LIONS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR BEN JOHNSON QUOTE SHEET
November 21, 2024
Opening Statement: “Listen, that was a fun one last week, guys came out and played their tails off, they really responded to that Houston game where we didn’t put our best out there, so I was proud of them. A number of guys had winning performances. I thought the O-line played some of the best football, not just this year, but over the last few years, that was really fun to see. And then a lot of our skill guys got involved as well. So, turning the page already here, good opponent this week that has a lot of similarities to that Houston defense that we struggled with a couple weeks ago. (Colts Defensive Coordinator Gus Bradley) Coach Bradley coaches them hard and they play really, really hard. They’ve got playmakers up front, second level and in the secondary as well, so we’ll have our work cut out for us.”
On if he can contextualize how Lions WR Jameson Williams opens up the playbook for him: “Yeah, I think a great example was his touchdown there last week. I’ve got this bad habit right now of calling that particular pass concept into Cover 2, and it’s usually a dead play when I do that, and he makes it work. So, no, I mean, there’s a number of things, and it’s certainly him, but there’s a number of other players, (Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs) Gibby’s another one, where they are erasers, they’re fixers. If things aren’t quite right, they make it right and he is certainly giving us that element in the passing game and I think defenses take notice of that.”
On if it is the extraordinary speed of Lions WR Jameson Williams and Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs that makes things right: “I think that’s a large part of it. I think they’ve got great instincts of how to make people miss in the open field and I think you find defenders take poor angles when trying to bring them down in space as well. So, I think that’s a great element that they bring to the table, no doubt.”
On if Lions WR Jameson Williams or Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs is faster: “Depends on who you ask. Yeah, I know where I put my money, but I’m not going to say that publicly.”
On if Indianapolis’ defense is schematically similar to Houston’s defense: “Yeah, listen, four-down front that’s an attacking, penetrating style. Not a huge pressure operation per se, or at least that’s not what they’ve been over the last couple of years. They mix in some pressures, of course, on base downs and third downs, but they really – they generate pressure, they stop the run with their front four, and then they’ve got linebackers that fly sideline to sideline, so if you’re not taking the right angle, either off your double team or as you’re going through to the second level, then they’ll knife through and make a tackle for loss. The two defensive tackles are probably the best pair we’ve seen so far this year, and (Colts LB Zaire Franklin) 44, I think he’s their green dot, you can tell he’s playing with a lot of confidence right now, and then I have a lot of respect for their nickel, (Colts CB Kenny Moore II) 23. When he comes inside, he’s feisty, we’ve got to account for him in the run game, and he’s a heck of a coverage player as well. I remember him distinctly from when we had him in training camp a couple years ago, so they’ve got some playmakers throughout, and a little bit simpler schematically, but they play hard and a high intensity group.”
On if he is seeing unique things on defense throughout the NFL this season and if they are being taken from college teams: “Yeah, I don’t – I probably haven’t given that a ton of thought, whether it’s being imported from college. Yeah, I’m sure there certainly are influences as coaches come up, as players come up from that level, that show up. I felt that a few years ago when (former Bears Senior Defensive Analyst) Phil Snow came from Baylor to Carolina, that was certainly the most I’ve truly felt that. But yeah, each team has a flavor, there’s just, I feel like, more volume of defense right now. Teams are doing more than what they used to in the past and they’re doing it all at a high level.”
On how much he believes the team has improved from the first game of the season to now in the small details: “Yeah, no, I think certainly the passing game usually takes the longest to gel from the start of the season until this point, and I think you see a lot of trust between (Lions QB) Jared (Goff) and his pass-catchers, and that’s just – you’ve got six weeks, call it, in training camp, four-to-six weeks to get that down, and now we’ve gotten another eight-to-10 to add onto it, and so he’s got a lot of confidence in where those guys are going to be. There are routes that we haven’t necessarily practiced in a couple of weeks that we feel good dusting off just because we have a lot of time on task. So, I think it’s the trust, the timing, the anticipation that Jared has with his pass-catchers. Something we’ve always talked about up front is, our wide zone scheme normally takes a few weeks, it takes to about midseason before it starts clicking. I haven’t felt that year, and I think that’s because we have two backs that experienced it all a year ago, and then we have an experienced group up front as well, so it felt like we picked up where we left off at the end of last year in terms of our running game, it’s been our passing game that’s really made some strides in terms of the details.”
On how much value he finds in being able to have Lions QB Hendon Hooker play at the end of games: “Yeah, I think it’s invaluable for him. Going out there, you’ve got the lights shining on you, you’ve got people looking at you, it’s not practice setting. He had a ton of reps there during training camp and the preseason games that you saw growth from game one to game three, and now we’re at a spot where he’s been able to get a few in games this year, and the challenge for me is, I do want to get him some passes, but I also don’t want to be disrespectful to the opponent as well, so it’s kind of a balancing act when it comes to that.”
On what makes a good NFL center and how Lions C Frank Ragnow embodies those characteristics: “Oh shoot, I think it starts with being an elite communicator, and he is just that. He’s able to identify fronts, I think (Lions Passing Game Coordinator) Tanner (Engstrand) used the word PhD level is where he’s at at this point, we had a good chuckle upstairs over that one, but he’s not wrong, he’s 100 percent right. Frank in particular, he can come up and he sees the big picture, he anticipates where the pressure’s coming from and 99 percent of the time, makes sure that we’re accounted for. So, I think when you’re talking about the best centers in the League, I think they can identify and make sure the whole blocking unit is on the same page, whether it’s in the run game or in pass-pro. And them, what he brings to the table that’s unique is, he can run in space, which we ask him to do a little bit, but he is so strong at the point of attack, that some of these big nose guards that we face, they don’t move him off the spot at all or push him into the backfield. So, when they try to push the pocket, he does a great job maintaining the integrity, but at the same time, in the run game, when we’re trying to get our gap schemes going, he can put a knife in the defense, and he can hit it front side.”
On what he has seen from Lions OL Christian Mahogany’s development: “Yeah, I think the coolest thing that coach does for practice to help develop some of these guys is, he still maintains one-on-ones over the course of the week. Good versus good, young guys versus young guys, whatever that is, and so you’ve really been able to see, since he’s come off of IR, you’ve seen Christian grow immensely. I wish – I really wish we, as a staff really wish, he would have been available there in the preseason because those would’ve been huge games to really get a gauge for where he’s at right now, and it’s a little bit harder in practice. Sometimes we have pads on, sometimes we don’t. But, from the one-on-one aspect, the pass-pro and run blocking, you see flashes of immense potential right there. So, we’ll continue to try to find where we can slip him in to get him more experience, but he’s a guy that we have high hopes for.”
On if the players fill him in on some of their touchdown celebrations or if he sees them for the first time live: “I watch that – I hear about it from my kids when I get home. They really like the one – ‘Did you see (Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown) Saint on his head?’ A couple weeks ago, that was the one I heard a lot about. I try to give them – I tried to share them a celebration, they haven’t done it yet.”
On when he expects the team will use his suggested celebration: “Hopefully coming down the pipe at some point. I’m on (Lions WR Amon-Ra) St. Brown about that, he’s the guru.”
On if he has used the play that an official pitched to him last season yet: “Not yet, but we’ve got it. We have not repped it, but it’s in there, it’s churning.”
LIONS DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR AARON GLENN QUOTE SHEET
November 21, 2024
Opening Statement: “Obviously, really good win this past week, really good overall team performance. Defensively speaking, to go out there and hold a team to six points is not easy, but to be able to do that with a team with the weapons that this team had, I was very proud of the way that the men started the game and very proud of the way the men ended the game. We’re going to continue to look at certain things in our defense to try to improve each week. Here’s what I would say, I know each week – and sometimes this is a negative connotation, it has nothing to do with the team, that each week, man, a lot of these teams are nameless, faceless to us, and that has nothing to do with the team, again. This has everything to do with us, because we know right now, we’re in the middle of November and we know what that means, and the one thing I told you, men and women, that we wanted to do is, really improve on how we do in run defense and pair that with the pass defense, and for the past two weeks we’ve done really well in that aspect and we want to continue to do that. And going into the end of November, going into December, man, we want to be at peak performance when it comes to how we play, so we’re trying to pair our run defense and our pass defense together and make sure we’re doing a good job of that. Lastly, I know the elephant’s in the room about (Lions LB Alex) Anzalone, and listen, we’re going to miss that player, but just like (Lions DL Aidan Hutchinson) Hutch, listen, our guys are going to step up and they’re going to do a good job. The one thing that we pride ourselves on on this team is development as far as players, so there’s not one linebacker in that room that hasn’t played, and that’s going to do a good job for us. So, when Anzalone actually went out, man, there was no step back on how we operate and (Lions LB) Jack Campbell, (Lions LB Malcolm Rodriguez) Rodrigo, (Lions LB) Ben Niemann, (Lions LB Ezekiel Turner) Zeke, all those guys did a really good job and I expect them to move in that way going forward.”
On Lions LB Ezekiel Turner’s performance against Jacksonville: “Listen, the one thing that he does a really good job of, what he was known for, is his special teams performance, and then you look at the skillset and his ability to go out there and cover tight ends and cover backs, which we saw in practice, what he did, and good thing that we do is we have one-on-one situations, we have competitive periods, and that’s when we actually saw that, and when you see that, you can see you can utilize that player in certain situations, so that’s what we tried to do with him.”
On how his experiences coaching against Steelers QB Justin Fields can help him prepare to face Colts QB Anthony Richardson: “Well, the number one thing that we talked about as a defensive staff and with the players is, discipline has to be on high alert this week. Because of the nature of their offense every play has a run-pass option in it, so our eyes have to be in the right place on every snap, and then our ability to get the ball down has to be important. One thing they do a good job of is, they get a hat for a hat for the most part, so we have to do the little things better than they do. When I say that, it means once they get a hat for a hat, we’ve got to get off blocks and we’ve got to finish on the ball, and they do a good job of getting a hat for a hat. So, again, that comes down to how we operate and the way that we play and you’re right, Justin Fields gave us a test on being able to do that, so the thing is, everybody has to be in their right spot, and our guys are ready to take that challenge on.”
On if you have to play more zone against a mobile quarterback: “Well, I’m not going to sit here and tell you exactly what we’re going to do. We’re going to play defense and whatever that is, you’ll see it and we’re going to do a really good job at it.”
On what he has seen from Lions DL Brodric Martin in his development: “Well, the first thing, he was Scout Team Player of the Week, so that’s where it starts, and then I say this about every player on our team, is you’ve got to earn your keep here, and he’s earning it by getting Scout Team Player of the Week, so as he continues to move forward, listen, we don’t want to just throw that player out there, we want to continue to get him to practice and he’s doing a good job of that, and once he gets to the point to where we feel like he’s ready to go out there and compete on game day, we’ll get him up and get him ready.”
On what Lions DL Brodric Martin did to earn Scout Team Player of the Week: “When you go against a man like (Lions C Frank) Ragnow and you see it on tape, that’s easy to figure out and he did a good job of that.”
On if there was anything he learned from his head coaching interview process with the Colts that he can use now or if the faces on the team are different: “It is different faces, system’s totally different, asking these guys to do something totally different, but I’ll tell you what, just watching these guys now, I think the head coach is doing a really good job offensively of getting those guys in good positions. Listen, he has a juggernaut at the quarterback position and, man, just to see how big he is and the way he challenges people – and when I say challenge people it’s – listen, if you’re in his way, he’s going to try to run over you and his arm is lively. I don’t know, you guys might’ve seen it, but the way he – he’s at his minus-30 and he throws it 70 yards on one foot was really, really impressive, and I think that’s one thing that’s underrated about this quarterback, is his ability to be accurate down the field, so we’ve got to do a really good job of making sure we’re on our Ps and Qs of breaking on the ball, because if you don’t break at the right time, the ball is getting there because there’s so much velocity on the ball.”
On how much of a luxury it is to have a player like Lions LB Malcolm Rodriguez that can step up when you need him: “Well, that’s what I’ve been talking about each week in that linebacker room, and I continue to say that, that all those guys have played, all those guys deserve to play, and each week we try to put them in packages so they can play. So, if one guy goes down in that room, listen, the next guy’s going to step up.”
On if he saw fans dressed as him in the crowd against Jacksonville: “Listen guys, this is getting out of hand again. My daughter sent that, and I think it’s actually funny to be able to see that, so I got a kick out of that. So, it was good.”
On how he would rate the impersonation skills of the fans dressed as him at the game against Jacksonville: “Actually, pretty good. The one thing I did see that my wife actually mentioned is, they have the yellow striping on the glasses, so they were very detailed. So, I’m sure they can come and help us, how detailed that was.”
On what he sees from the Colts wide receivers: “Listen, they all create something different when you look at those guys. (Colts WR Alec) Pierce does a really good job – his 50-50 ball, him being able to go up and get the ball, is pretty incredible. (Colts WR Michael) Pittman (Jr.) does a really good job on the underneath routes and he’s – when he gets the chance to go and block, he does a really good job, and they use him quite a bit and I think that’s one of the things that helps them as far as their run game when it comes to this running back, is Pittman’s ability to block, and (Colts WR Josh) Downs is the type of guy that can get in an out of his cuts, he’s a chain mover. So, our guys know there’s a challenge for them, but I think that we have guys that can match up well with those guys, so they’re looking forward to this and they see the same thing you guys see, I mean, this is a good receiving corps with a quarterback that can get the ball to them, so we’re going to be challenged, but our guys will be ready.”
On what he thought of Lions DL Za’Darius Smith’s first game as a Lion: “Personality out of this world, energy out of this world, he really fits who we are when it just comes to us as a team and really us as a defense. He does have violence to him, he does have a physical nature to him. We’re excited to get his count up and see what he’s actually going to do as far as a true edge defender for us this week.”
On if rushing the pass rusher is a specialty for players like Lions DL Za’Darius Smith: “Well, that’s the one thing that he did a really good job of in Cleveland, is his ability to rush from the inside. So, we’re going to continue to put him there, we’re going to put him in some other spots now to see what he can do for us.”
On how stopping the run has helped them be the best defense on third down in the NFL and making offenses have to go a long way on second and third down: “That’s exactly what we try to do on defense. Any time we can have first down efficiency, then end up playing a second down to where we’re forcing them to do something that we know that they’re going to do – I guess you could say second-and-pass, that puts us in an advantageous situation. So, any time you can get a team in third-and-long, alright, man, we can pin our ears back and get after the quarterback, and then our guys love to play man coverage and then we put ourselves in a situation where we can dictate, so that’s what we try to do every week. How many times can we get a team in third-and-long situations so now we can rush the passer, we can play man coverage and we can dictate the situation?”
On how much playing complementary football changed the game for that against Jacksonville: “Well, that’s the nature of the game and that’s something that our head coach talks about all the time. We always want to play complementary football, that involves special teams also, as far as pinning teams back, so our punter does a really good job in that aspect. (Lions K) Jake (Bates) does a really good job with his kickoffs, so if you can do that without your team, man, there’s a good chance you’re going to have a good outcome in a game.”
On Lions DL Za’Darius Smith’s hands and how he can help teach other younger players on how to use their hands effectively: “Well, that’s his superpower and the one thing I talked about last week, how violent his hands are, and you really never get to know that until you get up to a person and really see it. So, again, (Lions Head Coach) Dan (Campbell) does a really good job of having these one-on-one, competitive periods and we have those, O against D, the O-line against the D-line, and when I first saw it, I was like, ‘Woah.’ I mean, you saw it and, listen, he’s going to impart anything that he has that can help the young guys. I mean, you saw it last – what, the week that he didn’t play with (Lions DL Josh) Paschal, he was in there coaching him. And he does that on an everyday basis, so when you have a guy of that magnitude that’s willing to take what he has and give it to somebody else, it’s always a good thing, and he wants to do that anyway.”
On how Lions CB Terrion Arnold has grown and where he still needs to grow: “Listen, he’s improving every week. The one thing that we want to make sure that he continues to improve on in practice was his ability to not grab and hold and things like that. Listen, he’s a very aggressive player and we play aggressively at the corner spot, and we knew some of those things were going to take a while for it come out, and he’s doing a good job. Listen – and it’s going to happen again, I know that, he knows that, but he’s gotten a lot better with his technique and it shows up on the field.”
On how the relationships in the secondary show up in week-to-week improvements: “Listen, they compete against each other, not just on stats, but who’s going to get pointed out each week. These guys expect to get a game ball each week, and that’s good to have from that group. Obviously, (Lions S) Kerby (Joseph) and (Lions DB Brian Branch) BB do a good job of communicating, and they’ve improved with their communication. The corners do a really good job of saying, ‘Listen, my man is not going to catch the ball.’ And they keep that stat – ‘Your guy caught two balls, my guy caught – whatever.’ And I think that’s good, I think it’s healthy, and it’s going to continue to happen with that group just because of the nature of who they are and how they operate. Those guys do a really good job during the week of talking through different situations and different route concepts and things like that and, ‘How are we going to defend these route concepts?’ And it’s a beautiful thing to see. Like on Thursdays, when they’re at one person’s place and they’re watching tape, man, as a coach, you can’t ask for anything more than that. You give them the concept, ‘Here’s what we’re trying to do.’ You make sure they understand the vision of where you’re trying to go, and then you let those guys run with it, and then they start to ask questions on how we’re going to do things, and I think it’s a beautiful thing.”
LIONS SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR DAVE FIPP QUOTE SHEET
November 21, 2024
On who the emergency long snapper is after Lions LB Alex Anzalone’s injury: “I wondered if that was going to come up here. Yeah, probably (Lions TE Shane) Zylstra. Good question though, first thing I thought of too.”
On what Lions DL James Houston and Lions LB Ezekiel Turner have done for special teams: “It’s been good, I think the biggest thing for me is to play the best 11 guys out there at any time and so then just kind of who is that and that kind of moves and shifts throughout the year based off who you have available, what guys roles are, obviously losing (Lions LB) Alex (Anzalone) will shift some of that again, but in some of those shifts, like Houston’s come in and he’s playing like two teams for us, kickoff, kickoff return, sometimes he plays punt returns, last week he did a little bit of that for us, but he has stepped in and done a nice job. But ultimately, that’s kind of how this League goes. I mean we were just looking at the board of players that are injured or been injured throughout the year and there’s a lot of them, but that’s really what this League’s turned into. You have to be able to adjust and adapt and the next guy’s got to be able to come up and play. You have to develop guys on the backend of the roster while they’re on your practice squad so that they’re ready to go when their name gets called. So, it’ll be more of the same for us this week.”
On how the units are so effective in not creating penalties: “Yeah, it’s a good question. It is a step and I do take a lot of pride in it I would say. Traditionally, we’ve been pretty good. I think here we’ve been pretty good, in my career we’ve been pretty good, but there’s been a couple of years that are not as good as I want them to be, those are always the ones that stand out. To answer your question, we do spend a lot of time on it. We watch every penalty – well, I watch every penalty or every play from around the League and then I’ll pull out the penalties that I think apply to us on any given week based off the return scheme we’re running or the coverage scheme we’re running and positions that some of our players may find themselves in, and then we’ll review those at the end of the week and just put ourself in their shoes and try to learn from their mistake. So, we spend a lot of time talking about it, coaching it and teaching it. I believe that penalties are – can be devastating to you, especially in the return game and people probably don’t talk about that enough. Which is another thing, no to go back into the statistics, but people don’t tack on the penalties on punts or punt returns and they just talk about the net and then that doesn’t include a penalty or like last week they had a false start and that backed them up five yards before the play, so we got five yards of field position there on Jacksonville’s punt team. So, there’s some hidden yardage in there that never gets talked about on a lot of these plays. And in the return game, it can be devastating especially when you’re playing against a punter who hammers the ball down the field. If a guy hammers the ball down the field 55 yards and you have a holding call on a gunner outside wide, then it’s a 10-yard penalty but it’s not only a 10-yard penalty, it also negates any return. So, it’s an automatic 65-yard net that shows up in the stat sheet as 55 but really it should be 65. So, when you add those penalties into the equation, they can be huge and if there’s a 10-yard return, that penalty now is not 10 yards, it’s a 20-yard penalty. Obviously, if a team went out there and got 20-yard penalties every play, they would be people irate, but they don’t see them that way in this phase. So, it’s a great question, it’s something we spend a lot of time on and our players are great about it. They’re conscientious, they’re trying to win, and that’s really what it goes back to to me, is there’s some teams that play very aggressive on special teams and they go out there and they hold a lot, and because of it, they get some big plays. People see the big plays, but they don’t see the other stuff that comes with those plays. To me, the goal is to win the game and you do that as a team by playing together collectively and monitoring those hidden yards and all that stuff.”
On Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell saying that Lions CB Khalil Dorsey is a great gunner in the League and what the characteristics are of a great gunner: “I would say he is a great gunner and we’re fortunate to have him. I think the biggest thing at that position, if you had to have one thing, you have to have speed because ultimately, you’re going to get singled up a decent amount. If it’s fourth-and-3 or two or one, it’s a close game, or you have, whatever, a lead, you’re definitely keeping eight guys in the box, probably, you’re defending against the fakes, so it’s putting a guy in a one-on-one situation outside wide, and if you have a punter that can hammer the ball down the field like we have with (Lions P Jack) Fox, if that guy can just flat run, then he can run around a guy. You don’t have to go through him so you don’t have to be strong. But, if you have speed and strength and size, obviously that’s better. But number one is speed and then on top of that, if you have the speed, then you need a competitive mindset or skillset. I mean, those guys are usually ultra-competitive guys. They live in the fast lane type guys, they’re going for it, they’re always on, they’re competing, they hate losing, they want to make the tackle, they want to get to the ball. Speaking of that, these guys have a great one, arguably the best wideout on special teams in the League in (Colts WR Ashton Dulin) number 16. These guys have a really good group, and so he’s a great gunner out there, wide, he runs a 4.44, their other gunner on the other side, (Colts RB Tyler Goodson) 31, Goodson or Godson, however you say his name, he’s a running back, runs 4.44. These guys have linebackers, I think all of them run 4.50 or better. Speaking of, special teams can be big because a lot of these plays are just long area plays. You’re covering 40 yards and they can run around you, so if you can’t run with them then you’re in trouble. So, these guys are a really good group. (Colts LB Grant Stuard) Number 41’s a hair on fire player, this guy’s relentless. He’s got a great story, I read it this summer, there’s a great article about him. But just a great player and I have a lot of respect for him. Like I said, their corners are fast, their safeties are fast, these guys are good so we’ve got our hands full.”
On the new kickoff rule not working in the way that it was intended: “I think we’re on the right track. Bottom line is that some of it comes down to risk-reward right now and if the reward’s a couple of yards or two yards or three yards, you have a good football team, but the risk is taking a shot and some kind of explosive play against you, then it’s like is it worth it for us in this situation right now? You have a big lead, is it worth giving them another chance to try to make a play? So, there’s a lot of things that go into it. Obviously, we’re going to go outdoors a couple of weeks from now, we’re going to be in Chicago, we go to San Francisco, in the playoffs we could be outdoors, so we have to obviously be ready to cover these things and we spend a lot of time on it and made a lot of adjustments during the year, we had two in the last game there, so we’ll just kind of keep balancing that risk and reward out and try to make good decisions. But I think overall, I do think that there’s a lot of positives about the play. It’s been safe, I think it’s been a lot safer, I don’t have the data but from what I understand it’s been a lot safer. They are getting some more returns. I think that they’ll make some modifications based off – they’re getting a lot of information and data so that they can make, really some good decisions at the end of this year, which they really couldn’t do last year. They didn’t know how it was going to look, so there’s kind of at least a baseline, they’ve set that on the play and given them a chance to move forward with it. I think there’s a lot of positives. It’s not perfect, but I think it’s a really good start.”
On if he waits until after the season is over to make his opinions on special teams rules known to the League: “Yeah and I think, honestly, I don’t have all the answers yet either. We’re still gathering information and data. I think there’s still stuff out there. I think as the weather changes and the ball doesn’t travel as far down on kickoffs and you see shorter kicks, what does that do to it? As the field gets a little bit – like our game in Green Bay, the field’s not quite as much traction, you’re not able to play as loose and as fast and on the edge of your cleats, so that slows guys down and the return game looks a little different in those situations. So, I think there’s a lot of variables still out there that we’ll see, but yeah, at the end of the year if they ask me, I’ll definitely share my opinions and thoughts on the play.”
On signing Lions LB Ezekiel Turner to the active roster: “Number one I would say obviously it’s a great job by (Lions Executive Vice President and General Manager) Brad Holmes and those guys in the personnel department of finding him and getting him. He’s a player that I’ve respected for a long time. When I was in Philly, he was in Arizona, we played against each other a handful of games and I always thought he was a very good player. But even better than that for us was actually just the fit. He really has a very similar game to (Lions LB) Jalen Reeves-Maybin and they both play personal protector, they’ve actually both played in the same punt system. Us and Arizona kind of use the same terminology, system, very similar in that regard. They are also very aggressive with the fakes and all that stuff so he has experience doing all that for them. Just the way he covers, the way he plays the game is very similar to Jalen Reeves-Maybin, so it was like just a natural slide in and fit. So, it was an easy decision for us, he’s super smart and intelligent, I got a lot of confidence and faith and trust in him already in a very short period of time. The special teams coach from Arizona sent me a text message and said, ‘I don’t know if I trust another guy more than I trust him.’ And that’s a guy I respect quite a bit. So, anyway, yeah, we feel good about him.”
On having the option of Lions LB Ezekiel Turner or Lions LB Jalen Reeves-Maybin when healthy: “Him or Germ, we’ll find out.”
On if he has ever been around a better holder than Lions P Jack Fox and what makes him so good at it: “Yeah, so, my favorite part about this story for him and the holding is – it’s great to hear you say that and I do think the guy’s incredible, but when I first got here, he was not and I wasn’t shy about saying that either. He’s done just an outstanding job of working at it. I will also say one more time, the snapper is key in the whole thing and when the guy rips the ball back there like our guy does and it’s a tight spiral, very, very catchable ball with a lot of velocity and gets in your hand quick and just sticks, I think it’s like a good quarterback, some of these guys the way they throw the ball, it just tends to stick in these guys hands. So, the way he throws the ball, (Lions LS) Hogan (Hatten) back there to Fox really helps obviously. So, it gets back there quick, but then he’s sure-handed, he gets the ball down on the ground quick, he does the same thing every time, his hands aren’t erratic, they’re nice and fluid and smooth, he gets the laces right when they’re not right, and then there’s a lot going into the tilt and the lean of the ball too, so tilt it forward or backward and then leaning towards him or away from him, so he really does a great job of getting all that stuff right and down and set, and that really helps the kicker tremendously.”
On the different kickoffs that Lions K Jake Bates can do that may come up in the season: “Yeah, so it’s a great question because really, our kind of philosophy going into the season was, there’s this kickoff play and you would love to be able to do a lot of different kicks. However, we got this young kicker who’s new to this whole thing and he’s trying to develop and improve, and it’s for us, where do we want to put his focus and emphasis. I know this, in order to stay in this League, if you’re a kicker, you better kick your field goals well. He has a huge leg, so I would say early in the year, our focus was, ‘OK, let’s just focus on kicking our field goals and making kicks and improving in that part of the game and not try to do everything all at once. Let’s get to first base first, then we’ll worry about getting to second, so our approach with him has really been, ‘Let’s focus on the field goals and the kicking and we’ll just use your talent and you have a big leg, we’ll just use your talent and let you do that and we won’t worry about trying to be the best that we can be at everything right now.’ And then as we’ve gone through the year, it’s like, ‘OK, in the background now, let’s work on some of these kicks, let’s work to the right, let’s work the left, let’s see if we can hit one on the ground.’ And so that stuff’s all kind of going on behind the scenes, really, and developing him slowly throughout the year and adding more on his plate as he’s improved and the first part of his job’s become easier for him.”
On if the line drive kick into the landing zone is a tough kick: “Yeah, so I think if you looked at the data, not that I’m a data guy, we went over that last week. But if you do look at some of the data, or you look at it the right way, no I’m just kidding. If you look at the information that’s out there, I think when the ball’s on the ground, it ends up being the best result for the cover team. So, if you can get it on the ground – the problem is getting it on the ground consistently is much harder than it looks and not hitting it short of the landing zone is much harder than it looks for these guys, and doing it under pressure over and over, in the elements, weather, everything else that can be out there is not easy. But I think over time, you’re going to see all these guys start to develop more and more of that the more they practice it.”
