| Opening statement: “Good afternoon. I have one roster announcement that I just want to make sure that I get out there for everybody. We’re going to bring up Jason Cabinda to the 53-man roster today. We had the open roster spot with the move to IR for T.J. (Hockenson). That’d be the roster move there, so the roster will be back at 53. Obviously, we’re full speed ahead here on Minnesota, trying to do a great job of getting ready for a really good team. They played last night, obviously, a very difficult team to get ready for. They do a lot of things very well, they have a lot of great players. They have guys that have been playing in their system for a while, and we didn’t do a good enough job against them earlier in the year, so we have a big challenge in front of us from that standpoint. That’s really about it.” On what Vikings RB Alexander Mattison brings to their running game if RB Dalvin Cook is unable to play: “Yeah, I think Cook is going to be fine with the shoulder situation that he has. He’ll be out there, he’s a tough guy, he’s a really good player. Mattison, just talking about him in general – I think he’s a guy that really fits well into their system. He’s a guy that can get downhill, and he’s got good explosive speed and power, kind of a combination there. I think, really their run game doesn’t miss a beat when he’s in there. He did a good job in the run game against us before and I think from that standpoint they’ll still run the same sort of run game. They have a really good stretch, outside-zone run game, and they’ll cut the ball downhill pretty well, mixed in with some scheme runs that I think Mattison does a really good job of running from that standpoint. I don’t think their run game misses a beat, but I fully expect Cook to be ready to go.” On the job Lions Quarterbacks Coach Sean Ryan has done this season: “I’ve known Sean a really long time. I think he’s done a great job of working with (Lions Offensive Coordinator Darrell Bevell) ‘Bev’ to kind of get everything coordinated from that standpoint. I think that’s one of the biggest things on the offensive side of the ball is making sure that the communication between the offensive coordinator and the quarterbacks coach is consistent down to the players, and that the communication from the players back up and through is all on the same level. From that standpoint, I think those guys have done a great job. Sean is a really good football coach. He’s smart, he’s obviously been around championship football before, and I think he just does a really good job of understanding the fundamentals and teaching at a good level where everybody can learn. I think he’ll have his work cut out for him this week, but I think he’s done a great job so far this year kind of handling the situation. Certainly, from that standpoint (we’re) just pushing forward again this week.” On what he is looking for in younger players that have more opportunities at the end of the season: “Well I mean, I think, obviously our big focus is just Minnesota. It’s just this week, it’s trying to go out and play well, trying to do everything we can to try to win, and put the guys out there in position to hopefully get themselves a chance to be successful. That’s our focus. Whoever’s out there – we always have an opportunity to play different guys, whether they are young guys or older guys or different positions, and whenever we ask those guys to go out there and perform, we ask everybody to go out and do it to the best of their ability. None of that changes for us. We’ll try to play everybody we can that we think helps or gives us a chance to win.” On if younger players can use the end of a season to help grow into the next season: “I think there is definitely always opportunity no matter what part of the season it is. If someone gets an opportunity to go play well, they certainly build confidence in everybody around them that they’re getting better, they’re improving and then they have a chance to go compete. A lot of times with that, I would say it really starts in practice. I would say we really try to earn that sort of responsibility, that sort of trust from the players, your teammates and then the coaches that you understand what the game plan is, what you’re doing, the techniques, the fundamentals, and then you get those opportunities to carry that over into the game, and hopefully make the best of your opportunities at that point and we’ll go from there. But that happens throughout the entire season – any point in the season when you have those opportunities as players to go out and make the most of those opportunities at that time.” On why they decided to sign QB Kyle Sloter instead of a more veteran quarterback: “You know what, he’s actually a player that we were looking at a while ago, really through training camp. Obviously, with his familiarity with kind of the background of the offense that we run, there are some similarities there. Really, his time in Minnesota was what attracted us to him a while ago. We obviously got to the end of training camp, and had some things happen with the quarterbacks that we had, and we had the opportunity to get (David) Blough, and he’s really someone that’s always been on my radar. We just had the opportunity to be able to get him in and take a look at him first hand. I think from that standpoint, the things that we saw on tape, his operation, his ability to play and read defenses – (we) try to get just get an up-close look at the things that we saw on tape from previously at Minnesota.” On how practice squad players maintain staying power and what LB Jason Cabinda showed to be promoted to the active roster: “I think there’s certainly real evaluation that goes on with all those guys that are on the practice squad. They’re really just extensions of the roster, and when those opportunities arise where you feel you have a spot or an opportunity for those guys to come up and go perform, it goes in the hand of the player at that point to come up and show us that they can do the things that we’re asking them to do. I would say, in Cabinda in particular, is someone that just comes to work every day. He has impressed in practiced. He really does a great job of giving us different looks, but also understands the defense. He’s a guy that can play anywhere from that standpoint. In special teams, he really has done a lot through practice and some of the things that we saw on tape from Oakland before and previously. He’s really somebody that we’ve had an eye on from that standpoint too, and somebody that honestly, has been really close at every turn to being given that opportunity to come up to the active roster to play on game day. A lot of times, especially with the special teams units, those are kind of your first opportunities from that standpoint, and those spots sometimes are a little bit harder to come by depending on what happens to the overall roster numbers. But certainly, he’s a guy that’s worked really hard all the way through. He’s done a great job. He’s noticed at practice with the effort and just the style of play, physicality, instincts, all of the things that he’s done through the course of the year, so just has earned that opportunity.” On the decision to keep QB Matthew Stafford on the active roster rather than placing him on Reserved/Injured: “I think I’ve probably said everything about that. I think that’s – again we’re just kind of taking it week-by-week. I don’t think there’s really a difference from that standpoint, no.” |
