| October 5, 2020 Opening statement: “OK, all right, sorry for the delay there. We’ll just kind of dive right into it. I’m sure there’s a lot of questions and stuff. But obviously an important week for us coming up here (with) the bye week to really do a great job of kind of taking a look at us and evaluating what we’re doing right now. Obviously we have four games under our belt here to take a look at, some film, game film and ways that we have to try get better obviously to give ourselves a better chance to go out each week and win. So that’s what we got to get done here this week. So, go ahead.” On what needs to change to stop the opponent’s run game: “I think obviously the consistency would be the No. 1 thing for us from that standpoint because I think that to your point, there are those plays that you see on tape that are not good. Those things are happening where we get knocked off the ball, or our pad level is too high or hand placement (is) not good enough – those are all the things we have to improve on to make it consistent from that standpoint. Certainly when we get into those games, just do a great job of playing every single play and right from the start of the game at a high level in the run game to make sure that doesn’t get going in a bad direction. It takes too long to settle down and get it stopped. So certainly coaching and playing, it’s all got to be better and just more consistent from that standpoint all the way across the board.” On what he has seen regarding defensive players’ efforts and how that contributes to defensive issues: “I definitely think that there’s situations on tape that we know we have to be better all the way across the board. Certainly when you talk defensive football, pursuit, hustle, tackling, those are kind of the fundamentals that you have to have at a high level. I would say that probably some of that is not consistent enough. We have good spurts of it (where) it’s really great, other plays where it’s not so good. I’m sure that’s a frustrating aspect of it. I mean, certainly from my perspective, just have to find different ways to coach it better, keep teaching these guys more consistency with it, so that we can go out and perform better on the field. Obviously you can feel and love everything about Duron Harmon, his passion, his leadership, what this game means to him. I love that, and that’s what makes me try to go in and work as hard as I can every single day to do everything I can to try to help these guys win. That’s why we work so hard, that’s why we try to do everything we can to help those guys.” On how he will spend the bye week: “It’s a critical week for us. The by week every single year is a great week to really do a good self-scout, take a look at things that you’re doing well, things that you’re not doing well. Obviously we have some tape now, so we can get some game tape that we have that we can put things on and evaluate it. Do we like some of things we’re seeing, or what do we need to change? Or sometimes it maybe a little bit less, sometimes we just have to narrow down the focus and just try to do some things really well instead of maybe too many things at one time. It’s a great week for us. It’s got to be a big growth week for us from that standpoint.” On explaining what he meant following Sunday’s game against the Saints when he said he had a lot of work to do when he took over the team in 2018: “I probably say, ‘We got a lot of work to do,’ – I probably say that almost every day, right? I’m pretty sure that’s kind of just my general outlook on work, you know. There’s always a lot to do; there’s always a lot to be done. Right now, it’s all about this team. It’s about us. It’s about going forward. It’s about, ‘What are we doing this week; what do we do next week; when we get to Jacksonville, just how do we get better?’ I always just feel there’s a lot of work to do, and I think that’s just my internal drive every day to try to be the best coach, best whatever it is that day – like, let’s go to work, and let’s do a lot and try to be the best at it that we can every single day.” On his level of surprise with where he’s at during his tenure as Lions head coach: “Honestly, it’s just about this moment, right now, where we are this week with this team. I think anything other than that is just for us – it loses focus on right now. Right now, we just need to focus on trying to be a better team and try to improve this week, learn from yesterday’s game – that’s a big part of today. We’ll try to get some things corrected on tape that hurt us in the middle of the game there that we didn’t get settled until late, and certainly how can we be more consistent as a better team. That’s really the focus today, that’s what the focus will be this week as we’ll look at all four games together, and next week will be Jacksonville.” On his message to the fan base explaining how the team got here and where it’s headed: “Well I think obviously we talk about all the time where we want to go. We have to go out and we have to improve, we have to get better, and we have to be more consistent. We’re four games in. We have the bye week, and really at this point, we just have to try to improve what we’re doing right now, figure out this team this year, and the players that we have this year – that’s what’s important – and how do we win this year? That’s really it.” On if he’s met with Lions ownership this week: “I meet with ownership every week. I usually keep that private.” On his perspective of if he’s moving the Lions in the direction that Principal Owner and Chairman Sheila Ford Hamp wants: “Again, I think everybody wants the same thing. I think we’re all trying to do the best we can to go out and win. That’s really what we’re doing every single day, we’re trying to get better and trying to improve. So, from that aspect of it, those conversations are kind of in-house, and we talk about a lot of great things there, but nothing changes from what we’re trying to do every day. That’s all still the same.” On reflecting on how big of a rebuild he thought the Lions were when he started back in 2018: “I think, again for me, I’m just focused on this team right now. I mean I think that’s the most important thing: We’re trying to get this team moving in the right direction. It’s about us going in as coaches and players, taking a look this week of what do we need to do to get better for the rest of our season? We’ve got, like I said, four games to take a look at, and what do we improve on, and where do we go from here?” On why it’s taken so long for the work to take shape with this team: “Again, I think every year is new in the NFL, and for us this year, we’ve just got to go out and play better and perform better and coach better on the field. Certainly, we’ve gotten through everything that 2020 had to offer, just like everybody else, and we’ve just got to go play better on Sundays.” On the injury status of DT Nick Williams and RB Kerryon Johnson: “No updates right now on those, but hopefully it’s just some normal gameday stuff.” On what the team has to do to stay focused during the bye week and if there’s any benefits to it this year: “Obviously during the bye week, from a football standpoint, we’ll try to keep it as normal as we can. Today’s Monday after the game and then really, we get some good work in here Tuesday and Wednesday from that perspective of just kind of taking a look at what we’ve done and some self-scout, and maybe some different things that we want to implement going forward. We’ll try to get that done in the next couple of days with the players. Certainly, it’s good for the players and the coaches, when appropriate, to get away a little bit and kind of get their mind off of football and rest when they can, and certainly that will be important for the players, too. Certainly, we have new protocols in place that are meant to keep everybody safe and healthy, and that’s important right now. We’re still in that world and still in the middle of COVID-19, and I think that everyone understands that some of the things that have happened recently, we’ve got to do a great job of taking this seriously and protecting everybody so that when we get back after the bye on Monday, that we’re doing everything that we can to go out and have a great week against Jacksonville.” On if there’s a benefit that players getting more rest and work during this bye week: “I mean, sure. I think our guys know that we have a long football season in front of us here, and rest is critically important during the bye week and taking care of their bodies and doing everything right from a COVID-19 standpoint. That’s all critically important.” On what the recipe is for consistency and how the team can find it: “I think – one of the interesting things about consistency is – how do you be consistent when things change? And I think that’s always an interesting conversation, and a lot of it has to do with just the preparation through the course of the week, being consistent, in that way that when you get to the game and in the game situations, that that sense of understanding where everybody’s going to be and what the different adjustments are and what the different play-calls are just kind of on the same page. And sometimes that takes a little bit of work. Sometimes that takes a little bit of time to really kind of come together with that. We also understand that there’s not a lot of time to get that done, and we’ve got to expediate that the best we can.” On Defensive Coordinator Cory Undlin’s thought that too much multiplicity on defense makes it hard for players to establish consistency: “I think definitely some of those moving pieces do effect the communication from that standpoint. Certainly, we’re trying to put guys, based on availability and based on what we think is best for that week, in the game-plan in those positions, and that’s why it’s so important during the course of the week to get that practice time in, to get that communication in and get that film study in, the coaching, and all the rest of it, to the best of our abilities so that when you get in the games, that it does feel seamless from that standpoint. As the season goes, getting more familiar with everybody and comfortable in those situations with guys that maybe are new in those roles.” |
