| Opening statement: “All right, how’s everybody doing? Great. (We’ll) probably just jump right in to questions here, I know you guys probably have a lot of them. (We’re) grinding through here today. We have the team in, and obviously going through the tape getting the corrections from the game. (We’re) trying to go over some of the things that obviously put the game in a difficult situation I think for us as we were playing it, and then tried to dig ourselves out of some holes there against a really good team in a hostile environment. Obviously, it wasn’t the outcome we wanted, but guys are doing a good job today going through and trying to get things corrected, and we’re just moving forward. We have another great opportunity this week at home, which we’re excited about to be home, always. We just want to try to get it right, so that’s kind of where we’re at. We’ll go ahead with questions.” On how they can prevent three-and-outs on offense: “Well I mean, obviously give credit to Minnesota. They did a good job with their gameplan. I think there were some things in there that they had maybe done in previous games or in different situations that they kind of brought back out, and that was a struggle for us to kind of get executed at a high level. Certainly, I think the biggest thing for us right now is to go back and make sure our communication on those situations, especially where we had some free runners, to make sure that’s all kind of on point and solid from that standpoint. So that we won’t have any guys coming free and making sure that we have everything coordinated if they are in an overloaded pressure or something like that where we have to get the ball out on time. You know those are important. It’s important for us to stay on track throughout the course of the drive and make sure that we’re putting ourselves in manageable situations, and just kind of going back and basic fundamental stuff that we have to do better in those situations and handle the environment. Like I said, it’s the first time for him in that deal.” On why it is necessary to hit bottom before going forward: “I mean, those definitely aren’t my words. I think for me, I would say it’s just I have to get here, I have to figure out what we have and build from there. I think from that standpoint, we’re just trying to do everything we can week-by-week to win. For us, again, like I tell you all the time, we’re trying to do everything we can to get good players in here to help us win to grow a good team, to build a foundation, and then obviously, hopefully, play a lot better on Sundays than we’re playing right now. That hasn’t changed, none of that’s changed.” On how he would describe ‘bottom:’ “I mean for us, it’s obviously – we’re trying to get better. We’re just trying to get better.” On if he is surprised by how the season has unfolded: “I mean I think for me, I tend to stay pretty even keel about all of that stuff. Certainly, I think we tried to do everything we could to improve the team, and I think there are certainly parts of this team that we do feel are a lot better. Certainly, we would like to have a lot more wins than we have. From that standpoint, we obviously want to do better. It is what it is right now, and we’re trying to do the best we can to battle out of it and give ourselves a chance this week and go out and play better. The good part for me is – like I told the team this morning, I enjoy coaching the team, I enjoy coming in every single day and trying to get ready to go. We get a new opportunity each week, and that’s really what this game is about. For us, that’s really what we’re focused on right now.” On if he thinks this is a bigger rebuild than what he first thought it would be: “I mean, I think right now, we’re just kind of focused on where we are right now from that standpoint. I’m not going to get in any sort of analysis or things like that. Certainly, there are just different challenges all along the course of the path, and there will be some new challenges this week that we’re going to have to try to figure out, too.” On the biggest reason for their record at this point in the season: “You know what, I think we’ve tried to go back through – obviously, as a team we do it every single week when we review the games and things like that, and say, ‘What happened this week, and what do we need to do to get better?’ I think one of the biggest things that we’ve talked about probably all year on a micro level, and also on a macro level, is just some inconsistencies. I think that’s true all the way across the board. I think there are things that we try to fix each week, and those problems that we’ve identified, and we put a lot of attention to those things. We go out, and I think we do pretty well at those issues, and then maybe three weeks later we lose sight of it and they come back up. I think that’s the biggest part of it right now for us that I think we’re all looking at saying, ‘Hey, we can’t lose sight of this. We can’t lose sight of these things that we fixed, and they have to carry over week-by-week.’ Some of that has to do with just making sure that from a routine standpoint we’re staying consistent, and then we build on that routine as we go through the season from that accord.” On how confident he is that the team’s progress next season will result in a better record: “Again, right now I’m just kind of focused on this week. We’ll worry about next year, next year, but right now I want to get through today, and want to get the game corrected. We have a team coming in here that we don’t know very well, and we have a lot of work to do to get ready for them.” On how important a win is in the last three games: “I think that’s the goal for us. We’re always trying to win, and I think it feels good to win. That’s what we want to try to do. We want to go out there, and we want to feel good about it. We want the fans to feel good about it. Certainly, that’s our motivation, to go out and make sure we’re trying to do everything we can to win and really play well. (We) just want to play well, play as a – all three phases working together and show kind of that stuff that we’re seeing but try to do it consistently maybe all in one game. That would be nice.” On if players are citing their own careers and failures as motivation for the remaining games:“Yeah, sure. I mean, we all have different motivations. We all have different things that we look for. I think we talk a lot about purpose. What is our purpose? What’s individual purpose? What’s our team purpose? I think the best thing for us right now as a team, and what we’ve told them is; The two things we have right now is we have the game, and we have each other. So that’s really what we’re focused on. We’re focused on the game, and we’re focused on each other. How do we make each other better? How do we go out and play harder, better and improve for each other? Then, making sure we take advantage of all those games and those opportunities.” On how difficult it is to stay in a week-to-week mindset: “No doubt. That’s just kind of the way I’m wired. It’s kind of the way that I think I’ve been raised in the NFL game. Honestly, whether you’re on either side of the wins and losses column, you do the same thing. It’s really the same sort of mentality. I’ve been in situations and seasons where you wouldn’t think the stress levels were as high as they were because we were on the plus side of the wins, but it’s the same. If you allow all that kind of external, outside sort of pressure to seep into all of that then you – it’s no different than a play in the game where we just try to tell everybody, ‘Hey, stay in the moment and make that one play in that game. Don’t worry about how that play affects the next play, or how it affects the game in its entirety,’ because there’s enough pressure on that one play. There’s enough pressure on this one week. For us, we can kind of just remove all those other distractions and remove all the other noise that would take away from just our preparation. I think that’s really important for us because the most important thing for us is to just prepare to go try to play well. That’s the truth.” On the injuries to WR Marvin Jones Jr. and RB Bo Scarbrough: “We actually have a couple injuries here from the game. So we’re kind of sorting through some of those and some imaging and stuff like that here. So I’m going to wait until I get all the correct information, and we’ll be able to talk about it then. But a couple guys as we check through the day here, a little bit banged up.” On the injury to Buccaneers WR Mike Evans and how that changes the defensive gameplan if he does not play: “We’ll have to obviously look at that. He’s a dynamic player. He’s a great player for them and someone that’s important to what they do. So we’ll see how that goes as the week goes. We’re certainly use to those situations and preparing that way whether those types of guys can go or not go.” On if Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick’s struggles as a head coach early in his career serve as inspiration for him: “Again, I’m just trying to stay in my week here, in this week and worry about that. Certainly, there’s inspiration like that, I think all the way across the board with a lot of great coaches. I think that’s the truth. For us, though really, it’s about this team. It’s about right now. It’s about this week. It’s about Monday, tomorrow will be about Tuesday, and then Wednesday will be about Wednesday as we go forward. I’m just trying to do everything I can to coach as hard as I can for the guys in that room. Those guys work really hard. They’re trying to do everything they can; They’re competitive. They’re fun to coach. We just have to go out and execute better, and we have to do some things better on Sundays. With that in mind, I want to make sure I’m doing everything I can to help them do that.” On which people outside of the Lions have reached out to him in support: “I’m really blessed. I have a lot of great friends. I have a lot of great family, and obviously my immediate family and the support they give me along with support in the organization. I’m not going to dive into all those names, but everyone just kind of – we have those conversations. It’s always appreciated.” On which NFL head coaches have had success after their first two seasons resulted in few wins: “Probably just going to skip that. I think you can kind of look up all those names. Good there, OK. Let you do some research.” |
