LIONS HEAD COACH MATT PATRICIA CONFERENCE CALL QUOTE SHEET (VIA ZOOM)

November 20, 2020
On if RB D’Andre Swift got hurt in practice and if it’s possible for him to be cleared by Sunday: “Obviously with concussion protocols and kind of how all that stuff comes about, I’m probably not going to get into too many specifics with it. Just something that came up, and we wanted to make sure that we were doing our due diligence there to make sure he was OK, and that was just how they saw it, and we’ll be careful and make sure that he’s out there as soon as he can based on the protocols. The protocols are what they are. The timeline is pretty tight with all that.”
On if RB D’Andre Swift has a chance to be cleared by Sunday: “It makes it difficult. We’ll kind of see what the rest of today looks like, and then obviously put all of that into play here when we put our injury report out. But it is difficult.”
On if RB Kerryon Johnson is ready to step up if RB D’Andre Swift is unable to play Sunday: “Yeah, absolutely. I think the running back position is one we’ve talked about a lot for a couple of years now, just in general, to how difficult that position is in the NFL and how there’s probably only just a couple of guys in the NFL that do play like the 98% snaps at the running back position and kind of make it through the entire year and are just kind of built that way. So, we understand that it is a little bit more of a committee approach and we have great players in that position and confidence in all those guys. So, when things happen, or things come up or even sometimes it’s just based on game-plan – maybe a game-plan might be a little bit different based on how we’re trying to attack a defense. So, obviously with Adrian (Peterson), with Kerryon and ‘J-Will’ (Jonathan Williams), we’re good. We’ll just keep rolling with those guys too. If they’re out there and if Swift’s out there, great. I think that’s really just part of the mentality of making sure you have enough depth at the running back position that you feel comfortable with.”
On when RB D’Andre Swift got hurt: “Again, I think I’ll just stay with what I said before from that standpoint. When he had something that we needed to look into, we did, and obviously (we) went through all of our procedures from that standpoint. It just was determined that that’s what we were treating at that point, which was obviously yesterday.”
On if there was a concern that RB D’Andre Swift’s injury lingered from the game last Sunday: “Well, I think that’s definitely part of the unknown of how the brain and how concussions and how those things kind of appear. That’s why we take them really serious – the symptoms – when they do come up, and we make sure we do our due diligence from that standpoint, yes.”
On if WR Kenny Golladay missing practice was a matter of load management or a setback: “I think obviously, we’re trying to be smart with everybody here, knowing that we have two games really close together back-to-back. I think we mention all the time maybe that in those situations, guys that are just coming back to practice, we try to be smart with them as we go through the week. If we push them one day, then what does the next day look like, and just try to evaluate in a day-by-day situation from that standpoint. So, we’ll get another look at it today.”
On if RB D’Andre Swift’s injury football-related or was he injured off-site, like in a car accident: “He was not in a car accident.”
On if RB D’Andre Swift’s injury football-related: “Again, with that stuff, we’re – there’s such an unknown there. We just treat the symptoms when they come up.”
On Panthers Offensive Coordinator Joe Brady: “Really I think he’s done a good job of blending a lot of those offensive philosophies together. There’s definitely some Saints philosophies that you see in certainly how he calls it and some of the formations, really the terminology, some of the different looks that you see in the route combinations. So that’ll be a big game for us, from a standpoint where we played the Saints earlier this year, understanding that that will be his background, and there’s some things in there I’m sure he’ll take a look at real closely. Then you see a lot of stuff from LSU that carries over, which is kind of interesting when you go through the process of – take it back to the Draft, and you’re interviewing all of the guys coming out of LSU and Joe Burrow and some of the philosophies that they have offensively. Now that I look at it on time, and I say, ‘Hey, that makes a lot more sense now, some of the things that they’re doing, certain sets and formations and looks, and why they did them.’ So sometimes that stuff is kind of cool, too, to be able to tie back to maybe something that you learned about a particular player, but really a scheme at that standpoint, that now you’re seeing in this game this weekend. So we try to take all of that into account, but I think he’s done a good job of just utilizing the players that are on the field. I think that’s such a big part of the NFL is who’s the X (and) who’s the O. I think you’ve definitely have seen that with the big-play ability that they have downfield with Robby Anderson and D.J. Moore, and again like I’ve said, Curtis Samuel is someone who has been very – put in different positions and really been dynamic in those roles. So it’s kind of – that’s really what you see on tape.”
On Bengals QB Joe Burrow helping the team prepare for the Panthers in a way: “I don’t know if it helps, but maybe makes you understand a little bit of a couple looks that you’re seeing. Sure.”
On homing in on the Panthers backup quarterbacks with the announcement of QB Teddy Bridgewater being unlikely to play: “Really for us, we outline that stuff earlier in the week, as far as how do we appropriately get ready. Certainly, I’m getting ready for Teddy Bridgewater. This guy is a tough, tough dude. He’s going to be out there and ready to go, and if he’s not, then we do our due diligence on Philip (Walker) and on (Will) Grier, and make sure that we know what kind of plays we’ve seen on tape, what they’re good at, maybe how the offense will change or not change when they’re in there in those situations. A lot of times, or sometimes there’s two quarterbacks that are going to roll through there. So we’re kind of preparing for all that stuff.”
On operating under the mandatory intensive protocol starting Saturday and his evaluation of how the team functioned under it previously: “I think for us, hopefully – we’re just kind of used to it. We did some things, maybe a couple weeks ago, to get into that mode ahead of time, trying to do the best we can to just stay in front. Obviously we’re dealing with a pandemic, and certainly in an area where the numbers are just going up a lot. In that situation, we’re trying to be as safe as we can. So a lot of those protocols that are in place are really good. They’re important for what we’re trying to do. So we tried to implement as many as we could just as a part of our normal daily routine. So from that standpoint, a lot of it will be very familiar to us. There’s a couple things in there that does change, from that standpoint, especially when you travel, but hopefully it’s all just kind of familiar right now and whether it’s a because we’ve been doing it sort of familiar or because it’s different it’s familiar, because that’s kind of what 2020 has been. From that standpoint, I think our guys are doing a good job of just trying adapt and adjust and go forward.”