LIONS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR BEN JOHNSON QUOTE SHEET
December 2, 2024
Opening Statement: “You guys have a good Thanksgiving? Me too, it was great. Best one I’ve had in years. In regards to that game, really moved the ball well there in the first half and then felt like we should’ve had more points than what we did. Some poor play-calls there in the redzone that ended up biting us a little it. I’ll take responsibility for that. Then penalties down there, they hurt of course and then the fumble before halftime, that certainly didn’t help but I’m proud of the way the guys came out of halftime. They came out and we scored a touchdown – they scored a touchdown to start, and we followed up with a touchdown of our own, so tried to end the bleeding there. Can do a little bit better just in terms of how we finish that game to where we don’t put ourselves in that predicament as an offense, but like we’ve been saying, really now for 12 games, we’ve found a way to score more points than the opposition and that’s the name of the game. So, did a great job there, obviously wish the (Lions T) Penei (Sewell) pass would’ve worked out, but that’s the cost of doing business sometimes.”
On waiting to call the Lions T Penei Sewell trick pass play: “I told (Lions Head) Coach (Dan Campbell) the night before, ‘Man, I think there’s a legit shot that he just carries it himself.’ Of course that’s what happened, I spoke that one into existence. But you know something’s going on – the O-line gives me their favorite runs of the week every week. They give it to me, it’s all tallied up, (Lions Offensive Line Coach) Hank (Fraley)’s got it all numbered for me, ‘Hey they like this, this and this.’ So, when you go into that game and they have that particular play starred a few times, you know that you should get it off the sheet. So, it was good.”
On if the failed pass from Lions T Penei Sewell was a bad defensive read: “I can open up a lot of different doors there. It’s probably more of was expecting a certain coverage and didn’t get it and there’s ways to handle that, whether within that play or getting to a different play and didn’t have that mechanism up a couple of times.”
On what he did not like about the play-calls that kept them from scoring in the red zone: “Yeah, there’s a few of them that they weren’t necessarily negatives, but you know – or at least I did, and we were talking about it on the headset in real time, ‘Man this isn’t what we wanted.’ You know instantly when you walk up to the line of scrimmage this isn’t what we wanted. We talk, you get 60, you get 70 plays in a game, those are all bullets, you can’t waste any bullets. As a play-caller, play designer, you feel like, ‘Hey I just wasted a play right there.’ When it becomes first-and-4 on the four, now it’s second-and-4 on the four, and then you have a holding penalty, now second-and-long, then it’s just hard to overcome. So, as a staff, we can’t put our guys in that predicament, that’s all.”
On if the second half of the Packers game was similar to the second half of the Bears game: “I don’t know about that. We certainly got a lead on them, and we felt really good with where we were at, 24 to 3, that we just wanted to make sure that we took care of that lead, we didn’t do anything that might jeopardize the ball, whether throwing or running with it. We certainly wish we would’ve extended some of those drives there in the second half and kept our defense off the field, but the way that game was, like I said, our number one goal isn’t to score 50 every week, it’s to make sure that we are scoring more than the opposition. So, we felt good about where that game was at. Of course, we still would like to score 50 every week, but that’s how that game went.”
On if anything has changed with his approach to the Packers from the first matchup in the season: “Yeah, every game is its own entity. I don’t know that you want to copy and paste the same gameplan from one week to the next, from one opponent to the next. You like to change it up, I think that’s what Coach (Packers Defensive Coordinator Jeff) Hafley does a great job for them, he’s got a new flavor of the week. He threw something at us there in the first game that we hadn’t really seen from him so far this year and when you watch their tape sequentially, each game has a different flavor and something new that forces you to adjust as an offensive coach. I think that’s what makes this team really hard. They’re playing hard, they’re physical upfront, and so we have to be able to react as a coaching staff to what they’re giving us and adjust from there.”
On what factors go into deciding if they will move Lions T Penei Sewell to left tackle if Lions T Taylor Decker cannot play this week: “I think a lot of that comes down to, he’s a guy that has played a lot of football and so if you’re telling me that there’s a chance that he could make it, he might not need to practice that week for us to keep him in. So, when you’re looking at that, if you think that there’s a chance, then let’s not move Penei over and have to go through those gymnastics right there. So, it’s a little bit of just forecasting who’s going to be available that week and we know Penei can play either side equally well. (Lions T Dan) Skipper can play either side, whatever he’s asked to do, inside or outside, he’s more than ready to answer that bell as well. So, we have some flexibility there.”
On how Lions T Dan Skipper has performed in the games that he has started: “He’s come in and he’s fought his tail off which is exactly what we expected from him. He’s a guy that, he understands his physical limitations and he adjusts accordingly, so if he needs to take a certain angle because he might not be quite as quick as (Lions T Taylor) Decker might be on some things, then he knows how to do that. Then, he also knows how to handle these edge rushers to where it makes them – if they are going to win a rep, he’s not going to do it quickly. He’s not going to allow them to do that quickly, it’s going to take them a second to do that. So, he does a great job for us, we know he’s going to fight, we know he’s going to finish for all 60 minutes.”
On if the photo from the running back room being posted caused them to have to change any plays: “Have you guys thought about maybe we wanted them out there? So now we know what they know. No listen, each week we like to try to keep guys off balance, teams off balance, opponents off balance, and we certainly don’t want them to know when a play is coming, but you look back at the first time we played the Packers this year. Third-and-5, it was our first third down of the game and we made a check, and you can see (Packers DL) Kenny Clark giving that signal right there, which is usually universal for run. Well, we ran it, and we got nine yards. So, even if teams know what’s coming, it’s still challenging to stop us and so that’s the mentality that we take. We don’t use those code words at the line of scrimmage a ton, but we’ll make any necessary adjustment we need to.”
On if there is a chance for Lions QB Jared Goff to use ‘Khloe Kardashian’ as an audible: “We’ll see.”
On if Packers Defensive Coordinator Jeff Hafley being a first-year coordinator impacts how he studies him: “Yeah, well there’s a lot more tape of our offense out than there is of his defense at this point, and so we’re still gathering information even though it’s later on in the season right now. Like I said, he’s got a change up every week. He’s not just throwing fast balls, he’s got a change up and he’s got a curve ball that normally, we do our postgame eval, and there are several weeks where, ‘Hey, they played exactly like we expected.’ But after that game, that first game, there was a couple things in there that, ‘We hadn’t seen this yet, we hadn’t seen that yet, and this is how we reacted to it.’ So, certainly plays into his favor, but I think their core and their identity remains the same, how they want to play and what they believe in. Upfront, they’re physical, they’re penetrating, they like to get after the quarterback, they like to wreak havoc there in the backfield and create negative plays.”
On why Packers DL Kenny Clark is so difficult for offensive lines: “I probably can’t put my finger on that exactly, but he has just been super disruptive no matter where he lines up on that defensive line and that’s been for years. That’s even before (Lions Head) Coach (Dan) Campbell got here. He has been a forced to be reckoned with. Our guys, I know our interior guys, (Lions C) Frank (Ragnow), (Lions OL) Graham (Glasgow), the guys that have played him for a long time, they understand what a problem he can be. And then the scheme that they’re playing with right now really unlocks what he’s capable of. There’s an argument to be made that we were fortunate that first game to be playing in poor conditions because it slowed them down a little bit up front. Now that we’re on turf, we’ll really feel them coming off the football this week.”
LIONS DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR AARON GLENN QUOTE SHEET
December 2, 2024
Opening Statement: “Happy to be standing in front of you with a win. I thought our guys did a really, really good job in the first half with how we operated, and I’m just talking defensively. Coming out of the second half, these guys have some really, really prideful men on that staff, on the field as far as players, and we knew it was going to be a hard-fought battle. That’s exactly what I told our guys coming out of halftime. These guys are not just going to lay down, they have guys on that side of the ball that have done some good things in this League. So, it was going to be a dog fight. We hated the fact that they were going to talk like that, but I’m really, really happy that our guys, defensively, was on the field to have to end that game and the way that they fought and the situation that we were in to have to win that game was outstanding. It was a good learning experience for all of us and it’s something that I told myself I was going to revisit with our guys this week so they can understand exactly what my thought process was and how we have to continue to operate in a situation like that. Second thing, I know the elephant in the room is all the injuries that have happened with us on the defensive side. Listen, it is what it is. Our personnel staff does a really good job of acquiring players that fit exactly who we are. I would say this, it’s not the playbook that’s the most important thing for these guys to come in and learn, it’s the style of play that we have and that’s easy to learn because once you see it and once we show it to them, they understand, listen, this is how we play. We can shrink the playbook down as much as we want, but it’s the way that you play that’s the most important and most of the guys that we bring in, they understand that and we try to make sure that we emphasize that as much as possible.”
On what he does to make sure that the chemistry is right on defense when they sign multiple new players: “I think what we’ve done, and if you look at the guys that we have, we brought in (Lions DL Al-Quadin) Muhammad. Muhammad was with us in New Orleans, so he understood some of the concepts that we have. We brought (Lions LB) Kwon (Alexander) in, we had Kwon in New Orleans, he understands some of the concepts that we have. Then the other guys, we try to make sure that we spend as much time as we can with them and make sure that we can shrink the playbook to where, ‘These are the calls that we are going to have. Understand what your job is.’ Then make sure that they play a certain way and that’s the most important thing. Like I said before, it’s just the play style.”
On the idea of playing fast: “Here’s a saying that we say in our defense room, ‘It’s not what we play, it’s how we play.’ So, if I can go in with four or five calls and they can play fast, they can play physical, they can play violent, that overcomes a lot of scheme. You can have as much scheme as you want, but players make the scheme. Actually, players make the style of play better than the scheme if you think about it the right way and our guys do a good job of that.”
On the biggest differences in Packers QB Jordan Love from their first matchup to now: “Here is – and I’m going to give a lot of credit to the head coach also, because I know early in the season – I’m just talking about this season right now – I know he was throwing interceptions, but he was still having a good year as far as getting the ball downhill and getting the ball to the receivers. But I think what they’ve done a really good job of is saying, ‘Listen, (Packers RB Josh) Jacobs, you’re going to run this team and everything’s going to go through you, which Love, that’s going to make you even more effective because now you have to try to stop this run.’ Because he’s doing a really job of running the ball. Now, he’s going to get more of his one-on-one matchups and those throws might be somewhat easier for him. So yes, (Packers Head) Coach (Matt) LaFleur has done a really good job of riding Jacobs, and then he’s allowing Love to do the things that he’s always been good at doing, is getting the ball downfield to these elite receivers that he has.”
On how valuable the Lions defensive assistant position coaches are: “Those guys are huge and it’s hard for me to actually put into words exactly what those guys mean to me and how they go about doing their business because there is a lot on their plate. I expect a lot from them and my job is to prep them and get them ready for the next opportunity that they’ll get if that’s going to be a true position coach or if that’s actually transitioning to a coordinator sometime. And I do believe in that, and I think it’s my responsibility to make sure I do that. They will grind these guys as much as they can to get them to understand exactly what we’re doing. They know exactly the vision that I have on defense, and they coach it exactly like I see it. That’s a good thing. Once you have guys across the board that’s on the same page, they know exactly what I’m looking for and they coach it to that point, all I can do is give those guys props because they do a hell of a job and I’m glad they’re on my side. I really am.”
On what Lions DL DJ Reader and Lions DL Alim McNeill have done for the overall defense: “Anytime you have an inside presence like Mac and Reader, it really frees up the edge players and it goes vice versa too. When you have edge players, it helps free up the inside guys. But Mac, Reader, those guys have been causing terror to offenses for the longest and to see him go out there and get the production that he had this past week – because he doesn’t get the credit he gets. But to see him get the production with the two sacks, it was just time coming. We knew that he can push the pocket, we knew that he can make plays like that, and again I’m going to say this, he’s way more athletic than what people give him credit for. And I expect those things to continue to happen for him.”
On how they get back to producing takeaways: “We practice it all the time and I think we’ve talked about this before, they come in bunches and we have to get ready to start that streak again, especially against this team. We’ve got to limit their possessions as much as we can because of how explosive they are on offense. So, we talked about that early in the week of making sure that we get back on that hot streak and our guys look forward to doing that. And that starts today in practice.”
On what he saw in Lions LB Ezekiel Turner to have him play more on defense: “Here’s one thing that I think we do here that’s somewhat different than a lot of teams. We have true competition periods and that can be one-on-one pass rush, that can be covering receivers versus DBs, linebackers versus running backs, then we get a chance to see exactly what the players do and that’s why I say so many times, you have to earn your keep here and we practice ways to where you have to earn your keep. You watch him in those one-on-one situations, we see that we have a guy that’s strong, that’s fast, that’s agile, that has a knack for covering running backs and tight ends, and once we see that, I’m like, ‘We have to put this player out there and let him play.’ And he’s been doing a good job for us in that situation.”
On Packers RB Josh Jacobs and their ability to take the run game to a different level this season: “Big, powerful, hard to tackle, run after contact, and I said this the first time that we played them, is when you have a running back of that nature, it changes the mindset of the O-line. So now the O-line knows that we have this physical runner, so now that turns into a more physical offensive line and all they have to do is show him, give him a little crease, and they know that he’s going to make three yards out of nothing. Most of those three yards end up getting to be six and seven yards and he’s going to break a tackle. So, I think he fits that scheme perfectly and he’s doing a hell of a job as far as complementing the whole offense which allows now the vertical passing game to show up.”
On how steady Lions LB Jack Campbell has been with the other injuries in the linebacker room: “Man, he’s a rock. And I’ve said this several times, but the MIKE linebacker, if you had a picture of a MIKE linebacker, he would be probably standing in front because of how he operates. He’s a man’s man, he loves standing in front of the huddle to give the call out to those guys and they really, really respect him. They respect him because of who he is personally, but they respect the way that he plays the game. It’s 100 miles per hour all of the time, even in walkthrough. He’s going through his reads and he’s going through his drops. He’s making sure that he’s fed up on the ball the right way, bent knees, ready to get ready to strike, and it’s just who he is. He has been a rock for us and I’m glad that we have him.”
On why defending the run is more challenging for any League defense: “Just as an overall coach, and I’m not saying that because I’m a defensive coach, but I’m a huge fan of the running game because it opens up so many different things for you offensively. We know the play-action game opens up, and then to be able to have the gun runs with a dynamic running back to where it can be drop back or you can run the ball with those gun runs, so any time you have – especially when you have two of them like we have, it really makes it tough. So, it just seems like this League is on the cycle back to these dynamic running backs to where we’re going to run the ball first and we’re going to let everything else happen after that, and teams don’t understand that. I’ve heard some guys talking about it maybe a week ago, how now the running back name is starting come back because you have (Ravens RB Derrick) Henry, you have (Packers RB Josh) Jacobs, you have all these guys that’s actually changing the face of what the teams are doing now, that more teams are starting to look at the running back as a position of need, but as a defensive coach, we always love those guys because you can control the clock in that situation. So, teams are doing a really good job with these running backs.”
On if the run game being used more feels like when he was a player: “Well you don’t have the 21-personnel like when I was a player, but it’s just how you utilize those guys and what they can do for you and how you can control the game with those guys. Just think about it, you can get four yards a pop, you’re putting yourself in a third-and-2 situation and every offense wants to be in that situation because it opens up so many things that you can – you can still run it, or you have your passing game there that you can use. So, when you have running backs like the one we’re about to play against, it’s really tough to prepare against and it’s really tough to have an idea of what the offensive coordinator is going to do when this running back can make so many yards.”
LIONS SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR DAVE FIPP QUOTE SHEET
December 2, 2024
Opening Statement: “Here we go, three games, 12 days, can’t wait, man. What gets better? Doesn’t get any better than this if you love football.”
On how much he is having to find ways that the new players can help special teams: “Yeah, obviously it’s the next man up. I mean, I think I might’ve said it last time, it’s like the – it’s the new reality in the NFL, you just go through a lot of players and that’s just increased over the years. But yeah, you watch the film, you watch the plays that they’ve played. Fortunately, these guys – a lot of these guys we brought in have experience, so you can see them do a lot of different things and at the end of the day, it’s just like I always say, you’re just trying to put the 11 guys out there who can get a job done and the best 11 to get the job done. It’s the same thing we’ve been doing, and we’ll keep doing.”
On what he likes most about this time of the year: “Oh man, this time of year’s great because obviously everything starts getting bigger. If you’re playing well and you’re a good football team, then each week that goes by, the bigger it gets, it just starts ratcheting up and it’s really what you live for – is to play in big games. Obviously, it’s a huge game we’ve got right here going against Green Bay, a really good football team. We know them well, they know us well and you know that going into it, so it’s the challenge, I guess, and the fact that all that hard work that you’ve put into this whole thing is starting to come together and it’s coming down the stretch and every play counts.”
On if he needed to tell Lions K Jake Bates anything after missing his first field goal: “No, I mean, he missed a kick. I thought the whole operation probably could’ve been better, honestly, on that play. That being said, we should’ve made the kick. I mean, you can say the operation should be better on darn near every one of these things if you’re being critical enough, but, like I’ve always said, the job of the kicker is to make it. If you play in high school, you’ve got to have everything perfect, if you play in the NFL everything can’t be perfect and you’ve still got to be perfect and make it. But no, he’s having a great year for us, he’s done a great job, he’s still in a good spot, he’s hitting the ball well, we kicked yesterday, he looks great. So, I’ve said it at the very beginning, there will be ups and downs. No one would’ve known (Ravens K Justin) Tucker was going to go through what he’s going through, but ultimately, they all go through it. I think the other thing that I’ve always said in here is, when you’re on a good football team you find ways to win games and when you’re not on a good football team, it was the kicker’s fault and that’s why you lost the game. But, when I say that it doesn’t come down to one kick, that’s a perfect example of it. Had we lost the game, everyone would say that was that cost us the game, but it’s not, and in these games every play counts throughout the whole course of every game, and all three phases have got to execute well enough to overcome whatever the problems are or the challenges are on any given day and there are a lot of them out there for every team, and that’s really why the bad teams have a hard time, because in order for them to win, they’ve got to play perfect and that’s darn near impossible to do in this League. So, anyway, when you’re on a good team you just find ways to win and that’s obviously what we did. But yeah, obviously our job is to go out there and make the kick. It’s certainly our standard or our expectation.”
On Lions P Jack Fox’s punt to pin Chicago deep last week and if there are things the coverage team can do to encourage the returner not to field a punt: “Yeah, I think there are definitely things you can do. You’ll see some of these guys hit a spinning type of kick or a knuckling type of kick, so there’s certainly things that you can try to do, provided you feel like you can execute it well enough in those conditions or that situation, and that can be a lot of things, the wind, the weather, obviously for us indoors, not so much. But no, it’s the field position, can it be a 50-yard punt, or can it be a 40-yard punt? That changes how you feel about hitting different balls, so there’s a lot to goes into that. At the end of the day on that play, man, he just hit a moon shot. That thing went straight up in the air and it went up into the darkness of the stadium there and their returner is a guy that I love to death, (Bears WR DeAndre) Carter, and he played for us in Philly, just a great guy, and I think he just felt like he wasn’t sure about it and he just had to pull out of it. So, it was a great punt and it ended up working out. Obviously (Lions CB Khalil) Dorsey did a great job downing the ball. It was a little bit close for my liking. We talk about fighting for every blade of grass, but I don’t know if we’re that literal. But it worked out, so we’ll take it.”
On what he can take from other teams’ snow games that can help prepare the team for games later in the season: “Snow games are definitely different. I’ve played in a few, one obviously in Philly against Detroit. But I think the biggest thing on those games – I kind of alluded to it, I think, last week when I talked to you about the kickoff, kickoff return play, as the weather starts to get cold and you go outside, the ball’s not traveling as far, so what does a short kick look like and then, when you’re talking about the surface and the footing, not being able to avoid as much on the coverage units, versus coming inside and all of a sudden, guys are quick as can be and they can start-stop, change direction real fast and you’re not dealing with that, those plays look different and there is definitely a lot to playing outdoors in colder situations and footing less than ideal, and everything – the whole game becomes a little bit more physical, power play, it favors a different brand or style of football, you’ve got to be much more cognizant of being under control as a player so you’re not running past the ball, slipping, and then ending up opening up big gaps or spaces, so the whole game really kind of slows down, compresses, becomes more physical, playing through bodies, under control, not quite as fast and sudden. But yeah, there’s a lot to every play. For me, I’ve probably gained more experience just from being in those games and then you’re like, ‘OK, next time I’ll do that different.’ And you learn by doing, really, more than anything. But I think when you know what to look for when you watch a game like that, it’s easier to see some of the mistakes and you only know they’re mistakes because you’ve made them before.”
On the 2013 snow game between Philadelphia and Detroit: “Yeah, no, it wasn’t good for us. Well, at the end of the day, we won the game, so it was good. That’s all that matters.”
On former K Adam Vinatieri’s Hall of Fame candidacy and the Hall of Fame candidacy of special teams players: “Yeah, I don’t – I try to stay out of that opinion business on that stuff. I wish I was more like (former Head Coach Bill) Belichick, I know you guys know that, but I mean I feel like he’s a historian of the game and it’s incredible and I love hearing him talk about that. But yeah, it’s hard for me to comment. I feel like I know our players and I know the players we’re playing against that week and it’s hard for me to put it all in perspective, but I do have a lot of respect for a lot of these guys who play those positions. (Former WR) Steve Tasker, I used to show a video of him every year talking about the kickoff, and it was a great video. He talked about the wind whistling through your earhole as you’re running down the field and things start to slow down, you’re putting your hand out, you’re making the tackle and it’s like putting your hand down and cutting down a mailbox going 30 miles per hour. I mean, it was great. But anyway, so I used to play that video every year for all the rookies, so I have a lot of respect for him, love watching him play the game, and then Vinatieri, I mean, this guy’s as good as you can get. Big kicks, you talk about making all the big ones in big games and tough situations, in snow, in weather, outdoors. Yeah, he was fun to watch and a great guy in my experience, the few times I went against him and had the chance to talk to him. So, I wish all those guys the best.”
On if identifying a punt returner that he trusts is the hardest thing to do in his position: “I don’t know if it’s hard to identify. The great ones are easy, but we all know who they are. But I think the word trust is a good word when you’re talking about the evaluation process because it is so high on the list. It’s a volatile position and the truth is Green Bay benefitted from that in last week’s game. Those guys put one on the ground and Green Bay’s put it on the ground. When you have a guy back there – we’ve been fortunate here because we’ve had (Lions WR) Kalif (Raymond) back there my whole time here and he’s just incredible that way, makes good decisions, he fields the ball, you don’t really have to worry about that as much, and people tend to forget that that could be an issue until all of a sudden it pops up. So, having a guy back there, goal number one, as I say, is always give the ball back to the offense and then goal number two is get positive yards, so that means catch it, get downhill, get started, which means you’ve got to block well enough to get started, especially on their gunners, and then it also means you’ve got to be penalty-free, so you can’t have penalties or else you’re going backward, so in order to get positive yards, there’s a lot to that. But yeah, certainly a difficult position. The crazy thing is, I was looking at all these statistics on that position and the returner position in general, and you guys know how I feel, I mean, I feel like all those positions are important, I feel like every play is important, and it’s hard to say that this offensive play is more important than this special teams play or vice versa, because, ultimately, we’re all fighting for a yard and if the punt return team averages 13 yards a return, that’s 13 less yards the offense’s got to drive the ball and if we go zero yards a return, then the offense is going to have to drive the ball 13 more yards and then you start looking at the position in general – the returner position for us, or punt return, we’ll stay with that and say they average – our punt returner averages 13-and-a-half yards a return. On 30-something returns we have like 400-and-something yards of offense, if you add the kickoff return in there then it’s another 300 yards of offense, we’ve got 700 yards of offense in our returner position, there’s only two players that have more than 700 yards in their positions – or two other positions on offense that have more yards. So, they’re huge plays in the course of a game and I think sometimes people forget that when they’re talking about who that returner is or, ‘Why’re you playing that guy back there?’ Well, because you have a chance to create a lot of field position. Third-most field position on our team, and then if you went by yards-per-play, it’s really the second-highest yards-per-play, our punt returner. I think (Lions WR Jameson Williams) Jamo has like 18 yards or something a play or a touch and our punt returner’s got 13. So anyway, it’s like – and then go back to my time in Philadelphia, we had (former WR) DeSean Jackson back there and we had (former RB) Darren Sproles back there. I mean, you played great players back there because you knew it could make a difference in the game, provided they’re trustworthy enough. So, to me, you want somebody you can trust, but you also really want a great player there who can impact the game and take some of the load off your offense or your defense.”
On the development of Lions WR Jameson Williams as a punt returner and if he could see him returning kicks or punts: “I could definitely see it. I would say, development, he’s come a long way. When he first came in here the catching ability was – just like a lot of guys, I mean, he played wideout and it needed some work, I’ll just say it that way, but he’s gotten much better. And then, I think if you have a player like that and you want to play him back there, there’s things you can do to help him out. I remember we had (Chargers WR) Jalen Reagor, who was an explosive returner, when I was in Philly, and he struggled catching the ball, so we really put him back there – every time he was back there, we tried to put a double team on both gunners and at least just get him started or keep him out of harm’s way so that if he put the ball on the ground there wasn’t going to be anyone close by him and he could end up picking it back up and recovering it at worst-case scenario. So, there’s ways you can help guys and still put the ball in an explosive player’s hands.”
On if any players have asked to be a returner: “So, the one thing I will – I’ll just tell you, the one thing I love, there’s two guys on this team that will beg to be back there all the time and I respect the heck out of them for it, but it’s (Lions CB) Terrion Arnold, he wants to go back there and touch the ball, and (Lions WR Jameson Williams) Jamo, they want to go back there and touch the ball, and it’s like – I mean I love it, it doesn’t mean they’re going to get that, but I love the fact that they want to do it because there are some other players that probably are hoping that their number’s not called, it’s just the reality of it. But you want guys who want to touch the ball, I mean, that’s how (former RB) Darren Sproles was, that’s how (former WR) DeSean Jackson was. I mean, those guys wanted to be back there, they wanted to touch the ball and they wanted to make a difference in the game, and they knew that it was an opportunity to do it.”
