| LIONS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR BEN JOHNSON QUOTE SHEET September 29, 2022 On how he evaluates the two key possessions at the end of Sunday’s game against the Vikings: “Yeah, I’d say overall we came up short. So, you call it good offensive performance, but our standard is to score one more point than the other team and we didn’t get it done. So, we fell short, we’re all disappointed from it. In terms of how we ended that game, fourth quarter, obviously we wished we could’ve finished that game with the football. I think that’s really what it came down to. There were a number of opportunities for us to do that, run plays and pass plays. In regard to the fourth-and-1, it was a play that we liked that week versus that defense and we simply didn’t get it done.” On if he wishes he would have lobbied to keep the offense on the field on the fourth-and-4 in Sunday’s game against the Vikings: “Yeah, there’s a lot of conversation that’s going on in a critical moment like that. Certainly, the (Lions) Head Coach (Dan Campbell) and I talk about it along with other coaches that are involved as well. At the end of the day, it’s his decision, I think he’s come out and said that he didn’t like the decision that he made. So, that’s kind of the process that happened there.”On if he had a play-call in mind if they would have gone for it on fourth-and-4 against the Vikings: “Always have a play-call in mind, yeah. Like I said, anytime we’re in that spot. That’s two weeks in a row now, four-minute scenario where we haven’t finished the game with the football. And so, we’ve got room for improvement.” On if not having Lions RB D’Andre Swift and Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown at the end of Sunday’s game influenced the decision to kick a field goal instead of keeping the offense on the field: “You’d have to ask (Lions Head) Coach (Dan) Campbell about that. For us, in terms of play-calling – I look up at the end of the game, that’s what hurts so much is – as coaches we put a lot into the gameplan. And then, you look up at the end of that game there and you see these guys, they’ve poured so much into it. They’ve been battling on the field, you’ve got linemen, you can tell that they’re pushing through, they want to finish this thing. You can see – Saint’s limping around a little bit more than he normally does. Swifty – all those guys and to have it end the way it did, I think ultimately what was most disappointing. And that’s why it hurt so bad. So, I think really that – towards the end there we weren’t influencing our play-calls because of the guys on the field. End of the day, if they’re on the field we deem them – we have deemed them healthy enough to execute whatever we decide to call there.” On how difficult it is to execute what he wants in the playbook given the injuries to the starters on offense: “Yeah, I think it’s a – I mean, there’s two separate ways to look at it. One is going into the game week, (Lions Head) Coach (Dan Campbell) tries to clarify early, and then each day updates of who might be available. Because once again, that’s our biggest job as coaches is trying to put those guys in position to do what they do best and each guy’s different. Everybody in the building whether it’s active or practice squad, they all have things that they do well or else they wouldn’t be here. So, that’s kind of – over the course of the week we’re trying to hone in, ‘Hey, how can we get this guy here against this guy to do this?’ Then within the course of the game, sure, yeah a guy goes down and we do have to tweak a few things. That happened this game, that happened this past game where a guy – maybe a formation needs to change, so we move a guy to different spot and the other guy does it. Those are things that we adjust with. And we talk about it, we kind of think about that Friday night, Saturday during the day. Those are the scenarios, the contingency plans that we always prepare for. It’s not – there is no hay in the barn for us over the course of the week. The Fridays, the Saturdays, we’re still sifting through, ‘Hey, they could do this. We need to do that. This could happen. We need to do this.’ That’s part of being a coach in the NFL.” On if there is any extra emphasis put on third-down conversions this week after the team struggled to convert third downs against the Vikings: “Yeah, same as we always have. Third down is a high emphasis. In fact, Thursday’s our third-down day. We’re going to go after it this afternoon, just like we always have. Clearly, we didn’t convert at the rate we’d like to. However, you look at last week, and we were a yard short on a number of them, so we are very close. I think we called the game the way we wanted to in those situations.” On if his play-calls change on third down knowing that he could have four downs: “It could play a factor. End of the day, though, any third down, we want to convert. Shoot, any first down we want to convert. Any second down we want to convert. We always are wanting to move those chains, so we do have a great process in place. Coach tries to get it to us as early as he can. Just, ‘Hey, you could potentially have four downs, just depending on how the series unfolds.’ ” On if he has confidence in Lions WRs Kalif Raymond and Quintez Cephus to step up if asked to play a role this week: “Yeah, but like I said, anybody in this building right now, active or practice squad, we know what they’re capable of, and we’ll be ready to put them in the right positions. I know Q’s ready. He’s answered the bell before the past few years since he’s been a rookie. Leaf’s the same way, and so if we need to dive deeper into those guys, they’ll answer the bell.” On if he has different gameplans depending on personnel: “I don’t think it probably shifts as much as you’re alluding to, but certainly, we might prioritize some calls more than others. Yeah, the head coach kind of goes into the week, and he tells us as coordinators, ‘Hey, this is how I want this game to played.’ And it’s important that all three phases understand that, so that we’re playing complementary football. So yeah, that’s something that we talk about. We finalize, like I said, Fridays and Saturdays. We’re kind of sitting down as a staff, and, ‘Hey, this is how we want this game to go. Don’t be surprised if this happens, and we need –’ All those contingencies.” On why Lions TE T.J. Hockenson has not been as productive receiving this season and how he will address that issue: “Yeah, obviously, I love T.J. I have a really good relationship with him, and I know he was hoping – I’m sure he was hoping to have a little more targets, some more catches so far this season, but as I’ve explained to the whole unit, we have a lot of weapons in that room right now. And some weeks, some guys may get 10 catches and 100-plus yards and multiple touchdowns. Other weeks, that same guy might not get two targets and 16 yards. That’s the way this thing goes. It’s not like we’re deliberately going in each week and not trying to get him the football. Each guy, they have their plays, whether the defense allows us to take those, or we have to keep progressing. The quarterback’s going to take what the defense gives him, so yeah, at some point, I would expect T.J. to have a ‘outbreak’ game we’ll call it. Who knows when that’s going to happen, but these things go ebbs and flows. Sometimes those catches come in bunches. The touchdowns come in bunches, so I wouldn’t be surprised if in the near future he does have a more productive game.” On how Lions TE T.J. Hockenson feels about his slow start to the season in terms of his receiving production: “I think he’s handled it really well. I mean, you’d have to ask him exactly what’s going on in his mind, but from my perspective, he has practiced as well as I’ve seen him practice since his rookie year. He’s taken full advantage of any time he has out on the field, special teams, he’s getting more work with the quarterbacks. So, I just know when those opportunities present themselves, he’s going to be ready.” On if Lions TE T.J. Hockenson has asked for more targets: “No, none of these – I think that’s what’s beautiful about this group is, they are all unselfish players. I don’t know if I’ve been around such a group of men that – honestly, what we went through last year, and I hate to talk about last year right now, it’s made us better this year. We’ve dealt with that adversity, and these guys truly to a man, they all just want to win. They don’t care how it happens. We could run for 200 yards. We could throw for 400 – they don’t care. We could score 14 points, and as long as we were seven points – as long as we win, they’re going to be happy, so he’s in that boat. They’re all in that boat right now, and that’s what makes this so much fun to come to work every day.” On if the offense’s selflessness happened organically or if it was something enforced by the coaches: “No, it’s – the ownership’s on the players. They’re the ones out there playing, and I think they made a conscious decision in the springtime, training camp, that, ‘Listen, man. We can’t allow the things that impacted us a year ago, we can’t allow that happen again. We don’t want that to happen again.’ And so, every week right now, it’s full focus. It’s intensity on how can we beat the next opponent. That’s all.” LIONS DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR AARON GLENN QUOTE SHEET September 29, 2022 Opening Statement: “Lot of positives that come out this game, which goes into some of the things we did the week before. And I will say this, man, we’re playing some really good football early, some really good football. Issue is, man, our ability to finish, our ability to execute during crunch time, and that’s one of the things that I talked about last week. With our ability to understand what’s it take to win games and not lose games, and with the youth that we have, those are some of the things we’ve got to continue to learn. The one thing that I will say which is, I think the easy way out is to say, man, we have miscommunication issues. That’s the easy way. I could sit here and say that, and we could end up finishing the conversation, but I won’t do that because there was a lot to do with execution also, and I’m saying that’s on both sides, coaches and players. And that’s what I talk to the players a lot about is us being this way and not being this way because we as coaches have got to put players in positions to be successful, and players have got to go out and execute.” On how the defense can fix allowing the most points per game in the League: “Yeah, not give up points. That’s how you fix it. But I will say this, in the red zone, man, you’ve got to watch this tape. I mean there are times when we’re in position, and we’re just not finishing plays. And a lot of times, we’ve got to make sure that we’re coaching the players to do the things that they need to do too, so. And I will continue to say, man, that’s a two-way street between coaches and players, and we’ve got to continue to understand that. But man, you watch those early parts of the game, we’re playing like gangbusters. Our guys are competing, they’re playing fast, they’re playing physical. But man, once it gets to those crunch times, it just seems like, ‘Ah, how do we do this here, or do we have to do this and when we don’t?’ We just keep doing the same things we have been doing to put ourselves in that position, and that’s what we have to continue to coach, and that’s what we have to continue to do as players.” On where the inconsistency on defense that leads to breakdowns comes from: “Yeah, that’s the issue that we all struggle with is the consistency part. Because you look at early in the season, you look at the Philly game. Man, we were really good on third down, then we let the quarterback out, so those were really the third-down issues in that game. You look at Washington, the first half. I think the third downs were like one-of-five. They get in the second half, they started completing third downs, and then again, you look at that, and we were – they had some short third-and-2s and third-and-3s, and they were trying to push the ball down the field, and we were playing soft in that situation, so that’s a little different in that situation. You look at this past game. Man, we were two-and-nine on third down, so we were really hitting on all cylinders. So that’s consistency as far as what you’re talking about. When you’re talking about the red zone, man, we’ve got to get better. We’ve got to get better, and we’ve got to execute the right way, and that’s just what it is. When it comes to points allowed, that goes with the red zone, so I think they’ve had – teams had a number of positions at the one or two-yard lime, which those are hard to stop, but we have to hone up and end up stopping those plays. So, I would agree with you. The consistency part on our side’s got to be better.” On Lions CB Jeff Okudah’s confidence being high and what that means for the team: “I would say this that you see a player that from training camp, you started seeing glimpses of what he could be. As the season progressed, you started seeing him get more confident in who he is as a player. You start seeing some of the things he did when he was at Ohio State, as far as shutting people down. But I will say this, with every game, there are certain ways you want o play a team, and you want to look at matchups, and that’s what we try to do with our guys is, ‘What guy matches up well with a certain guy?’ And we try to do as much as possible, and then within the scheme, how do we take their best players out? So, Jeff is really improving. He’s doing a good job, but also we’ve got to make sure that we scheme things up to make sure we help players also.” On if he saw Seahawks WR DK Metcalf’s comment about Lions CB Jeff Okudah having a safety shadow him in coverage: “What did DK say? Oh, his body language? Oh really. Well, that’s defense. I mean our job is to match our players up and then also be able to scheme to take people out, so regardless if there’s a safety, if there’s a linebacker, there’s – we just play defense the way we have to play it to try and win.” On the impact of Lions S Tracy Walker’s injury and who is going to fill the defensive communication role in his absence: “Man, that’s a huge loss for us. It really is. Not just for the communication part, but that’s our captain. So, one of those guys has to step up, and there’s going to be competition this week to get that job. (Lions S) JuJu (Hughes)’s in for it. (Lions S) Kerby (Joseph)’s in for it. (Lions S Ifeatu Melifonwu) Iffy’s just now coming back off a hamstring, so all three of those are going to get a chance, and I’ll be honest with you and tell you listen. We’re going to see who’s going to be the best one this week, and we’re going to put that guy into play.” On why the backup secondary players let up big plays late in the game and if they are not prepared enough to step in when needed: “Well, I would disagree to that statement because (Lions S) JuJu (Hughes) played like majority of the game, and again, I thought he was doing a really good job, so I think he was prepared. I would say this, man, the execution has to be consistent throughout the game though. So, I would say that to your statement, but – and that was one situation where, man, we didn’t totally execute that way because we’ve been doing a good job of taking their best player out and doing things we have to do in the passing game to make sure we’re good. And that situation man, we just weren’t on point. And when you’re not on point, especially in the secondary, that’s what happens. You give up touchdowns.” On if Lions S JuJu Hughes was distracted or looking elsewhere on the final Vikings touchdown reception that won the Vikings the game: “Well, I think between him and (Lions CB) Mike (Hughes), they weren’t on the same page on who’s going to be inside and who’s going to be outside, so you end up seeing two guys inside of the gap, which we didn’t want because the whole game we had a guy in that situation on those guys.” On what impact it has on the defense as a whole if Lions CB Jeff Okudah can shut down his matchup: “Anytime you have a corner that can go out there and just lock one side of the field up, man, that allows you to do a lot of things with your defense. And as we grow as a defense, and we see exactly who we have – really after that fourth game, I was taught – this is another (former Coach) Bill Cowher deal, that you really don’t know who you are until after the fourth game because sometimes you have to adjust what you do as a defense, and that’s where we’re at right now. And Jeff is steady climbing to be one of those corners that can go out and play that way. And we’re going to figure that out. We have one more game to figure that out, so if he’s that type, that allows us to do a lot more for us as far as taking other guys out and allowing him to go out there and play and be a one-on-one matchup.” On his assessment of the Seahawks run game and Seahawks RB Rashaad Penny: “Yeah, he’s a – that’s a guy I’ve always had respect for, even watching him in college. I knew he was going to be a good back. I know he had an issue with injuries, and I think that’s still his Achilles’ heel. So, just like a lot of these backs, man, we’ve got to make sure that we’re good, and we’re gap-sound against their run. And man, and everybody just do their job, and sometimes, when you have a young defense, sometimes guys feel like, ‘Man, I have to do this, or I can jump in this gap to go make a play.’ No, just stay in your gap, and make your play, and we’ll be all fine.” On his assessment of Seahawks RB Kenneth Walker III and what he brings to the Seahawks: “The thing is he’s built just like all those Seattle running backs. That’s the first thing that shows up with this player. And then they use him out wide sometimes with all these jet sweeps and things like that, so he’s going to be a guy that’s going to be hard to tackle in space, so we’ve got to do a really good job of tackling, and that’s a (Seahawks Head Coach) Pete Carroll-like type offense. You just see it. I’ve been with Pete, Pete drafted me, so I know exactly what he’s looking for as far as players are concerned, and you can tell he’s a guy that Pete identified, and he’s one of those backs that’s squatted body, stout, break tackles, and a tough inside runner.” On the tough challenge game-planning against the Seahawks wide receivers and tight ends: “Just like I say every week, man, these offensive systems and these skill players on the offensive side are getting better and better, as far as who you’ve got to matchup with, so we’ve got to make sure our matchups are well. And then, we’ve got to make sure we go out there and execute the assignments we need to execute. And our guys will. They’ll step up to the challenge this week. I have full confidence in those guys doing that.” On players not executing on backside cuts on defense: “You know what, that’s a – when you talk about run defense, sometimes they get misconstrued of, ‘It’s just a front.’ And that’s not true. Just like pass defense, we need all 11, and sometimes you can get caught up in the fact, ‘Man, I’ve got to cover this guy.’ And you’re so caught up in that that you’re not doing the other things that make defenses stout for example. So, you’re absolutely right. If we have run-away, man, we’ve got to make sure we fill that void, and make sure we cut the backside off, and that’s young players also, just understanding that. Man, it takes all 11 of us to be a good run defense, just like a good pass defense. It takes rush, it takes coverage. So, now those things that we have to do as coaches, is be able to teach that and be able to show them that, show them examples of teams that’s doing that, and the way that we have to do that.” On Lions CB Amani Oruwariye’s penalties last week and if he is concerned about his play: “Not concerned at all, because that hasn’t been something that’s been consistent with this player. And then I will say this, man, welcome to the NFL, life of a corner. And the way they were calling it, they were calling every little thing that he was doing. It seemed like he was bullseyed that game, and the thing that you have to do is make sure you get yourself back up. Man, go back the next week and be just as aggressive, but just understand where your hands’ at, alright? If your hands are up high, they see that, and I think a lot of that was just the technique that he was doing that week. We talked to him quite a bit about that, and he worked on that yesterday. And that’s something he’s got to continue to work on, and listen, I have full confidence in Amani. He’s a guy that can get the ball back for us, and we expect him to do those things this week.” LIONS SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR DAVE FIPP QUOTE SHEET September 29, 2022 On the efforts of the special teams unit in last Sunday’s game against the Vikings: “Yeah, I’d say clearly – clearly that’s not our best effort. I wasn’t happy with it, I would definitely say that. We have higher standards, I expect better than that for sure. I would say that there’s a lot to it, obviously I thought there was some things that we did really well. I would say it’s a good game for a critic, I mean if you want to look at the stat sheet at the end of the game and say, ‘Wow, they really netted well on punt.’ And then, you look at, ‘Well, their first two punts they netted 35 yards and 45 yards.’ I think we had them at 37, and then their third punt they miss-hit the ball, didn’t go where they wanted it to. It hit it 38 yards, their gunner was in the way, and rolled for 20 more, and so they net 58 on the play. And then, their net’s real good at the end of the day, so if you just look at that or drive start for example. We kicked off and our kickoff coverage did an outstanding job all game long. I think we had them at the like 21-yard line, they had us at the 21-yard line. Their kick cover did a great job, but what happens on our drive start is we kicked out from the 20 one time. And so, now all of a sudden the drive start number comes up, and everyone says, ‘Well, you guys didn’t cover the ball very well.’ Well, we actually did. So, I would say there’s a handful of things like that. Now, if you’re talking about the field goals, we obviously expect to make those. I expect to make those. We had a 48-yarder and a 54-yarder, those are clearly makeable kicks, they’re indoors in good situations. So, I would say, yeah no question. And then, punting the football, I thought we protected the punter great. We did a lot of good things there. We just didn’t punt the ball great, obviously we’ve got a great punter. The guy’s – what two weeks ago or a week ago, they’re saying this guy’s been the best punter in the National Football League in his first 120 punts. And he goes out there and he has two punts that weren’t great. The first punt was obviously good, knocked them down inside the 20 right there at the end of the half. And then he comes back with two punts that were not really up to his standard, and so it affects the whole group. And then, you look at those – that net there, and it’s obviously not a great net at the end of the day. So, I would say it’s probably a mix of a lot of different things. It certainly wasn’t up to our standard, it’s definitely not up to mine. We have a high standard, but anyway it’s kind of the way the game goes sometimes. And I would say we’re excited about playing this week. It’s another good team, I said that a week ago. I thought those guys are a good outfit that we played against. We played with another group that plays with a lot of energy, got a bunch of good special teams players there I’ve got a lot of respect for. So, it should be fun.” On how he balances knowing what Lions K Austin Seibert can do on the practice field versus what he can execute in a game: “Yeah, I would say that’s a really good question because I think what happens, it’s like sometimes those things get – those numbers get magnified by the number of kicks that they’ve hit in game situations. Some guys have had them, some guys haven’t had them, some guys have had them more than others. Some guys have had more than the others because they have a really big leg. There’s other guys who never kick them, so their numbers – they kick one or two, it was a 51-yarder not a 58. And they made the 51-yarder, and so their 50-plus numbers are really good. But – so, I would say you have to look deeper into all that stuff. But to your point, the question’s really good. I would say that in my experience doing this – I’ve done it for a while – I’d say that usually these guys trend to what they do on the practice field. So, if a guy’s hitting 70 percent, 50-plus on the practice field and he’s hitting so in games, I would say if you just push that out and play another 15 years or 10 years it’s going to trend towards the 70. And that’s not necessarily going to be perfect and maybe there is something there with any given player that it won’t trend that way. Maybe there is something going on either mentally or physically or whatever that would prohibit that from happening, which I can’t really answer. But I would say in my experience usually it trends towards what you see in practice. And we have a lot more information from practice then obviously we get out there in a game.” On how Lions K Austin Seibert looks in games compared to practice: “I’m not going to tell you all that stuff. I know you would love to know, but the bottom line is a guy – I would say he’s very comparable to most guys in the National Football League. I would just say it at that. And I think if you look at the average in the National Football League that’s really not the average because like I said there’s some guys who hit a lot of those. There’s some guys that don’t hit any because they can’t hit them. You know what I mean? So, a lot of times the guys who are hitting them are also guys who have a better chance to make them. The guys who aren’t hitting them, even though their percentage could be higher, they might not have as good of a chance to hit them.” |
