| LIONS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR BEN JOHNSON QUOTE SHEET September 8, 2022 Opening Statement: “Big week in the Johnson household, I was talking to my wife about this earlier this week. Our five-year old started kindergarten for the first time, so she’s excited. Her family’s coming up, we got like nine extra tickets we had to get or something like that. And then, of course she finds out who’s calling plays on Sunday. So, we’ve got a lot going on this week. So, it’ll be good, it’ll be good.” On if he will be calling plays on Sunday against the Eagles: “We’ll see what happens. We’ll see.” On if they have discussed who will be calling the plays against the Eagles: “Yeah, we’ve had discussions.” On when the decision will be made about who will be calling plays on Sunday: “You’ll have to talk to (Lions Head) Coach (Dan Campbell) about that. We’ve had discussions, I mean they’re still ongoing. It’s not like anything is firm, but we have a good plan.” On how excited he is to see the offense operate on the field on Sunday against the Eagles: “Yeah, I think my biggest challenge this week has been to really make sure we’re not doing too much because it’s – I think all of our guys are excited. Skill guys, O-line, they know what we can potentially do, it’s just making sure we’re sound with what Philly could potentially do. And it’s – at the end of the day, I think the first few games of the season as you’re still trying to find your identity, a little bit of that has to do with making sure these guys still play fast. So, we’re trying to make sure we’re not overloading with too much information. But I’m really proud with how they’ve handled it so far. We’ve had a good two days here so far.” On how the team has been looking at different alternatives to adjust the offensive line since Lions G Halapoulivaati Vaitai was placed on Injured Reserve: “Yeah, I think you’re always starting with, ‘Who are our best five?’ OK, I think you always start with that. But then, you also, within that unit, (Lions Offensive Line) Coach (Hank) Fraley actually brought it up yesterday, ‘We’re only as strong as our weakest link.’ And so, you look at all the possibilities that we could potentially unfold here on Sunday. (Lions T) Penei (Sewell) moving in certainly one with (Lions T Matt) Nelson playing out there. Could that be our best five? Absolutely, but at the end of the day, is Penei as good of a guard as he is at tackle? I don’t know. I do know this about Penei Sewell, in his second year he’s light years ahead of where he was last year this time. If he was not, if he was a rookie we wouldn’t even have this conversation, he wouldn’t be able to handle it. But because he is a second-year player and he’s really made strides this offseason, we can consider this scenario. So, it’s good.” On how much the coaches think about chemistry with the offensive line when they have discussions about changing up the lineup: “That’s a huge thing upfront. There’s no question about it, but I think one thing we’ve been able to do, we’ve accumulated so many reps over the course of walkthroughs and team periods in training camp that (Lions Offensive Line) Coach (Hank) Fraley’s been able to give us different scenarios within practice or within walkthroughs. So, guys have some familiarity with what’s going on it’s just – yeah, there is a little bit of a gelling period there. So, that certainly is part of it. Who’s comfortable next to who? The communication factor is a huge thing. So, we’re all taking that into account.” On how much of what the Eagles do on defense affects the game plan: “It has some impact, but personally I think end of the day it’s us. It’s about us, what our guys do well, what they can handle and then, we really want to start there.” On the importance of keeping the healthy starting offensive linemen in their starting positions: “There’s no doubt. There’s no – yeah, I mean and those are the things that we’ve been thinking about over the course of this week when we found out about (Lions G Halapoulivaati Vaitai) Big V. So, I’m confident whatever lineup we roll out on will be ready to roll. That they’re going to be – they’re going to be performing and we’re going to be able to move the ball on offense. That’s the expectation.”On what Lions C Frank Ragnow was dealing with yesterday in practice: “I’ll let (Lions Head) Coach (Dan Campbell) answer that. I know he was at walkthrough just now. So, we’ll leave that for the head guy.” On what the Eagles do well on defense and what the offense can do better against them compared to last year’s matchup: “Yeah, I think our game last year was really where their season started because they went on – they used the momentum from our game and kind of took off from there and ended up making the playoffs because of it. They did a few things differently than what we anticipated, but end of the day we just didn’t execute. We weren’t prepared, we didn’t execute the way we needed to execute. In this League, if you go against a good team and you’re not on your Ps and Qs, you’re likely to get embarrassed which is what happened.” On his assessment of the tight end group in the final 53-man roster: “I’m happy. Yeah, I think they really – they all have a role to play, and that’s what I’m excited about. They’re all smart. It starts there because we do have a lot of volume in some ways, run game and pass game, for them to digest, but they’ve done a great job. It doesn’t matter if one needs a blow, another one will step up. I think (Lions TE) Brock (Wright) and (Lions TE) Shane (Zylstra) have really complemented (Lions TE) T.J. (Hockenson) really well, so I’m excited to see them go out there and play.” On adjusting to the Eagles’ personnel changes from the previous season and how he is planning to gameplan around that: “Yeah, I go back and forth on what to expect from them because obviously, we’ve got their tape from a year ago, but every team is different. Every year is different, and so they’ll have tweaks. We’ve already talked to our unit, ‘Yeah, we’re preparing for blah, blah, blah.’ But we’ve got to be fast to make adjustments this game, and that’s what we’ve been talking about. We preach that from the get-go, and so it’ll be in my mind – like they don’t know what’s coming from us either, so it’s going to be a little bit back-and-forth, a little bit of a chess match that way to see who can react faster to what’s shown on the field. But there’s no doubt they may be different than they were a year ago.” Oh Lions RB D’Andre Swift’s personal goal of 1,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards receiving this season and if it is realistic: “Shoot, I know he is explosive enough to do that. There’s no doubt. That would put him in rare company I know, but he is the type of explosive athlete that can do it, and I do think we have the pieces around him that could help him get there. Now, with that being said, we’ve got to – we’ll see how the season goes, but I would be more than thrilled. That would mean good things for the Detroit Lions if he did that.” On if the offensive line is still a strength of the team after the group has sustained injuries: “Yeah, I think it always starts upfront with our guys, and they have embraced that next-man-up mentality, have a lot of confidence in the depth in that room, not just the ‘Big Five’ as we like to call them over the course of training camp. We have really good depth pieces, guys that have played ball in this League for an extended period of time that will be able to perform here for us, so it’s good.” On if he plans on getting the entire receiving corps gametime against the Eagles and if they have different roles: “They all do have roles, and we’re kind of defining those as we go. We’re a little bit more honed in this week than what we have been in camp. In camp, we’re kind of testing out, evaluating, seeing what guys are capable of, but with that group now, we’re going to get them in the right spots or the spots we think that they’ll perform best. I think the challenge is going to be making sure we can spread the ball around enough and that’s a good challenge to have, I think. So no, that’s a good group, and in terms of all five playing, I don’t know if all five will play, but I know they’ll be ready to play if we need them.” On his relationship with Lions QB Jared Goff and how it has developed: “Yeah, I mean we had some mutual connections when we first met each other last year when he joined the team, and that kind of hit things off for us, but I didn’t get to truly know him until the second half of last year where we started working a little bit closer together. But, no, he has been everything I could ever hope for from a quarterback, just in terms of preparation. He has – once again, I could talk about all these smart guys. He’s very smart, he’s on top of it mentally. He takes a lot of pride in being a professional, and I think that carries over to his teammates. So, I think he has a lot of really qualities about him, leadership qualities that most people don’t necessarily see, and that’s just a little nugget. I’m looking forward to seeing what he does here on Sunday and the rest of the season.” On if Lions QB Jared Goff is comfortable with motion offense: “Yeah, no, he’s got a comfortable zone. Yeah, I mean, it’s what, year seven for him, so he definitely has a comfort zone for how he likes a few things, and we’ve gone back and forth on that, and he’s been receptive to new ideas as well. But no, I think he does have a good grasp of the big picture, what he’s seeing in front of him. And he’s really keyed on things that we might identify for him to hone in on, ‘Hey, this is a little tip, this is that.’ And he’s been on top of it, so it’s encouraging.” LIONS DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR AARON GLENN QUOTE SHEET September 8, 2022 Opening Statement: “Exciting times, first game. Just hearing the amount of fans that’s going to be at this first game and standing-room only, man, it just – you get chills. And it’s telling you a lot about how this community, our fans, I mean how they feel about – how they feel about this team. So, because it wouldn’t be that way if they weren’t excited. It wouldn’t be that way and that’s telling you something. So, we’re excited about that and we’re excited about how our fans are excited about it. So, we’re ready to go play.” On last year’s loss to the Eagles and how much the players take that personally: “We all take it personal. I mean, that’s every game, I think we take – regardless of who – of what happened and I’ve learned this actually from (former NFL Head Coach) Bill Cowher. I take every game personal, somehow, someway, that’s just the – that’s my mindset as a coach and trying to instill that into the players, of we take them personal. But this game in particular, absolutely. Just knowing that they ran for 236 or whatnot, we know we have to stop the run. But I’ll tell you what man, the one thing that we did this offseason is we looked at improving in that area. I think from the preseason it shows that and now we get to go against a really, really good team that’s going to come out and run the ball. Then, we get another opportunity to show that we’ve improved. So, we’re looking forward to that.” On where he thinks the defense has improved in stopping the run since the last time they faced the Eagles: “Technique for the most part. Obviously, you bring in good players, also more good players. We added (Lions DL) Aidan (Hutchinson) as you know, and then understanding from player and the coach perspective, just how we want to get better in the run game. It’s one thing that I would always say in this League as a coach is you’re always trying to learn and if you’re not, you’re going to find yourself out of this League. So, I’ve learned a lot about how we want to stop the run. (Lions Defensive Line Coach Todd) Wash has learned a lot, he’s continued to learn just like the rest of us and I think those are the things that we’re looking forward to. Things that we’ve learned and these techniques that the guys have improved on, the new players that we’ve injected into this system. So, those things we’re looking forward to go against a team like this.” On if the Eagles game tape from last year was the one that the team buried underground: “You know what I don’t know off hand, to be honest with you. But I think I burned a couple of games. But I don’t know, but I do know this is that the guys are – the guys are excited and anxious. But calm, cool and collected, to get ready to go and play this game.” On if he has gone back and watched the Eagles game tape from last year: “Oh, absolutely. Absolutely, because their – same players for the most part and you want to make sure you look at that. Same head coach, same offensive coordinator, I don’t think he’s going to change too much. I know if I was him I wouldn’t. The thing is we just know that we’ve got to do a better job and we will do a better job, and we’re looking forward to doing a better job.” On how much of an emphasis they are putting on stopping Eagles QB Jalen Hurts: “We have to account for that. I mean this guy’s a really good player. I think he had the most rushing yards, I could be mistaken, out of any quarterback. I know he had probably the most rushing touchdowns, so that’s something that we have to account for. And we have things in our system to be able to account for that. At some point, there’s going to be a one-on-one play, and our guys have to get him down. That’s just how this game is for the most part. Offense will try to do as much as they can to create matchups, and then, we try to do as much as we can to be able to say, ‘Listen there, if you think your guy can beat my guy, let’s go.’ And a lot of times that’s how we look at it. So, again we’re looking forward to that matchup with that player, with every player they have and we’ve just got to do a better job in that situation.” On what advice the coaches have given Lions DL Aidan Hutchinson in preparation for his first NFL regular season game: “Play football. There’s one thing about that player, you don’t have to give him advice about his intensity level, he’s already at the intensity level. You guys have seen him practice, you’ve seen him play, so there’s nothing to be said about that. You don’t have to over-coach that player on that. That’s just natural for him, so we’re going to let Aidan be Aidan and you’ll see exactly what you’re going to get from him.” On if the defensive technique changes as they prepare to face a mobile quarterback: “Here’s the thing you’ve got to be careful with when you’re playing against a quarterback like that, is sometimes you can over-coach the player to be so careful that you’re not getting a rush. So, obviously rush lanes are important, but for the most part, man, I’m not going to sit back and tell (Lions DL) Charles (Harris), and tell (Lions DL) Aidan (Hutchinson) to sit back and be on their toes. Man, we’re going after this guy and then, we have to have other guys to play off of them also. So, do we want to be reckless? No, we don’t want to do that. The one thing that we have to do is be disciplined, be assignment-sound, and play hard, physical football. And we’ll let everything else take care of itself.” On what gives him confidence in Lions CB Jeff Okudah and Lions CB Amani Oruwariye’s readiness to perform on Sunday: “Just everything they’ve done during the offseason, during training camp, the work they’ve put in, coaching staff, (Lions Safeties Coach Brian) Duker and (Lions Defensive Backs/Pass Game Coordinator Aubrey Pleasant) AP, things that they’ve done with those guys. And then, their mindset, I think those guys come in with a mindset of, ‘Listen, we know exactly what coach AG wants. We know exactly how he wants his defense to play and we’re going to try to give him that as much as possible.’ And they’ve shown that for the most part.” On how the addition of Eagles WR A.J. Brown changes the way that the Eagles can attack teams through the air: “They have another good player that’s got to be accounted for and as a defensive coach we’ve got to figure out ways to stop them and that’s how I look at it. He’s another player that we’ve got to stop and that’s another player our guys got to go out there and cover and do a good job on. I mean, that’s just the nature of this League and each year they’re going to create problems like that. Every team is, and you know what and sometimes you’re going to have help and other times I’ve got to win my one-on-one matchup. That’s just how this League is and that will never change.” On if Lions LB Malcolm Rodriguez has earned a starting spot on defense this Sunday: “Has he? He’s going to play I can tell you that.” On how big of a role Lions LB Malcolm Rodriguez is going to play in the game on Sunday: “He’s going to play a pretty big role.” On what goes into the decision to start certain players at linebacker this week: “I will say this and I’m not trying to be a butthole about it, but listen, (Lions LB) Malcolm (Rodriguez)’s a good player. But the thing is we have other good players also, and all those guys deserve a chance to play – (Lions LB Derrick) Barnes, (Lions LB) Alex (Anzalone), Malcolm, (Lions LB Chris) Board, so I will tell you this, all those guys are going to be on the field at some point, sometime. All those guys are going to have a role. To me you can say start, you can say – all those guys are going to play. It might be 20 plays apiece it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter who’s out there first. It’s just – at the end of the game all those guys will have a chance to play because they deserve it.” LIONS SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR DAVE FIPP QUOTE SHEET September 8, 2022 On how the special teams unit has improved from the previous year and where he thinks the group is at: “Yeah, oh gosh, honestly, I have no idea. No, I mean I think that’s the funnest part about the whole thing, is that you really don’t know where you’re at. At the end of the day, we get a chance to go out there to play in Week 1 in the National Football League, which is incredible in its own right, and we get a chance to build a unit, just like we did a year ago and every year. The whole thing resets, you have different players, especially on the backend of the roster on special teams, and I would say that’s one of the challenges, was one of the most exciting things about the job too is you’ve got a chance to restart and build a group from the very beginning. We’ve got a lot of work to do and a long ways to go, and really, our focus just like a year ago or just like any year I’ve done it is going to be really the next play and the next opponent and the next game and the next play. And most importantly for us is going to be our execution, how our guys go out there and execute is really less about the opponent and more about what we’re doing. So that’s really where our focus is in the meeting room and on the practice field this week.” On how difficult it is to replace the lost production from core special teams players last season who are no longer on the team: “Yeah, I would say there’s a challenge to it for sure. I think if you looked at us from last year and the year before last year, we lost a lot of good players that year too. So, it really is just how it is on special teams every year. The longer I’ve done it, the more it’s like, ‘Eh, I mean it’s the same old thing.’ And I get asked the same question every year. I really do mean, though, that the best part about this thing is building a group of guys and getting them to rally around each other and finding a way to put them in the best position you can as a coach to hopefully make them as successful as they can be as individual players and try to get the most out of the group that you’ve got. And that’s the challenge, that’s the fun in doing the whole thing, so we look forward to it. I’m excited about the guys we have for sure, so I will definitely say that. These guys work really hard, they’ve been passionate about it, they’ve done a great job in training camp, and I know they’re excited to get out there and play.” On who the kick returner is going to be Sunday and why: “Yeah, so I would say we’ll find out. I’m not going to give that away obviously, but we’ll find out on Sunday. And I will say I’m excited about it, we’ve had a handful of guys back there in the preseason, and I think all those guys have done a good job. And I would say this, everyone on kickoff return talks about the one player, but I’ve been a part of teams that have had a really good kick returner and the blocking has not been great, and that player doesn’t play very well. So, I would say a huge chunk of everything is going to be the other 10 guys, and it’s always kind of a team effort. And although the returner is important and does a lot for us, I would say those 10 guys blocking are going to do an awful lot too, so I’m excited about the 10 guys blocking and I’m excited about the guy returning. I think we’ll play well in that area.” On if Lions RB Craig Reynolds is an option at kick returner after being the only player on the 53-man roster with preseason touches at the position: “I don’t even know, if that’s the case, then yeah.” On if he is comfortable with the kickoff returner after limited sample size in the preseason from the current roster: “Yeah, I feel totally comfortable with it. I would just put it like that. I would say it could be (Lions RB) Craig (Reynolds), he’s obviously an option. There’s guys on the practice squad depending on who we bring up, which is a whole other conversation. But based off that, it could be one of those guys, so we’ll find out.” |
