January 1, 2021 Opening Statement: “Good morning, everyone. So just (an) injury update and roster update – so Jamie Collins (Sr.) and Danny Amendola should be back out there today and practicing. (Tyrell) Crosby, (Joe) Dahl and (Kenny) Golladay will still not practice. I think you saw yesterday that Matthew (Stafford) ended up being limited, so we’ll continue through the week, we’ll continue to see what he ends up doing today, (and) be able to give you a better update later. Questions?” On if QB Matthew Stafford willed himself out to practice: “Yeah, I think he heard that I told you guys that he wasn’t practicing. So then we ended up putting him (as) limited. But yeah, I think he just really wanted to do a little bit and just test it out, see where it’s at, and then be able to see how it would feel today. We’ll continue to do that through the week here, see how it goes today.” On how QB Matthew Stafford feels today: “Well there was no setback. He’s still improving. I mean, he’s sore, he has some issues going on, but he was out there. He didn’t do a ton, but he was limited in practice. So see how he goes today and what it feels like tomorrow.” On where running backs take the biggest leap from Year 1 to Year 2 and if RB D’Andre Swift has that in him: “Yeah, for sure. He missed a few games this year, but we love what D’Andre has done up to this point. Want to continue to get him more involved – obviously he’ll continue to grow within the offense, continue to find a role, the different roles for him. I think one of the biggest, obviously, improvements that we like to see him make is – really with a lot of young running backs coming into the League – is pass protection, pickups, IDs, those kinds of things, and that sometimes just takes time.” On if wide receivers will become less valuable in the draft like running backs in recent years: “Probably one thing I can answer better is obviously the way that the college game has gone, it seems like there is a longer list of those guys, where in the past, there’s one to five marquee guys. It seems like there’s better skill and there’s more skill, and you’re getting to see it on a wider range of all these college offenses. So it might just be a deeper pool, and I don’t know what that’s saying about the value of them, but I know that you can still get really good receivers later in the draft.” On what he’s learned the most about himself the last five weeks: “I mean I really have learned a lot. One, I think I’ve learned that I can take on a lot and I can manage a lot. These five weeks, as you guys know, have been crazy. Probably just like I said, a little bit of a baptism by fire in a short period of time with the things that I’ve – I would say been able to deal with – so that I have some experience in that. But there’s so many things, even with the responsibilities with the media, being up every single day, how many times we get to do this. But there’s just a wide range and we probably could spend a little bit of time talking about those things. But I appreciate the opportunities that I’ve had to learn each and every one of these experiences. It’s just been a whirlwind of five weeks.” On how he’ll balance living in the moment and appreciating the big picture on Sunday: “Really, I think you just said it. I think that’s exactly what I’ve been doing; I’ve been pouring everything into this week. Obviously, I wasn’t even in the building last week, so it gives you that moment to kind of step back where you know how special these moments are, so I want to be in it. I’m living this moment day to day, I’m talking to the players day to day, loving every minute of this opportunity. The future happens in the future. If we worry about that, we can lose track. So, I’m just excited about this day, I’m worried about this practice that we’re getting ready to go throw. I want to make sure that it’s the best one that we’ve had of the year, the best Friday that we’ve had of the year, and then worry about tomorrow, tomorrow. We’ll come in and we’ll knock that day out and then it’ll be Sunday and we’ll get an opportunity to play, then we’ll worry about the rest of it later.” |
