September 1, 2020
Opening statement: “Good morning everybody. Just from the roster standpoint we had one roster move this morning: We released Geremy Davis. As far as practice is concerned, guys won’t really be doing much out there would be Danny Amendola, Hunter Bryant, Jayron Kearse, Darryl Roberts and (D’Andre) Swift. Everybody else should be working in some capacity back into practice, working some drills, getting warmed up, some of the guys we’ll see how they feel being a little bit tight, and then we’ll progress from there. Other than that, we just really want to get on the practice field and have a good day, finish up and keep pushing here to finish up the week strong and go get better. A couple different things in practice today we’re working on from a game situational standpoint, so that’ll be good to see. Other than that, just have a competitive, good day. So on and off the field relatively quick compared to some of the longer practices that we’ve had – should be a good, competitive practice. All right, what do we got?”
On what he missed with not having DL Da’Shawn Hand last season and what he’s seen from him during training camp: “Well obviously we were excited about some of the things that Da’Shawn did his first year here, and the hardest thing is obviously just staying on the field for us right now. I think he’s got really good quickness, he’s got good strength, good power, he’s explosive. So those are some of the things we like to use in certain situations. He’s very smart, he understands the game really well. We’ll just be excited to get him out there and just continue progressing along where we were before he wasn’t able to go.”
On ensuring players stay diligent in adhering COVID-19 protocols: “I think that’s an excellent point, and really to that point, every day. I think it’s every day, it’s just making sure that we don’t get comfortable in those situations and forget how important it is to be safe and to make sure that we’re doing everything possible to stay protected, keep each other healthy, keep our families healthy and keeping your teammates’ families healthy. That’s a constant message for us right now to make sure that we’re doing all those things because I think you get a little bit of that false security of what’s going on. I think if everyone just continues to stay diligent about it, then hopefully we’ll be in a good position.”
On if his confidence level has changed in thinking there will be a full NFL season: “Yeah, I mean I think for us, my confidence level is real high that we’ll get through training camp. So I think we’re good there. From that aspect of it, we’ll see what changes (when) the games really take place because there will be some other things involved. We’ll be going to stadiums, we’ll be traveling, we’ll be on buses, we’ll be on planes, we’ll be with teams that are not in our own protocols. I think those are things that everyone is very curious to see how that goes here in the first month of the season.”
On if RB D’Andre Swift had a setback after practicing a little yesterday: “No, it’ll be the same today, same little work that he did – just trying to be smart with that.”
On QB David Blough’s development: “In David’s progression so far during training camp, obviously the mastery of everything that we do offensively. Training camp is always interesting because it’s everything all the time. So a lot of times we’ll walk on the practice field – we don’t have scripts, we’re just calling it based on situational football, and certainly from that end of it, the coordinators are pulling from a large amount of plays. I think David’s done a really good job or handling the entire workload of everything that’s in from an install standpoint. When you get in the season, it’s very specific and very narrow the focus, which he did a great job of that last year. I would (also) say mixing in all the little nuances and some checks and adjustments and protections and cadence and those things – you can really see his growth and development there with certain looks the defense might give them that maybe offensively we didn’t cover or things like that, that come up as surprises that he just seems to really be able to handle in a very calm and cool manner out on the field. I think that’s all part of it as we go through. Certainly we are continually working on fundamentals, footwork, rhythm, timing, accuracy all that stuff, but that’s standard for everybody during training camp.”
On what QB David Blough has to do to earn a roster spot: “I think right now it’s just competition, and we’ll see how it goes with everybody involved. But certainly he goes out every day and competes, and he gets better and improves and just trying to be consistent with that. In that case, we’ll see how it works out, but I think all those guys – obviously (Matthew) Stafford has been phenomenal, but I think Chase (Daniel) and David have done a great job of competing.”
