, New England vs. Seattle. You’re on the 1-yard-line and all you have to do is kneel it and the games over, right? Tom Brady is in the end zone for the win. Then normally you’re just going to kneel it. You kneel then, you get a safety. But you think about little stuff like that and it’s like could Malcolm Butler have intercepted that and just fallen down in the end zone or is it just maybe he made a play, or something happened? All of these little scenarios go through your head. And I know that was a while back. That was in 2015. So that and the excitement of the day, that’s just how my mind goes.” On if the excitement compares to his first training camp as a player: “I think it is really similar. It’s very similar. I always got excited as a player, but this is different. You’re not going out there and hitting and doing all of those things. I think it’s every bit the same. Maybe a tick more because you do feel like, ‘Alright man, this is your team. You oversee all of this and this is your staff and making sure it runs properly and you’re looking at your guys.’ Just making sure you’re on top of everything. Coach (Bill) Parcells said, ‘You’re a gardener. This is your garden; you cannot neglect one area of your garden. If you don’t water it or pull the weeds.’ But also, it’s all encompassing and looking at it as, ‘This is your garden. How are you going to handle this? If you don’t handle this properly, it will die. But if you manage it properly, it can flourish.’” On how he has changed as a coach since arriving in Detroit: “I don’t know. I don’t think it’s really changed me at all. I think I’m pretty much myself. I don’t think like that to this point. I know the season hasn’t gotten here yet. But again, there are going to be bumps in the road. But I don’t think there is anything quite yet that I’ve been like, ‘Oh, man.’ I feel like I’ve been able to be myself and I’ve been flowing pretty good. And again, I have a great support staff. Our support staff has done a great job setting up this training camp. But everybody that deals with administration and ops, then obviously the staff, I’ve got a lot of good people around me that help me. I’ve said it before and you’re going to hear it a million times, you’re always as good as the people around you. That’s the truth.” On what the first year of training camp for a new staff looks like compared a second-year staff: “There will be tweaks that come. There will be that tweaks that come next year at this time because you’ve been through it all together. There will be things where we say, ‘We could have done this a little bit better.’ It can even be as simple as, ‘Next year, why don’t we start with red zone?’ That could be your number one because it is less running. That was one of the things we thought about. Maybe that’s the smarter way to go. You start working the red zone day one of practice. It’s not as much running. There will be things we tweak, but I think just our core foundation won’t change of who we are, what we are, or how we will go after it with what we are.” |
