| LIONS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR BEN JOHNSON QUOTE SHEET October 20, 2022 Opening Statement: “Had a great opportunity there during the bye week to evaluate us as an offense, what we put on tape there through five games. Really the message to the unit there on Monday was the three points of emphasis going forward where we can make the biggest jump as a group. Starts number one with communication across the board, number two was fundamentals and technique needs to improve, and then number three for us was critical situations. That’s what shown up in the first five games where there’s short yardage, third downs, two-minute, four-minute all those where we could potentially close the game out or end the game with the ball. We have to be better there. So, I think the guys took that to heart. They understand the direction we need to go and really excited about how coach is approaching this week with pads on, a little bit more intensity because that’s going to help us in terms of the communication part and the fundamentals and technique. So, looking forward, going forward.” On how injuries to Lions WR DJ Chark and the wide receiver room affect play-calling: “The other fun part about the bye week was I was able to play with my kids a lot more and something they’ve gotten into is puzzles. And that’s really what I kind of see this – with your question relating to, is this – every week right now is a little bit of a puzzle we’re piecing together. Who’s up, who’s available, what’s their skillset? How can they help us most and how do we get them in the right spots over the course of the week? So, there’s no question, DJ we were hoping would be a big part of our offense this year and his availability hasn’t been there for us. So, it’s been disappointing from that regard. But when we do get him back, we’ll be real excited to get him back in the fold.” On spending time with his kids during the bye week: “Yeah, they were happy to see that they do have a dad again. So, it’s good. It’s good.” On the puzzles that he works on with his kids at home: “Yeah, it’s Toy Story, Buzz Lightyear action going on. Then, we’ve got Ariel with my little girl. So, it’s good.” On how the offense is different than last year and how he has planned to solve the problems that existed last season: “Yeah, well the good news about it is we know these guys that we do have, right? A lot of them you said is the same group, you’re absolutely right we really know what they do well. And so, I feel really good about us highlighting those over those – that skillset over the course of the week. But yeah, there’s no question we have to be a little bit more selective in terms of our game planning without an explosive receiver like (Lions WR) DJ (Chark) out there for us.” On the offense not performing in critical short-yardage situations: “Yeah, to me that’s the disappointing part of it is the short yardage because we take a lot of pride, particularly in our run game, of being able to get a yard when we need a yard. And so, when you look back at it I think a lot of it stems back to execution on a lot of levels. It’s little details that are slipping through, and so starting this week we’re going to put a little bit more emphasis on it. Not that we weren’t before, but I think the guys are feeling the heightened awareness here on third-and-1, fourth-and-1.” On the challenges the Cowboys defense presents: “Oh shoot, what don’t they do well, right? This is a good group. They start – it starts upfront with them. (Cowboys LB Micah Parsons) 11 might be the best defensive player in the NFL right now. It’s not just him though, all across the front, I think (Cowboys DE DeMarcus Lawrence) 90’s playing at a really high level. He might not have the sack total right now or over the last few years, but he’s getting pressure on the quarterback, he’s showing up in the run game. And then, really the rest of the guys you can tell that they’re really well-coached, they play with great effort, they take a lot of pride in getting after the quarterback. That’s our biggest challenge. I think they lead the League in sacks right now, so pass protection is going to be critical for us this week to have success. But it starts upfront with them and it really doesn’t matter what situation they’re put in. They’re a really solid bunch.” On the importance of the next man up mentality when it comes to the offense playing through injury: “Yeah, there’s no question. No one’s feeling bad for us, there’s no doubt about that and no one in the offensive meeting room, we don’t shy away from it. It’s a great challenge. Each week, it’s hard to win in the NFL, we know this. It doesn’t matter who’s up, but there’s a lot of parity too. Any given Sunday any team can win and we are going to be prepared this week to go out and perform well regardless who’s on the field. That’s our mindset every week.” On if he plans to lean on the strength of the offensive line or plan around the strength of the Cowboys defensive line: “Without giving away too much, yeah, we’re looking to attack them multiple ways. Yeah, and listen, (Lions Head) Coach (Dan Campbell) said it I believe, it always starts with the run game for us, each and every week. It doesn’t matter who we’re facing, so that’s our starting point as we’re starting to gameplan, and then we build it out from there. But I guess, take it that way, but yeah, it’s offensive line for us is a strength, and we’ll continue to focus on what they do well and highlight that.” On how the Lions offensive players feel about the challenge they have with the Cowboys defense: “Yeah, no, there’s – they’re aware of how many categories this defense is one of the top-ranked defenses in the League. They know the challenge at hand, and they’re excited about it.” On the improvements Lions T Penei Sewell has made from his rookie season to this year: “Yeah, he is a very smart player, and really, all those guys upfront are very smart players, which allows us to be as multiple as we’ve been so far this season. But his mindset, his mentality, his demeanor as he approaches not only the game but his week of practice and preparation, it’s beyond his years. For a young player, I think some of them have some growing pains in terms of what a professional looks like. To me, he’s really made those strides in terms of how he enters the building, how he watches film, how attentive he is in meetings, and then that same intensity you see on gameday shows up in practice as well.” On the difficulty of navigating through many moving parts with injuries to the offensive line: “Yeah, I would say just the moving parts we have had upfront, we developed over the course of training camp a comfort level in terms of the fits, the combination blocks, and so yeah, it does get off just a little bit when you have some moving parts in there, and so that’s why this week has been great for us going in pads yesterday because we’ve been able to ramp up the intensity, and now all of a sudden our fits are live. They’re game speed, and we can really hone them in into what we want them to look like on Sunday.” On if he ever offers his input to the defensive coaching staff: “I’ll give you a secret. I didn’t even have time to shower yesterday. I don’t have time for that, no. Listen, they are experts at what they do, and they’ve got it under control, so no.” On if it is rare for a second-year player like Lions T Penei Sewell to set the tone for the offensive line: “Yes, I do think it’s rare. I personally haven’t experienced it much in my time in the NFL, but then again, we are a young team, so it does create some opportunity for some young guys to step up into some leadership roles.” On if getting shutout against the Patriots affected the offense’s confidence after performing well in the first four weeks: “No, I don’t think it does anything to derail our confidence in what we’re doing, the process we have going into each week. Obviously, the result was not what we wanted that game, but we’re not one to necessarily chance course from what we’ve been doing and what we believe in just off of one game like that. Yeah, it was disappointing, and the worst part of it was having the bye week to sulk on that for another – for an extra amount. You wanted to go back and play right away, and so, we did have to sit and reflect on it, but I think like (Lions QB) Jared (Goff) said, we’ll use it as a learning experience and be better for it.” LIONS DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR AARON GLENN QUOTE SHEET October 20, 2022 Opening Statement: “Bye week came, much needed time for us as coaches, players, to get recharged, do a lot of thinking, scheme-wise, personnel-wise, self reflection. Man, I would say that the coaching staff and the players are recharged and ready to get this game going to Dallas.” On how he approached the deep dive of the defense over the bye week and his takeaways: “I would say this, first off it’s always hard with just five games with an early bye to really get a chance to look at who you are. I was always taught as a coach after four games, you kind of got an idea. So, after the fifth game, the one thing that we do know is when we start making these changes as far as personnel like (Lions CB) AJ Parker, (Lions CB) Will Harris, those guys help as far as bringing intelligence on the team. I know (Lions Head) Coach Dan (Campbell) talked about that. And each week, man, these guys are going to compete even the guys like (Lions CB) Amani (Oruwariye), alright? He’s competing to get his job back. (Lions S) DeShon (Elliott), he’s competing to get his job back and during the week those guys are going to do that. Like I said before, we looked at – like the scheme, we looked at us as coaches and how we’re coaching, the things that we’re asking our guys to do and they were really positive, they really were. Dan was a huge part of that just like he was with the offense. But I’m excited going forward about the things that we’re going to do as a defense.” On if he can share some of the things they plan to do as a defense moving forward: “C’mon now.” On what things the defense can do to create a better pass rush: “Well, there’s a number of things. We’ll get some guys back, (Lions DL John) Cominsky will be back, (Lions DL Josh) Paschal will be ready. Being able to use (Lions DL) Aidan (Hutchinson) in other spots, allowing him to have some freedom to do some things also. And then, always man, we’re trying to scheme up our guys for the best matchup. As long as we can continue to do that, as long as we continue to utilize each player in that magnitude, I think those things will always help us.” On how he feels about the pressure that they have been able to generate so far this season: “Obviously, not good because we haven’t had them. But here’s what I will say, because everyone is so into sacks, I’m into pressures to be honest with you more because of the fact when you pressure they end up bringing takeaways, right? That’s what comes. So, and I talked to our guys about that. Listen, I understand from the outside that you’re going to hear about that especially as a young player because I know (Lions DL) Aidan (Hutchinson)’s the guy that everyone talks about. And I’m trying to get him to calm himself down, so he won’t get out of character. Man, just continue to work and we’re going to continue to do what we have to do to put you in positions. So, you just close yourself from everything, man, and go play and I think he’s going to do a good job this week.” On how he reflects on benching Lions CB Amani Oruwariye last week and his expectations for him going forward: “Well, I would say this, this game is hard especially at that position. And when you look at it over the course of this season, you hear people say setback, I just think he’s had a hard time. I don’t think – I think Amani’s still Amani. I just think some of the situations that he’s been in and some of the flags that he’s had has made people look at him a different way. But, obviously we’ve got to help him, that’s one thing we have to do. But man, I’m not going to rain on Amani. I still have high hopes for that player. I still think that player has a chance to be a top corner in this League and we’re going to work our ass off to make sure of that. But man, any time you’re in that situation, I know it hurt him to be inactive especially the situation that happened when we had guys go down. But he does know this, we’re going to put his feet to the fire and that’s just what we are as far as a defense. Everyone has to compete, everyone has to go out there and pull their weight and he knows who he was at that time. And so, with (Lions Head) Coach Dan (Campbell) and the staff when we made the change and he’s going to compete to get his job back again.” On how he has seen Lions CB Amani Oruwariye respond since his benching against the Patriots and what he needs to see from him going forward: “He responded really well. And I think it’s important that you do that as far as a team because now it sends a message to everybody, offense, defense that man, listen this game is about competing at the highest level every time. And you have to earn your keep in this League. And there’s no free passes and just with (Lions Head Coach) Dan (Campbell) being confident to make that decision, I think it really sent the message, I really do. It kind of reminds me back in my days with (former NFL Head) Coach (Bill) Parcells, man, he wasn’t afraid to do that. And it taught me a lesson also that you can’t be afraid to make a decision and you live with it and you move on even though you might have outsiders say what you should do, what you shouldn’t do. You be confident in your decision, you move on and shoot you do what’s best for the team and that’s what Coach Campbell did.” On if the Cowboys offense changes much whether Cowboys QB Dak Prescott or Cowboys QB Cooper Rush plays: “I don’t think they’ve changed much as far as conceptually what they do, but I think Dak’s the type of guy that’s going to push the ball down the field a lot more. He’s very confident in his arm, which he should be. I think they were the highest scoring offense in the League last year. And they have weapons. I don’t know where they start getting these receivers from that show up, man, but it seems like they always have an extra guy that can make plays. I know (Cowboys WR) Noah Brown was a guy that was huge special teams, but you start to see some of the plays that he’s made on the offense which is pretty good for them. And then, (Cowboys WR Michael) Gallup’s coming back which he’s always a vertical threat. So, man, we have to be on our P’s and Q’s this game. It’s a talented team when you look at them as a whole, offense and defense, so and special teams. So, it’ll be a tough matchup, but I’m looking forward to it.” On what Cowboys RB Tony Pollard has meant to the Cowboys’ offense: “I will tell you this, anytime you have good players especially on the offensive side, man, you try to him the ball as much as you can. So, you just can’t deny that guy playing, so even though (Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott) Zeke’s an outstanding running back, when you have a guy like that you have to find ways to get him the ball. And I think they do a good job of that. So, and I don’t think they’re complaining especially as dynamic as he is. And if you’re a lead dog and you know a guy behind you is dynamic you’re not going to complain about that either because you see what he can do. And I know Zeke sees that.” On what has been the biggest challenge with the defense so far this season: “Missed tackles. Missed tackles, that’s usually what you get when you get explosive plays. Missed tackles and missed assignments, those are the things that we really looked at like all week to make sure we cleaned that up. We can say it was a bye week, but for me it wasn’t really a bye and which was good. That’s just regardless of the situation, I’d probably would’ve been in the office and studied on some things anyway. So, but yeah the missed tackles was really what lead to a lot of the explosive plays.” On what he attributes the missed tackles to: “I would say more physical. Not wrapping up, shoulder tackles, not vice tackling, things like that, which are really correctable and that’s the good thing about it. And in this League, man, sometimes guys think that they can make a tackle just by diving and lunging. And I’ll tell you what, that’s the one thing across the League now, not just us but across the League that’s the one thing that you see that’s went down is tackling. But the thing is, I try to teach to our guys, well let’s be the guy, let’s be the team on the other side. Let’s not be like everybody else, let’s be a team that can tackle and we worked on that this week. Yesterday was a physical practice for us and we needed that. We needed it.” On what he did during the bye week: “Stayed here. My wife actually came back from California and we spent some time together and I stayed around just watching tape and got better. Got better.” LIONS SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR DAVE FIPP QUOTE SHEET October 20, 2022 On what areas of improvement stood out to him when doing a deep dive of special teams over the bye week: “Yeah, I would say – I mean one thing I would say is our bye this year’s so early. It’s five weeks in and I would say you kind of have an idea of who you are and what’s going on. It’s been a lot of moving parts for us, so it’s hard to say exactly. I would say – I mean ultimately, if you’re saying what would I say we need to improve on, I would say ultimately the field goal stuff. We’ve got to kick the ball better and make more kicks when our number’s called and asked to go out there and do that. But I think ultimately, I would say the same thing that I usually say all the time is like, there’s just a ton of room for improvement in a lot of areas. I think our guys have gone out there and played hard. We’ve executed some things better than other things, but we’re looking forward to getting back out there again against the Cowboys. These guys do a good job, so it should be fun.” On what has contributed to the rotating door at the kicker position since last season: “Yeah, I would say – no, I would say there’s a lot of things to the question. But I would say ultimately like, we knew – when I got here, we had let – I mean (former Lions K Matt) Prater wasn’t under contract or whatever, and we didn’t re-sign him, however you say that. So, ultimately, we lost a good player there, so then the goal was to find the next guy, and I think that we knew that in doing that, it was going to take some time. So, we went about that process. We brought (Titans K) Randy Bullock in, who we thought did a nice job for us, but we were also looking for maybe better, younger, a bunch of different things, and didn’t think he was a long-term answer. So then at that point, we had an opportunity to claim (former Lions K Austin) Seibert, and we claimed Seibert, and we felt really good about that. He started for us a year ago. He played well, and then he got injured, which is out there unfortunately. And it’s happened – it seems like it’s happened more frequently around the League, I think. You guys have seen that. So, anyways, Seibert got injured, and then we went with (former Lions K Ryan) Santoso, and he struggled in that game, and so then we moved on from him, and we ended up getting (Jaguars K) Riley Patterson in here, and Riley came in and did a good job. I think a year ago, our numbers or the output for that position, or that production we got out of that position was better than average. It wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t necessarily what we were looking for, but it wasn’t terrible. So then we go into training camp, we have two players we think highly of in Patterson and Seibert. Seibert was obviously coming off an injury, and then he was playing great for us. He had a great camp, he had a better camp than Riley had for us. He was feeling great. Everything was going great, so we were excited. We thought we kind of had the answer to the question, and then ultimately, then Seibert didn’t feel good. He had some discomfort. I don’t know exactly how to say all that, but there’s a lot to that. He had some discomfort and didn’t feel great and wasn’t able to go. And so, anyways, then at that point, we went with (former Lions K Dominik) Eberle, much like Santoso the year before, didn’t go great, and then we brought in some other guys that we feel good about. I would say we’re hoping that this thing settles down. I think it can, between (Lions K Michael) Badgley and (Lions K Sam) Ficken. And I think that whoever we end up going with will go out there and play well for us. Is this an ideal situation to be in? Obviously not, but such is life, like it’s not like we really controlled any of it. I would say personally, in my opinion, I think we’ve made the exact right call the whole way. Would we like a different outcome? Oh yeah, we would like to hit on the next whatever, All-Pro kicker, but it doesn’t always turn out that way. But anyways, we’ll see what happens. I would tell you that I strongly believe that it’ll settle down. We’ll look back at this thing at the end of the year and say, ‘You know what, we got good production out of that position. I think we can turn it around.’ So, it’s still early in the year. When you look at percentages right now, one miss makes a big difference on the overall percentage, so when you look at it that way, I think, yeah, it’s hard to swallow right now, but I would say, when it’s all said and done, I think it’ll be better than what we’re looking at right now, for sure. So, I don’t know if that helps, but yeah, it’s been a challenge. It has not been ideal, but I think we’re on the right track, and we’ll keep working through it. I mean, people aren’t throwing out good players, so – I mean it’s not like – and there’s a bunch of people looking for him right now. And the later you get in the season, the harder it gets to find somebody who can come in and play at a high level. The earlier that happens, the more choices you have. But I think overall, from our decision-making process and all that, I don’t regret or second guess any of the moves we’ve made up to this point, and in hindsight, you would do some things differently maybe, but we obviously don’t have the benefit of all the information. So, anyway, yeah, I don’t know. Hopefully, it’ll settle down here. It’s a good question, and I totally get it. I think saying that there’s been 10 kickers in here makes it sound worse than it is. I mean, we’ve had a couple different kickers. We had really two primarily last year, and hopefully, we end up having two this year primarily, and it settles down, and we end up getting some productivity out of those guys.” |
