| December 28, 2020 DARRELL BEVELL Opening Statement: “Good afternoon, everyone. Last week was a very difficult week for everybody involved, but I do have to say that I appreciate all the guys that stepped up in different roles. There were some very difficult situations last week, and guys really did a good job of being able just to manage the things that we needed to manage. As far as this week, obviously, we’re on to Minnesota. I told the guys that there’s really one plan, and the plan is very simple, that we’re going to go out, prepare well, play well, and then we’re going to go out to win the game. So that’s where our focus is right now, and that’s what we’re looking forward to this week.” On if the assistant coaches are back in the building: “Today is our restricted-access day. So not all the coaches are in here today, some have been in and out. But there’s a few guys here just today. I think tomorrow, when everyone is allowed back in the building, we will not have everyone, but we’ll have the majority of the guys, yes.” On who will still be out due to COVID-19 protocols: “I think we’ll wait on that.” On what Saturday was like for him: “(A) very strange experience. I would probably use the word ‘helpless,’ as you’re sitting there just watching it on TV. I really felt like I needed to be there. I wanted to be there. Then the situation with no contact, no anything, you just feel helpless. TV copy is obviously different than what we’re doing. So you’re not in on everything. You don’t know quite what’s going on, when the stuff’s going on on the sideline. It was a very helpless feeling.” On if he was in a hotel room watching the game: “I was at the house.” On why he was able to watch the game from his house and not in quarantine: “I just decided to go back to the house. I’ve had 11 negative tests in a row, including that morning of the test. So I was done. I was there with one of my daughters was there. The rest of my family went to the game.” On QB Matthew Stafford’s injury status and the decision to play or sit him this week: “I think we’ll continue to look at that and monitor it as the week goes on. We’ll have to see where exactly he’s at when he comes back in the building tomorrow. We’ll kind of go from there.” On what he was like watching the game from his house: “It’s a yes. Let me go back and answer (the previous) question – I shouldn’t say tomorrow, I should say Wednesday, for (Matthew) Stafford coming back in the building. But yeah, it’s really all that. There was just so much going on in the game, and there’s absolutely nothing that I could do. So there was all kind of emotions that were going on – clapping, screaming, like hands on the head, all kinds of things that were going on.” On if it was fair the NFL didn’t postpone the game: “It is what it is. I mean, there’s not really anything that I can do or say that’s going to change anything. It is what it is, that’s how the League decided to do it. It’s no different than any other team. The Cleveland Browns ended up playing without their wide receiver crew as well. It looks like they’re being consistent in that.” On why the team released S Jayron Kearse: “We’re at the end of the season here. There’s some younger guys on the roster that we want to be able to take a look at.” On if the release of S Jayron Kearse was influenced by his recent social media activity: “No.” On why some of his family went to the game and his daughter stayed behind: “Well one of them wanted to stay, my 16-year-old. She felt like someone needed to be with dad, and I really sent the other ones. I told them, ‘Please, go to the game. Be there and support our team.’ I felt that was important. So my wife and my oldest two daughters went there.” On the motivation to end the season on a positive note: “I’m glad you asked that. This is what we do. This is what we love. This is why we’re in this business is to play the game of football and play the game we love. We signed up for 16 games. They’re giving us the 16th game, another opportunity, regardless of scenario situations. This is what we do, so we want to go play. We want to put our best foot forward. We want to play the way that we’re capable of playing and look for a win and be able to go out the way that we would like to go out.” On if he second-guessed putting the assistant coaches in their interim positions on gameday: “Do I regret it? I mean, it is what it is. I mean, we had to put somebody in the roles. The guys that we put in the roles were the ones that we felt like would give us the best opportunity. That’s what we had to do.” On his impressions on the game: “It wasn’t good. It was not good in any way. We didn’t stop them on defense, we didn’t stay on the field on offense. We were able to score a nice return there for (Jamal) Agnew when he had the punt return – turned the ball over on offense, couldn’t convert on third down. There wasn’t a lot of good to talk about.” On his message to Wide Receivers Coach Robert Prince and HC Assistant/Research & Analysis Evan Rothstein after the game: “Just like I told you – I appreciate all the guys that stepped up in some really difficult situations. It’s been a difficult year in a lot of ways, for a lot of people. This was just another challenge that was thrown at us. Those roles that you’re put into and thrust into, they’re difficult. Those guys, I thought they did a really nice job of managing the things that they needed to manage in the new added responsibilities that they had.” On what will go into the decision of playing QB Matthew Stafford or not on Sunday, and what he would like to see happen with Stafford this offseason: “As far as the game goes, we’re going to take it exactly as we always do. Obviously it will be health-based, we’re not going to put him out there if he can’t protect himself, or if he’s got a chance of something major happening from the injuries that he already has. But as I said, the guy’s tough as nails. The guy respects the game, he loves his teammates, he wants to be out there. Obviously he gives us the best opportunity to be able to win a game when he is out there. I know he wants it. So those are all positives deals. As far as the future goes, I don’t know. I mean, all of our futures are up in the air right now. Really, I’ll just be able to stay on this week on Minnesota, and that’s going to be my whole focus.” |
| CORY UNDLIN On where he watched last week’s game: “I watched it from my house. Paced around my kitchen island for about three-and-a-half hours. Yeah, it’s not good. But it is what it is, so that’s what it was.” On how he reflects on his first season as a defensive coordinator: “Right now, currently, we’ve won five games. Not good enough. At the end of the day, I’ll take all of that on me. Crazy year. Not going to come up with any excuses; we weren’t good enough. We’ve got one game left, and we’re going to go out and fight as hard as we possibly can, and then we’ll let everything else be what it is. As far as the reflection on these kids and these players – these young men that I’ve been around – I wouldn’t change it. Obviously, do I want to win more games? Do I want to play better? Of course I do. But I will not regret the relationships that I’ve made. Even these coaches, most of them I have not been around, and these players, obviously, were all new. I had not coached one of them before. A couple of guys were on the roster, but I did not specifically coach them before. So, I will take that with me, and I will treasure that for as long as I’m here. Again, I’m not going by the fact that we didn’t play well enough. We didn’t. At the end of the day, that’s on me. So, I’ll take that, and I’ll move on. We’ve got one game left. We’re not done yet.” On how he found out he wouldn’t be available for the Tampa Bay game: “We found out that somebody tested positive, as you guys know. I was told that I was deemed a high-risk, close contact, and I would be out of the building for five days.” On if his reaction to hearing he was a COVID-19 close contact: “Yeah, I mean this thing is – we’re all aware that this thing is not good. So, there is a little – I mean I’m not going to lie to you. Yeah, there was a little concern like, ‘Holy, I hope I don’t have it.’ I’ve now tested negative 170-straight days and then twice every day last week. Once I got through the initial next two days, I was pretty (certain) that I haven’t got it, and I’ve been out of harm’s way since we got back from training camp. I go to the building, and I come home. I live by myself. I felt pretty good about being safe, but you never know. That’s how this thing goes. Disappointed in the fact that I wasn’t there. Obviously, the outcome of the game was not good, didn’t execute. Proud of the players and the coaches that had to step up and deal with it, but not what we were looking for. I’ve never been in that situation. I mean I don’t know if any club in the history of the League has ever been in that situation. I don’t think it has. But to sit in your kitchen and watch it and have zero impact and not be able to do anything, it’s not a good situation to be in. I hope I’m never in it again.” |
