LIONS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR JOHN MORTON QUOTE SHEET
November 20, 2025
Opening Statement: “Looking forward to this game. Giants, they’re a good team. They’ve been in a lot of games, pretty close games. And looking forward to it. (Giants Defensive Coordinator) Shane Bowen does a really good job on defense. Got a really good front, just like last week. These guys have the same type of front. They get after it. And with (Giants OLB Brian) Burns, he’s leading the League in sacks, so we’ve got to be aware of him at all times. And they really do a good job scheme-wise. It’s kind of like the old New England type of defense. That’s his background is with (Patriots Head Coach Mike) Vrabel and New England and all those guys, so there’s a lot of similarities with the New England type of defense. So, we’re looking forward to it.”
On if it is only a matter of time until Giants OLB Abdul Carter starts recording sacks in this League: “Well, I hope not. No, but all those guys up front, they do a really good job in the scheme of things. I mean (Giants DL Dexter) Lawrence (II), he’s a load in the middle. So, listen, I think it’s a good matchup for us. I like the matchup. Got two really good tackles in the middle and I feel really good about where we’re going right now with the gameplan. So, we’ve got to make sure we take care of that front, that’s the biggest thing.”
On how important it is for the Lions interior offensive line to be on their p’s and q’s during the Giants’ edge player stunts: “No question. We’ve been seeing a lot of that all year. So, we’ll practice against that, the line will make the proper calls, the adjustments and we’ll be on point with that. We’ve got veteran guys.”
On how important the third wide receiver role is during Lions TE Sam LaPorta’s absence and how he has liked the way Lions WR Isaac TeSlaa has developed and if he is a guy he is starting to trust: “No, I – I’m starting to trust a lot of guys. I mean we’re – all these guys are veteran guys now, so we’ll have certain packages for whoever based on what they do. Yeah, not having LaPorta, it’s a tough deal. I always smile when you bring up LaPorta, I’m not smiling right now. No, but this gives everybody else some opportunities and then we have to be creative and that’s the fun part. We love that part game planning. I love this. Trying to figure out things and trying to create mismatches here and there. So, we’ll have a bunch of different packages and looking forward to it. We’ll practice that today on third down. And even on first and second down, we’re putting guys in different spots. They’ve got to learn – someone’s got to step up because that’s a big loss not having LaPorta, there’s no doubt.”
On where the team will feel Lions TE Sam LaPorta’s absence the most: “All the time. I mean he’s a hell of an all-around blocker, receiver, he can do it all. But he was really reliable on third down in the red zone, that’s the biggest thing. But his blocking on first and second down. I mean the way he’s improved with his blocking, it’s just been awesome. So, our other guys – all the tight ends have got to step up.”
On how he decides the balance of reacting to a single game where Lions QB Jared Goff’s passes are batted down versus needing to see a trend before working on adjustments: “You can’t tell the quarterback, ‘Hey, this is a (problem).’ It’s not a problem because you do that, then it gets in your head and you’re going, ‘Oh, I’ve got to throw it like this.’ Just drop back, hasn’t been a problem. The line’s going to be more aggressive, that’s what we have to do. We’ve got to make sure we’re taking a proper drop and you can’t have that in his head. You just can’t do that. So, we really don’t even talk about it because it isn’t an issue.”
On if it is tough when there is not one thing to focus on for improving on converting third downs: “It’s nothing that they did. It’s us. It’s kind of been the theme this year. And we’ve just got to make sure that we’re all doing this collectively – and that’s coaches. We’re all doing it together because the only way we make this thing work is we do it together. But you’ve got to win your one-on-one matchups. That’s one of the biggest things that I talk with the offense about. Just dial in, especially third down, let’s dial in. Because sometimes when you put a gameplan together, there’s a little bit of different formation, do you know when to get guys open, there’s a little bit of different – same thing in the red zone. It happens. You might have the same concepts, you might have different formations to try to get guys open. So, you’ve got to really dial in, especially on third down. ‘Alright, this is my split, this is my technique.’ And really we’re just erring on technique. But when we do it all together, it’s pretty good. You saw it against Washington. But again – and I’ve said this before – it’s that one breakdown where it’s a technique error here and there or we didn’t make the throw. Yeah, you want certain calls back but we convert – probably about four of those situations on third down was us. It was nothing that they did. There was probably about three or four where they got us and that’s OK, it happens. But we’ve just got to put it all together. That’s all we’ve got to do, that’s what we’re concentrating on. That was one of the biggest things we talked with the offense about, just dial in. Dial in your detail and your technique every snap, on third down especially. Because even what you see in the first quarter might not be what you see in the fourth quarter when the game is on the line. This guy might have a certain technique, he might do something different, he might have a different move. You’ve got to know that and be ready for it. So, the preparation is the key to our success. So, that was one of the biggest things, we’ve got to dial in, just dial in. Do more than what you had been doing. Our guys are great. We’ve got smart guys. We can do a lot of stuff and that helps. But we’ve got to do it together. The bottom line, we’ve just got to do this together.”
On the struggles he saw in the connection between Lions QB Jared Goff and Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown: “Just missing throws, that’s all. Whether it was technique on the route or – again, I’m talking about the same thing again. That’s what it’s boiling down to. So, just one of those things that happened. So, it won’t happen again. We’ll make sure.”
On how he has seen Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs’ details in the pass game grow this season: “Well, we’re giving him a lot. I mean you’ve got to look at who you have. And it’s just like talking about having to create a way to find ways to get guys the ball, especially when LaPorta’s down. So, other guys have got to step up. But listen, he’s really smart, he’s really detailed when he gets the ball. And even if he screws up a little detail and he gets the ball in his hands, I mean you saw it. So, defenses are scared of something like that and it helps. It’s going to help out everybody. But he’s fun. He’s fun to watch. Run, pass, everything. Pretty cool.”
On averaging almost 100 more rushing yards and two more rushing yards per carry in wins versus losses: “Well, I mean every game’s different, right. So, you’re going to run plays based on the look and then you run those plays and then you just keep dialing them up. And if it’s a play for a specific front or a coverage or something like that and if we don’t get that look, usually we try to run all-purpose plays and runs, passes. That’s really what we try to do. Now sometimes it’s tough and you’ve got to throw it or if you can’t throw it, you’ve got to run it. And it’s based on a look and you try to create the mismatches and different angles in the run game, have certain guys in there. (Lions RB David Montgomery) D-Mo’s got certain type of runs, but he can still do all the runs. (Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs) Gibby, he can do everything. But I think it’s just that. Sometimes the game gets one dimensional and you just kind of go with that and you just call plays accordingly. Just the way it goes.”
On what he has seen from Lions WR Isaac TeSlaa in practice that suggests he might be ready for a bigger role: “Yeah, he’s been playing more. It’s just the ball’s not going his way because the quarterback has a certain progression a lot. So, this week we’ll see what happens. He’ll have a little bit more. They do play a lot of man-to-man, on third down especially, end zone. So, it’s just like I said with everybody, everybody’s going to have a certain role. It’s our job to be creative, try to get these guys open and put him in certain spots that he’s really good at right now. And he’s still learning. Listen, he’s tough, he’s physical. I love that part. He’s a blocker. I mean all our wideouts are, but he is. He’s got it and he’s a Lion for that because he blocks his butt off. So, it’s only a matter of time for – he’s going to have a breakout game. We’ll see.”
LIONS DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR KELVIN SHEPPARD QUOTE SHEET
November 20, 2025
Opening Statement: “We’ll start with recapping, really briefly, the Philly game, because we’ve got another very important NFC game this week that I would like to move on to. But obviously we didn’t come away with the victory, but just the same as I stood in front of the unit on Monday morning. I told them it was hard to get up there and kind of find something, we talk about the good, which was a lot. These guys did a lot of good things. Kind of the things I wanted to highlight to them were the point of emphasis on improvement that we wanted to see as a staff and collectively as a unit. And those things, they almost checked every box. You talk about the red zone, that’s something that drastically needed to improve from the previous month you could say, and that’s something that they went out and did very well, I thought. But the most probably proud moment within that game was the sudden change situations. The never-blink mentality, the run to the fire and put the fire out mentality, those guys never wavered at any point in that game, no matter what situation lies ahead. Was it third-and-1, fourth-and-1, were we on the plus side of the field, minus side. Those guys didn’t care. They went out and they stood tall to those tasks. So, I definitely want to commend those guys. So, if anything, I told them man, I’m trying to be honest with them. And I’m like, ‘I was trying to find something and then I found it.’ It was the takeaway category. That’s something, the way that game was structured on that night, our offense needed one more possession. And that kind of was the nature of that game. So, that was the one thing, if I could kind of look to anything that we could have improved upon, it would have been stealing a possession for our offense.”
On how he thinks the defense can produce more takeaways: “I mean, the guys are attacking it. But that’s something – we do a takeaway tape every Saturday with the unit, and you see at the beginning of the year, it’s 50 clips on there, 60 clips on there. And then you start to get to this point of the season, you’re around the 30s and 40s, and this is totality throughout the League. So, I think it’s just more awareness from the offensive standpoint on ball security. I think it’s high-kin, I think guys learn from their mistakes throughout the League. But at the same time, that’s not making an excuse. We have to find ways to generate those. Not guys going outside of the scheme, but within the scheme, within the framework, finding ways to kind of – more attempts on the ball, ball in there, got to be ours mentality.”
On how much he appreciates the defense’s attitude of delivering on expectations: “It’s the reason I tell you guys – I’ve stood up here throughout the course of this entire offseason and told you guys, this is why it’s such a joy to coach this group. That’s why it’s an honor to be the coordinator here, because I get to work with guys like that where they’re never satisfied, it’s never enough. It’s the same way I feel as the play-caller. I could’ve done more for (Lions Head Coach) Dan (Campbell) and the offense, for (Lions Offensive Coordinator John Morton) Johnny Mo and those guys over there. We could’ve stolen one more possession. That’s where I found the one bad within the game you could say, within the takeaway. Because once you step away from a win, loss, freaking excellent performance, bad performance, you always try to pull away things that you can improve upon, and then things that you did well. And within that, you find things. It’s really a joy and honor to work with a group of players that can go out and hold a team of that caliber to what we did, and those guys still feel like we left meat on the bone. So, we’re attacking this week, and we know that we’ll try not to leave those opportunities out there moving forward.”
On Lions DL Alim McNeill playing on the outside on Sunday and what went into the rotation between him and Lions DL Tyleik Williams: “First of all, I loved it. I think Mac is an ultra-athlete. He’s not just a defensive tackle. When you’re dealing with a player of his caliber, and it kind of trickles to a player of Tyleik’s caliber, of (Lions DL DJ) Reader’s caliber, of (Lions DL) Roy (Lopez)’s caliber. Alright, well how are you going to get these guys on the field? And it’s our jobs as coaches to find those ways. And nothing getting crazy going outside of the realm of what we do as a unit and our principles, but finding ways to kind of put these guys in those spots where you see fit. And I kind of went to Mac probably a month ago and kind of tinkered with the idea of it, and his face lit up. And I told him yesterday, ‘Don’t get too comfortable out there, you’re still a defensive tackle.’ But these guys – that’s what I love, again man, having the pleasure to work with this group of men. You ask them to do anything, I ask (Lions EDGE) Aidan (Hutchinson) to go play SAM OLB and I need you to drop curl flat, ‘No problem, coach.’ And these guys don’t blink. And that’s why it’s my job as the coordinator, it is my job to make sure these guys are in the proper positions where they can help us as a defense and as a team.”
On if he has a name for the four defensive tackle package: “Yeah, there’s a name. I’m not going to say it, but yeah it is. We have names for all groupings. Once you start to get into this flow of the season, you start to add guys back in that weren’t in, ‘Well, what are we going to call that?’ Because the guys – remember I said, ‘That’s my package, he’s not taking mine.’ So, then we kind of mess around, make names for different groupings. May name it somebody’s college, things like that. But man, these guys, it’s a joy. It’s really a joy to coach this group, a bunch of selfless guys who don’t care who’s making the play. They just want the play made.”
On if he looks forward to the challenge of figuring out how to get guys involved with the talent and depth he is getting back at cornerback: “I couldn’t ask for anything more. Because the number one thing it does is it provides competition within the football season. And in a lot of buildings in the NFL, competition stops after you break training camp. And that’s when you start to kind of see a level of complacent play, complacency throughout, and guys just thinking they come to work every day, ‘That’s my spot.’ And I mean, it’s human nature to, ‘It’s my spot, there’s no challenge, there’s nothing that can get me off this spot.’ But then when you start to look over your shoulder, ‘Oh wow. That guy played like that?’ A guy like (Lions CB) Rock Ya-Sin. Should we just pull him off the field? And that’s something I asked the whole DB room, ‘Y’all tell me if you were doing what he’s done, should we just snatch him off the field?’ So, you start to – (Lions DL) Tyleik Williams, his rep count went down for two, three weeks. Then he’d go out and get a 35-play sample size, and I thought he played at a high level. So, should I just snatch him off the field? And then once you start to breed that, it breeds natural competition. And the fact that the front office, (Lions Head Coach) Dan (Campbell) has kind of pinpointed these types of guys who are selfless, it doesn’t create any type of conflict. If anything, it generates competition, it creates urgency within our unit to know, anybody could go make that play. So, it doesn’t have to be you. So, you better make sure you’re on your stuff day in and day out, because with the point we’re at in the season, the urgency that we demand and we need right now, anybody can get pulled. And that’s not a negative thing, it’s just the guy that we’re putting in we’re so confident in, that we’re not going to let anybody slip below the line of the standard that these guys have set.”
On if the defense has to adjust if Giants QB Jaxson Dart plays: “Just watching as a natural football fan, I saw some of him at Ole Miss. And then I saw him in the League now with the sample size that I’ve gotten on him, and you can tell a player like that to run less. But within his competition nature, if he’s out there, he’s going to run the football. So, we’re preparing for a healthy Jaxson Dart if he’s the guy, and if it’s my man (Giants QB Jameis Winston) J Boogie, we’re prepared to take him on. But they have a lot of depth in that quarterback room where they can go down to their third guy, and it’s a Super Bowl champion. So, there’s not like anything’s going to change as far as the plan. Obviously, the QB run game stuff you have to be more prepared for, because we do believe it will uptick in the illusion of the QB run, so to say, if Jaxson plays. But we’ll be ready for any guy that they put out there Sunday.”
On when he saw the potential that Lions DL Alim McNeill could play on the edge: “I believed it his first, second year. We called him a dancing bear. He’s light on his feet, he’s explosive. His first steps, just as fast as our defensive end room. Yeah, I said it. It’s just as fast. So, when you see a player like that – again, not trying to force anybody on the field. But if there is a why and a legit reason behind it, we’ll make it happen. The whole plan is to put your best 11 out there, and I’m afforded the opportunity to coach at an organization that believes in that as well. They don’t care. (Lions Head Coach) Dan (Campbell) has never said one time, ‘Why is this guy, why didn’t that guy play?’ He has full faith, trust, and belief that we’re going to put these players in the best position possible.”
On the Eagles’ touchdown drive and what he thinks went wrong from a defensive perspective: “The one drive that they did have, again, I look back at our touchdown drives throughout the course of the season, I don’t know how much you guys track that. But if you really go look at them, it’s come by way of explosive plays. All but three I believe, if I’m not mistaken. And that’s something that we know has become a real emphasis, because if guys don’t get explosive plays, they can’t score. If guys can’t score, we’ll win the football game. So, there are a lot of things that could’ve went better, I could’ve done a better job as a play-caller. Putting the guys I know, I believe it was second-and-18, and they did a late substitution bringing (Eagles RB) Tank (Bigsby) in, and we knew when Tank Bigsby came in the game, it was a high run percentage. And I could’ve put our players in a better position on that second-and-18 to get that ball down. And then that one run alone kind of led and gave them life and momentum, and they ended up scoring on that drive.”
On why he believes this defensive group has the ability to put out fires when put in situations to do so: “Because it started back in the offseason, and it started at training camp. We went into this thing understanding that we wanted to play complementary football. We didn’t want to just live on the back of our offense. Now, we’ve been afforded a great opportunity. One of the best quarterbacks in the League, one of the best receivers, one of the best running backs, one of the best – and that narrative has been such in Detroit that we win games because of offense. And as a defensive player, as a defensive coach, that’s a luxury. But at the same time, it makes you feel a certain type of way. We want this to be a complementary team. Not, ‘Oh those guys are the superstars and they’re winning because of them.’ Or, ‘We’re winning because we have the best punter in the League.’ No, we want to win because we win in all three phases of the game. And I think that’s something this team is trending towards, and I just can’t wait to see the game where we all go out in all three phases, and able to put all our kind of eight games together. Because you see it, when the offense is on, when the defense is on, when the special teams is on, man. We have a chance to do something special this year.”
On if he believes the defense has reached a point where the offense does not need to take fourth down risks: “I love it. I absolutely love it, because that speaks volumes to me directly that our head coach believes no matter where I put this defense, they’re going to put the fire out. So, I don’t care if (Lions Head Coach) Dan (Campbell) goes for it on every fourth down. It’s our job as defense to go out there and stand tall in that test. We’re the firefighters on this team. What does that mean? If (Lions P) Jack Fox, which he rarely does, shanks a punt, we’re not complaining, nobody’s sucking their teeth. We’re running on the field even faster to make sure we’re able to go put out that fire. That’s the mentality you’ve got to have as a defensive player. No pointing the fingers, no ‘what if’ this, no ‘what if’ that. Always take the field like this unit did for the most part of that Philadelphia game, understanding no matter the situation, we are able to go in and control the elements to our liking down in and down out. So, yeah. The guys did a great job with that.”
LIONS SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR DAVE FIPP QUOTE SHEET
November 20, 2025
On how the team can go about trying to manufacture the better returns that Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell said he would like to see: “Yeah, I think a lot of the return game is you just keep swinging a bat and keep going after it. I think some things that have gone on in the return game – number one, I would always start with could I do a better job? Sure, I will say that. We can try to help (Lions WR Kalif Raymond) Leaf get started a little bit better. We can help our kickoff return schematically a little bit better, I would certainly say that. But number two, I think some of it is just keep swinging the bat. Punt return, I think some of these guys – Leaf had obviously a touchdown return. Anytime that happens, then your opponent starts saying, ‘OK, how can we eliminate this guy?’ And I think in that game you saw those end-over-end punts that were short and wide where they really didn’t have a good net on the day, I think. With the penalty, it might have been like 38 yards on the punt for them. So, if they punt the ball short, 40 yards down the field, they’re probably not going to have a lot of return chances. One of the punts it looked like we were going to have actually a good opportunity. Their guy miss-hit it. It went off to the left side of the field, which they weren’t really trying to do but it ended up working out for them. So, there’s some of that. Everything’s just got to kind of come together on some of those plays. Kickoff return, we’ve just got to keep swinging. It’s a tough play. I think the hardest part about the kickoff return play is it’s tough on both sides. You talk to special teams coaches and they’re like, ‘Man, I feel like it’s so hard to cover but I also feel like it’s so hard to return the ball.’ So, we’ll just keep swinging. I mean we’ve had some good returns. I think our drive start’s not terrible when you look around the League on either side of that play. I think you always want more. I think another thing that happens for us is Leaf’s so competitive returning the ball, he catches the ball on the punt return and he gets one yard. And everyone’s like, ‘Oh, man.’ It’s like a failure, I think they would rather see a fair catch and they’d feel better about it. But it’s like because he returned it and got one yard it was like this negative play, but that was a yard better than fair-catching it. Or he got five yards on the one that’s five yards better than fair-catching it. We definitely have an approach of we’re fighting for every blade of grass. And so, if we get five yards, it’s better than taking a fair catch. A lot of teams fair catch, fair catch, fair catch, ‘Oh, it’s wide open. Let me return the ball.’ Well yeah, they’ve got a better return average than we do but they don’t necessarily have better field position at the end of the game. And so, we play the big picture, not really the individual thing also. So, there’s probably a lot that goes into it but yeah, certainly I could do better and help these guys be in a better spot. I think with kickoff return play, certainly.”
On how the fake punt made sense to run against a great Eagles defensive front: “Yeah, I think – no, I totally get what you’re saying. It doesn’t sound good but sometimes what doesn’t sound good actually ends up being good. And I think if you look around the League through the years, you’ll see a handful of times where the defense has been on the field and what happens with those guys is they don’t think that the ball is going to be run on them because they’re out there. And every time they’re out there, they just punt the ball. And then all of the sudden, you get up underneath their pads and you roll them back for a yard and it happens so quick on a guy that it ends up working out. And so, I would just say that there’s a number of examples of that happening through the years in this League where a guy gets caught off guard. And the gist of the play was more along those lines, not understanding that these guys are big players and good players. But yeah, I think if you just said go along with the fact that we’re never going to take a risk or take a chance, well then you would never ever fake it or do any of that. And anyway, the bottom line – I would say the same thing on that play – I could do better. I mean our blocking technique could’ve been better, our pad level, I could’ve coached those guys better. We could have fit them up better on the block – certainly on the right-hand side, the left side the guy kind of went low on us. It would’ve been tough.”
On if the fake punt would have worked if the Eagles’ defense had played the fake punt different in those situations: “Yeah, I feel like they were definitely alert that we’re an aggressive team, probably. And so, they played maybe a little bit different or a little bit more aggressive, but not a ton. But yeah, maybe a little, which is fair. At the end of the day, for us, we could have executed better.”
On how difficult it is as a coach to replace really good special teams players with more inexperienced players: “No, I mean obviously the more great players you have, the easier it’s going to be. It’s a no-brainer statement. But no, I feel like we have really good players still. And I feel like the truth is I feel like in a lot of ways those guys have done a lot of very good things. There are some things that haven’t been good enough, there are a lot of areas I could get better. But overall, the results – I don’t know – sixth-best in net punt, something like that. We’re top-10-ish on kickoff, kickoff return, drive start – something like that. So I don’t think the performance has been like awful. But we also haven’t made as many plays or explosive plays and so sometimes people think, ‘Well how come you’re not doing that every week?’ And that’s just not reality I guess, a little bit. So, I think it would be unfair to say that those guys have played poorly. But do we have a high standard and expect to play better? For sure. Certainly myself – I told you guys a week ago – I mean I hate it anytime the ball gets past the 30 on kickoff. But it’s going to be hard to do that and if you live that way, you’re going to ride the wave of ups and downs and you’ve got to be somewhat realistic. And then I think as to your question with the changing of the players and new players – I think I said this a year ago, but that’s really the reality of the NFL now. I mean injuries happen all the time for every team. It always feels like they happen to you more than anyone else and I think probably as a fan, as a coach, for all of us, ‘Oh man, we have so many. No one else.’ But you look around, everyone’s dealing with the exact same thing. So, I would say that’s really life in the National Football League nowadays. There are guys up, down, you have to adjust the roster. I think if you’re any good as a coach, you embrace that and feel like, ‘Hey, that’s the challenge and part of the challenge of the thing is trying to find a way to get guys in different positions.’ I tell you guys every training camp that my goal in training camp is to learn as much about every player as I can so that when they have to play, we can hopefully put them in the best position possible with their skillset. So, anyway, yeah I think you’ve just got to embrace it. It’s a part of the League and the more you embrace it, the better off you’re going to be.”
On if he went up to Lions WR Jameson Williams about his penalty after the touchdown to relay how it affected his unit or if he leaves that up to Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell: “Yeah, I think Dan would probably be the best guy for that. And the truth is I saw him coming off the field and I saw Dan talked to him, so I knew I didn’t have to say anything. But yeah, to me it really doesn’t – if you’re a specialist or in my job, I mean it doesn’t matter. They say, ‘Field goal,’ then we go out there and kick a field goal. The ball’s on the 30, it’s on the 30, it’s a 48-yarder and if it’s on the 15, it’s a 33-yarder. And it really doesn’t matter. So, I don’t get too caught up in the, ‘Oh, I can’t believe that happened to us.’ I mean our job is to go out there and make the kick. If we go out there and make the kick, then we’re not even worried about it. And so yeah, on that I don’t blame – we didn’t execute on the kick and that was unfortunate. I did think that kick at the end of the game was a big one. 54-yarder going that direction, that stadium late in the game, with (Lions K Jake) Bates too. It’s a credit to him because he had been going through some ups and downs – it’s well documented – and that one was with everything on the line right there for a chance to keep playing the game. The game would’ve been over if we miss that, so he gives us a chance to keep playing. It’s from 54 yards against a good field goal block unit and where he can’t hit a low ball and he crushed it. So, that was good.”
On if Lions K Jake Bates can do anything to tweak where he is kicking the ball: “No. I mean just working on his technique, his ball contact, where he’s striking it maybe. I mean yeah, no. Nothing crazy, but yeah. I mean little things, sure. Making sure he gets underneath the ball a little bit more.”
On if there was a difference in technique between Lions K Jake Bates kicking his missed PAT from 50 yards and the field goal he made from 54 yards or if it was just the wind contributing and if there is an art to kicking through conditions like the Eagles game: “Yeah. Well yeah, there’s whole conversations. Yeah, the best thing you could do kicking in conditions like that is drive the ball, which then you’re talking about a little bit lower trajectory. So, for us in that game, that’s not the best thing that we could do, especially on this week. But yeah, I mean the best thing you could do in wind is if you’ve got a kicker who’s a real powerful leg and you can get him to drive the ball just a little bit and still get enough on it that it goes over the line, but also low enough where it’s going to cut through most of those conditions – up to a certain yardage. And then you really don’t have to adjust the kick left or right if you can do that. But for us, yeah, in that game obviously we want to get under the ball more and so now the wind affects it more. So, all those things add up. But yeah, I would say on the miss it just was not a classic miss, but he just missed the ball a little bit. He was just inside-out on it or off his toe – however you want to say it – and then it shoots off to the right just a little bit there.”
