LIONS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR JOHN MORTON QUOTE SHEET
October 9, 2025
On if he is a baseball fan: “Oh, yeah. Growing up? Sparky Anderson, man, ‘Bless You Boys’ 1984. That was awesome, man.”
On his Friday night routine: “Friday I go home, I get a two hour nap and then go eat dinner. I’m in bed at eight. I must do that, or I can’t function.”
On Chiefs Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo and what makes him so successful: “I mean, he’s got a lot of experience. He does a good job with his scheme. Especially now, he’s had the same type of players for a few years now there. So, they don’t even think twice about whatever he calls. He does a good job with the scheme, he tries to see what your strengths are, and he tries to take it away. Just like what every other defensive coordinator does. He’s got a really good blitz package, so we’ve got our work cut out for us. Gone against them a lot being in that division.”
On the biggest challenges of preparing for similar but different defensive schemes: “I think the biggest thing is is not having a ton of stuff, or maybe new stuff in an offensive gameplan. You want to be able to go out and play fast, and I think that’s the most important thing with a game like this in that environment with all the stuff that he does. I think it’s important to make sure we’re on point on everything, and don’t want to have a lot of new stuff. There are a couple wrinkles here and there so we can see what they are doing, I think that’s important. I mean, he kept me up late last night. So, he does a really good job. He’s got four Super Bowls for a reason.”
On Lions T Giovanni Manu and what he contributed in Cincinnati: “I do think it was encouraging, I really do. There were some things, communication-wise or technique-wise, that he could’ve done better. But listen, we won the game. The plan was set up to protect that side, the coaches did a great job with that. But I was encouraged, I was encouraged. I mean, he’s young. He’s young. He’ll learn from his mistakes, and he gets another chance, he’ll do better. Just the more and more – you know how it is, the more reps you get, the better you’re going to become. But I was encouraged.”
On what he has seen from Lions OL Tate Ratledge and how he is settling in: “From game one, just the communication part. And again, I still think going against (Lions Defensive Coordinator Kelvin Sheppard) Shepp in training camp has helped these guys a lot, especially someone like him. It’s really a similar scheme. Shepp played for (Chiefs Defensive Coordinator Steve) Spagnuolo before, so. But I just think he keeps getting better and better and better with the RCE (recognize, communicate, execute) as I say it. And when you do that, the game kind of slows down for you a little. You just have to make sure your technique is sound. It’s just a couple things with his technique, whether it’s a twist here and there and the communication. So, I think that’s where he’s grown. Again, I think he’s got a bright future.”
On the biggest difference from playing left tackle versus right tackle and if the left side is more valuable to protect: “I mean back in the day it used to be like that, but now you see these defensive ends, they go on the other side. But that’s the blind side of the quarterback. You’ve got a right-handed quarterback, so yeah, you want to make sure that side is protected well. You’ve got to ask (Lions Head Coach) Dan (Campbell) the question about who’s going to be there, but it’s important to protect the blind side of the quarterback. We did a good job with that last week. Whether you’re sliding over there, or whether you’re chipping over there, you have to do that. You might have to get the ball out a little bit faster. So, I think that’s important. You don’t want them sitting back there and waiting for someone to get open. With this defense, you can’t do that. And last week we were on schedule, we didn’t have many third downs. It was first second, first second, short fields, and we were scoring. So, I think that helped big time.”
On how to help free up Lions RB David Montgomery to continue his production in the run game: “Well, you can throw it, but we don’t do that. We block it up, man. Because we’ve got wideouts that can block. Now, if you don’t have wideouts who can block, that’s a different story. But our wideouts block. They’re the best in football, and a lot of teams, they see a loaded box like that, they’re just throwing it. But not with our guys. It’s pretty impressive what our wideouts do. That’s the reason why we’re one of the tops in the run game, because of what they do. And then it just helps out with everything else, the play-action and then the movement game and stuff. But this is who we are, you know that. I mean, we’re going to pound it no matter what, 10-man box, it doesn’t matter. So, we’ll just keep doing it until they stop it.”
On what makes Lions QB Jared Goff able to thrive against the blitz: “His film study, his preparation. He can see things. Like I said, the game is slowed down for him. He’s playing at a high level. But we’ve got our work cut out for us this week. There’s a lot of tape to watch. So, we have to be on point with everything. There’s always a when in doubt, we’ll do this just to be smart. So, there’s nothing wrong with the way our defense is playing, it’s OK just to punt.”
On how teams are covering Lions WR Jameson Williams and how much he plays a role in the vertical dimension of the game: “He’s got certain plays, and whether it gets called in the game, it just depends on what they’re doing. Like I said, we have to adapt and see what they’re doing. I mean, they played a lot of zone, more zone last week. Like, two high. They really didn’t do that. I think that’s a Jameson effect. I mean, there’s a lot of weapons. So, they changed it up a little bit, and it took a little bit of his throws away. Listen, every game’s different like I told you guys. Everybody’s got a certain amount of plays, there’s a lot of guys that I’ve got to try to get the ball. I was feeling (Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown) Saint last week, rightfully so, right? He helped us win that game. Like I said, I don’t care what the coverage is, I’m going to call his number. He’s reliable. And the quarterback knows that, too. But I think with Jameson out there, there’s a big threat out there. And teams are now just playing a little bit different.”
On what makes an organization like Kansas City able to succeed for long: “You can start with that quarterback, and the head coach, he does a heck of a job. (Chiefs Head Coach) Andy Reid’s a great coach. I admire him because – Andy Reid was in the west coast offense forever. And then when he drafted (Chiefs QB Patrick) Mahomes, (former Chiefs QB) Alex Smith was there that one year. People forget Mahomes sat for a year, and he watched. But Andy Reid just totally flipped a script on his philosophy to adapt to that quarterback, and I think that’s what great coaches do. Even though you don’t want to do it, but you have to play to that guy’s strengths. But it’s hard to do it every year. To do what they do every year, it’s tough, man. It’s tough. But it all starts with that quarterback. And they’ve got a good scheme, they’ve got a good scheme and (Chiefs Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo) Spags has been there. So, when you’ve got continuity all the time, it helps.”
On if Kansas City’s continuity has been the key to their success: “I think it is. Again, it starts with the quarterback. It starts with the organization, the head coach, having the same guys all the time. And that’s hard to do. Some guys don’t want to leave because they get used to winning, or some guys take the money, and they leave. But man, they stay together. That’s the reason why they’ve had a lot of success, just the continuity over the years since (Chiefs Head Coach) Andy (Reid)’s been there. But as long as that quarterback’s there, they have a chance.”
On if there is any defense that would not make him feel confident in Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown: “No. I told him, I don’t care. I mean, there were some things that shouldn’t have happened, and it did. That’s a good thing. But there’s other guys. There’s going to be other guys that step up, because the more him and (Lions TE Sam) LaPorta, they’re going – they take them away, there’s other guys that they have to take care of. That’s the beauty of what we have here is personnel. It’s a good problem to have.”
On Lions TE Sam LaPorta’s ability to give room for Lions QB Jared Goff to throw the ball: “He’s smart, he’s savvy, and he’s really good after the catch. Like, we had 171 yards after the catch last week. That’s pretty impressive, and a lot of that was LaPorta. But listen, when you’ve got a guy like that – again, it’s another guy that does everything right, and it’s a comfort level for the quarterback too. And you’ve got a couple of guys like that man, it can be deadly. That’s the way (Chiefs TE Travis) Kelce’s been over the years. He’s just a real savvy guy. Sometimes the routes don’t look that way or sometimes he cuts a route off because he sees that, and him and the quarterback on the same page, they just know each other. I think that’s one of the reasons why they’ve had success.”
LIONS DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR KELVIN SHEPPARD QUOTE SHEET
October 9, 2025
Opening Statement: “So a little recap, obviously, off the Cincinnati game, guys trending in the right direction. I’m going to take the (Lions EDGE Aidan Hutchinson) Hutch approach like I did last week. Not going to let it overtake my mind and bring it up or nothing. But I’m just going to say we started the game fast for the first time this season, so we started fast guys. And then obviously these guys came off the bus ready to go at Cincy. They understood the assignment and they went out and executed it. Like I said, as you guys probably saw, we played those guys a little differently with some of the coverages that you saw were different from the previous four games. And those guys executed at a high level, I mean in totality. We knew we had to stop the run with a light box, those guys did that all day. You look at the average, I think they averaged five-point-something a carry. But both of the running backs had under 30 yards, the leading rusher on the day was the quarterback – I want to say he had 30 yards on like six carries. The one for the 13 yards down in the red zone when the guys’ tanks were just empty at the end of the game in that last drive kind of bit us as far as numbers are concerned. Third down, I thought we were outstanding all day, despite the late game 64-yard touchdown to (Bengals WR Ja’Marr) Chase. And why that’s so unfortunate is because everybody sees that play and they see (Lions CB) Amik Robertson. And he’s an aggressive player, the exact reason why and how we assigned him to Ja’Marr in that game is what kind of came back to bite him late in the game. He was making a lot of plays on the ball, so he got greedy in the situation that he did in. I’ll share with y’all like I told the team and like I told the unit, it’s just a shame because this guy is going out and completely strapped up and eliminated two of the best receivers in football and he doesn’t get the credit because Chase left that game with 110 yards. But the real ball guys know and Chase knows, he had I think 50 yards before that 64-yarder. And Chase has a lot of respect for Amik – they’re both from the Louisiana area. So that’s why you saw that during – I just wanted to throw that out there because Amik, we give him tall tasks and he comes off the bench mid-season, late-season, early-season and, ‘We need you to go get the number one receiver,’ and he never has batted an eye since I’ve been around him from afar and now up close as the coordinator. So, I wanted to make sure I showed him love there. We knocked it out in the red zone, we need to be better – we allowed two scores down there, both late in the game. We have to continue to keep the trend, like we did the previous two weeks, of limiting teams to three points there, make that a four-point swing. But for 51, 52 plays I thought we played at an incredibly high level as a defense. We allowed 14 points in the last 13 plays of the game – obviously that can’t happen. And I don’t want to hear the narrative of, ‘(Lions CB Terrion Arnold) T.A. left the game. This guy left the game.’ I told you guys from the start we have a 69-man roster. If you have one of those spots, you’re expected to come in and hold the line of the standard that the starters have set in place since training camp. But I can’t speak enough on these guys. These players, what a privilege and honor it is to coach this group. Like it really is. It’s no task too big, no task too small for these guys. They understand their roles week-to-week, and these guys are going out and adapting and adjusting week-to-week to the gameplans that us as a staff put together for them.”
On how much he loves that Lions CB Amik Robertson plays well and still thinks about how he can improve: “Amik is literally my dog. Like that’s what I call – that is my pit bull. The ultimate respect. And I’ve got a lengthy history from afar with this player. I have a really close friend of mine (LSU Director of Player Personnel) Jeff Martin, he’s in player personnel at LSU. And he saw Amik coming out and the first thing he ever told me when we got Amik, he said, ‘You just got a dog.’ He said, ‘I stood on the table at LSU years ago when they said he was too small. I watched him put on a knee brace and go out at LSU camp and ask for (Vikings WR) Justin Jefferson in one-on-ones.’ That’s stuff that people don’t know about this player. He’s always had the underdog mentality, people have always told him he wasn’t good enough, ‘You’re too small,’ this and that. And all he’s done is put his head down and continue to work and that’s why you see this player be able to plug and play. That’s not easy. It’s one thing to plug and play, it’s another thing to plug and play and get tasked with the receivers he’s tasked with. I mean we’re talking about the elite of the elite in the League, and he doesn’t bat an eye. And it’s not fake, it’s not phony, it’s real. It’s who he is and it’s a part of his DNA. I love everything about Amik.”
On where he has seen Lions LB Jack Campbell make the biggest jump: “That’s hard because it’s hard to say mentally. Because when I sat with him in Indianapolis in the Combine interviews, I saw it there, so it’s hard. But mentally he’s taken a step. He’s seeing the game how I see it from a coordinator perspective. I’ve mentioned to (Lions Head Coach) Dan (Campbell) previously – especially the last two weeks – his uptick. He not only – let me not discredit (Lions Linebackers Coach) Shaun Dion Hamilton and the job he’s done because I got it. Shaun Dion Hamilton, he knows it. He has to quote unquote, ‘Live in my shadows.’ That’s BS. He’s doing things his way with that room and he’s doing it at a high level. Now, make no mistake about it, I was Jack’s coach for a few years so the carryover there, him understanding my lingo, how I think now has expanded broader now that I’m able to call the plays. And he comes up, he meets with me every week. That’s something that he does not have to do but he wants to because he wants to understand, ‘Why are you calling that, Shepp, on second-and-5? Well why do you call that? Why do you tell the nickel that he needs to do this?’ He’s asking me this so then he can in turn go back player to player and hold these players accountable. And he wants to be able to – if the green dot, if it goes out, he believes he’s supposed to call the game and he takes pride in that. And I mean, the ability – you guys see the effort this guy plays with, you should see him at practice because the exact same thing. I mean I call him a machine. You remember, I think two weeks ago y’all said how would I like Jack being my teammate. You remember my answer, right? I wouldn’t like it a lot because I wouldn’t play at all. And you guys are seeing that now. Just, I mean you love everything about him. He’s all ball. His family from Iowa, they’re all ball – all they know is football and farming. And this guy was built and born to be a middle linebacker and it’s been an absolute joy and honor to watch him. And I’m continuing to watch him progress under – I want to remind you guys – Shaun Dion Hamilton’s tutelage. He’s done a phenomenal job with that player and his growth I’ve seen take place week-to-week.”
On if he has examples of times when the headset went out and Lions LB Jack Campbell communicated plays: “Well Friday practices, he’s waved me off a couple of times and I’ve told him, ‘You better stop doing that.’ But, he’ll give me the, ‘What’s the personnel?’ 12, ‘Got it.’ I’m like, ‘Woah, alright.’ But I like it though, it’s really good when you have a guy take that much pride in his profession, you respect and admire it. So that’s why I give him that free rein and that rope to – him and (Lions LB) Alex (Anzalone) legitimately can check out of any play and I’ll never second-guess it. It will come up if I disagree and I’ll tell them the why behind why I think they shouldn’t have. But I’ll never second-guess it in game, I’ll never question their decisions in game because I want those guys to feel that ownership of their defense. This isn’t my defense, this is their defense, I just have the luxury of calling it.”
On how rare it is to have a linebacker who sees the game just like the defensive coordinator does: “It’s rare when you’re talking about a guy that can call the game as a player. It is because of the time it takes. A lot of these guys are talented and that kind of bites a lot of these guys because when you hit a certain talent peak, you feel like you don’t need to do certain things. And that’s just human nature, like, ‘I don’t need to study extra. I know I’ve got this guy, I’m going to go eliminate him.’ But when you start to see those elite of the elite who has the athletic ability and all the skillset but also they feel like it’s never good enough, it’s never enough. ‘Yeah I mastered the scheme but now I want to know why you’re saying that coach.’ That’s kind of rare, you’re starting to get into that upper echelon of the green dot linebackers in this League that you’ve seen throughout the course. I’m talking go back to (former NFL LB Brian) Urlacher, go back to (former NFL LB) Ray (Lewis), you go back to all of these guys that’s been able to do that – (former NFL LB Luke) Kuechly. And these guys that you’ve seen be able to adjust on the run in-game without a coach having to be over their shoulder. It’s rare and we have the luxury of having two of them. It’s not just Jack. (Lions LB) Alex (Anzalone) actually has been doing this for two, three years now. So, to have him out there without the green dot, it’s almost like Jack sometimes, you’ll see him look and (Lions LB Alex Anzalone) Anzo’s like, ‘Yeah.’ And it’s like Batman and Robin and with those two on the field, they’re the calming presence in the storm. When things are hectic, when things are getting a little frustrated out there, they’re the guys that say, ‘Hey, this is what we’re doing. We’re good. This is why he called that, we’re good. Trust me, it was a good call.’ They’re able to echo that message that I’m bringing in the locker room and in the huddle with the players that I know hits a little different.”
On what the defense must emphasize in the gameplan for playing against Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes: “Yeah, they gave me murderer’s row my first year as a coordinator, I told people. As far as the play-callers and the quarterbacks, they weren’t going to take it easy on me. But make no mistake guys, we’re going up against a Hall of Fame coach and a Hall of Fame quarterback. Right now, if they stop their careers, they are going in the Hall in Canton. So, the utmost respect for these guys – what they’ve done and what they’re currently doing to be able to hold the line. Their standard is championships and to be able to hold that line for almost a decade, we understand how hard that is now in the realm that we’re in here. So, let’s start there. And then as far as schematics, I mean it’s all over the place. You can’t get any tells and tendencies. I’ve always respected and revered (Chiefs Head Coach Andy) Coach Reid, but now I see why. It’s always the why with me and I always wanted to know why people viewed him in such high regard. Now having to gameplan against him, I see why. It’s unorthodox, he’s going to keep you off-kilter on defense, he’s never going to show his hand. And by that, what I mean is some coordinators will show you what they’re doing per down and distance, it’s always off-base. And then the off-schedule plays that 15’s able to make – (Chiefs QB Patrick) Pat Mahomes – it’s why that offense goes because the play is never over with him. Just when you think it’s over, it’s not. And that’s just understanding that and then this is going to be the most explosive group that we’ve seen and probably will see. It’s a track team over there. Andy Reid’s always built his teams like that. When I played in Buffalo, I came out of the tunnel when I was playing Philadelphia and I see (former NFL QB Michael) Mike Vick, (former NFL WR) DeSean Jackson, (former NFL WR) Jeremy Maclin, I mean (former NFL RB LeSean) “Shady” McCoy. And now you look up, it’s the same thing, I told this to the staff, I looked through those speeds, I saw 4.24, 4.28, 4.32, 4.4. I was like, ‘Woof. Let’s stay deep. Let’s stay back.’ No, but seriously, and that’s how they bleed you. They cut you, cut you, cut you and then they knife you and it’s death by a thousand cuts with them because they can do it in a bunch of different ways. So, we understand that. But seriously, the utmost respect and we’re going to prepare with the utmost respect and be ready for 60 minutes of high-level football come Sunday.”
On what Chiefs Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo means to him: “Yeah, it’s unbelievable. I owe Spags a lot. Obviously, it starts with (Lions Head Coach) Dan Campbell, (Jets Head Coach) Aaron Glenn as far as my progression as a coach in this profession. Hands on, giving me opportunity and all of that. But Spags was one of the first guys outside of Dan to believe in my ability to be a coach, told me a long time ago. It’s the reason why I meet with (Lions LB) Jack (Campbell) the way I do because that’s the first coordinator I had expand my mind like that at the NFL level. In college it was John Chavis – they called him ‘Chief’ – in the League, it was Steve Spagnuolo. And give me the freedom to do things on the field because he trusted me. And that player-to-coach relationship expanded to post-career. He was the guy pushing me, ‘You need to go coach. You need to coach. Here’s the why’s.’ He always explained the why’s. I appreciated coaches like that. And believing in me, but then importantly, pouring into me non-stop. Now, I haven’t heard the phone ring this week but before this, constant. I mean I’m like, ‘You’ve got a game today, don’t you?’ He was like, ‘Good luck. I’m rooting for you brother.’ Training camp, every week – I mean weekly – I’m going to have a text message from Spags, ‘You need anything? You got any thoughts? Anything?’ And he doesn’t have to do that. I mean he’s a Hall of Fame defensive coordinator. He has a million things on his plate over there. They’re expected to win the Super Bowl every year and granted he finds time to reach out to me. So, I mean I owe a lot to Spags. Obviously outside of this week we talk on the regular. And that’s why you see a lot of replications. Like our offense said, ‘Kind of looks like y’all on third down Shepp. Some of these coverages kind of look like you.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, duh.’ But, no, just the utmost respect for those guys in totality, but Spags definitely holds a special place with me.”
On what he is seeing from other defenses that the average fan does not understand as to why Lions WR Jameson Williams has not been getting the ball: “I would hope the average fan appreciate 34 points a game, is it, 30-something points a game. I hope the average or below-average fan, I hope a kid would appreciate their team – their hometown team – scoring 30 points a game. But I can’t imagine the job that (Lions Offensive Coordinator) John Morton’s tasked with. He’s done an unbelievable job. I mean if I got handed the keys to that and got told, ‘You have five to six high level players that expect 10 touches a game.’ Well, I need 80 plays on offense to get that done. You know what I mean? It’s a time and place for everything. It’s no different than defense, deploying when you have – when (Lions LB) Malcolm (Rodriguez) comes back, (Lions LB) Zach (Cunningham) comes back. You’ve got four, five starting-caliber linebackers. Well, there’s going to be people asking, ‘When is Malcolm going to play? Or when is Zach going to play at all?’ It’s about the right time and place for everything. And finding that maybe he’s opening up windows for all of these explosive underneath routes that you’re seeing (Lions TE Sam) LaPorta, (Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown) Saint, (Lions RB Jahmyr) Gibbs have because you’ve got to keep a shell over top of them. So, when I hear things like that, I just would hope that not only the fans but the media, everybody understands the job that John Morton has been tasked with taking over that offense. And then let’s just congratulate him for the job that he’s done and not try to nitpick at things about, ‘Why isn’t this guy, why isn’t that guy getting the ball?’ He’s doing an incredible job and right now I think we’re number one scoring in offense, which helps me as a defensive coordinator.”
LIONS SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR DAVE FIPP QUOTE SHEET
October 9, 2025
On Lions K Jake Bates’ progression on kickoffs and what has gone into his growth: “Yeah, that was awesome. I thought he did a great job, the coverage group did a great job really all game long. It starts with the kicker, that play. The kicker has a huge effect on the outcome of it. We talked about it, some of these guys getting the ball on the ground, some of it’s location. Last week I said I think in this conference, location was big on the play, and he did a great job. You don’t want to take the touchback, you also don’t want to kick it to the 15 either and have them coming downhill back at you. And I think he put them down inside the five almost every time with good width and location on the ball, too. And that’s the big part of it also is kind of the location of it, width wise on the field based off kind of the look you’re getting, you might want it different spots. So, there’s a lot that goes into it. But he’s done a nice job, he’ll continue to improve. We’ll go outside again, looks like maybe a little bit more wind and stuff like that, so we might have to kick right and left. But should be good.”
On Lions WR Dominic Lovett and how he identifies a player who has the skillset to be able to return punts efficiently: “Biggest challenge, I mean, a lot of these guys can go back there and catch kickoffs but catch and punt is a whole other story. It’s just a different animal. But obviously, he’s got a great skillset. He’s kind of a make-you-miss, short areas spaces, start stop, redirect. And so, anytime you see a player like that, you naturally think, ‘Well I wonder if he can be a punt returner.’ I think he had done a little bit of it in the past, but just not a ton of it. So, obviously all training camp and since we’ve had him, really since the offseason we had him in here and said, ‘Hey, man. One thing that could really help your game and get you a role on a team, whether it be here or someone else, really, is start catching these punts and add that to your repertoire.’ And he did a good job in the preseason for us. We had him back there, I thought he fielded the ball well. So, when (Lions WR Kalif Raymond) Leaf went out, obviously we got him in there.”
On how valuable WR Kalif Raymond is in teaching other guys his strategies and getting them ready to return punts: “Kalif’s incredible. The thing about the punt returner position that you don’t realize until – or a lot of people don’t realize until they lose a guy like Leaf is, so much of the job description is really thinking and it’s like, ‘What’s the situation of the game? Do I think I can catch that punt? Am I not sure? Do I have to let it bounce?’ You want to be as competitive as you can, but you also have to make good decisions. You can’t put the team at risk, you’ve got to communicate to the jammers, the guys that are holding up their gunners on the outside, whether you’re catching the ball or not. If you are, or if you’re getting close to them, you’ve got to give them a warning like you’re getting close to those guys so they can get off the block and get away from you. So anyways, there’s a lot to it with the decision making and all that. But I thought (Lions WR Dominic) Lovett did a good job in the game. He let the ball go, obviously the two balls that went back deep for touchbacks and made good decisions.”
On what he likes about the development of Lions S Loren Strickland on special teams: “Strick, he got a chance, he’s played for us a year ago a little bit and then – I think some of his play a year ago was up and down, and then he got a chance to go into this game and play and I thought he played really well for us in this last game. So, he’s one of those players where – I always say this League is really not a developmental League. People always talk about development, development, development. You’re unable to develop a player unless he can already help you out. So, he’s a guy who provides some value, he can help us, so now he’s got a chance to stick around and be on the practice squad. And now he does get a chance to develop. So, you’re able to develop guys if they can help you in ways, and he’s a guy who provides some value on special teams certainly and has shown that over and over whether it be last year, last preseason, this preseason. So anyway, he has had a chance to develop because he has provided some value for the team, and I thought he did a nice job. You can tell he’s improving.”
On Lions P Jack Fox and what he thought about the punt unit in Cincinnati: “Yeah, I thought obviously the ball placement was big down there. I thought we punted out in the field, I called a field anything up to the 40-yard line, minus 40-yard line. And we had two field punts in the game, the one was obviously that huge punt, 63-yard punt that stuck on the ground. Which by the way, just so you know, why does (Lions WR Kalif Raymond) Leaf return all those balls back there deep? Well, I think I’ve told you before, a lot of those balls that turn over stick. That one stuck for us. Their returner probably should have caught it and tried to return it, but they didn’t, (Lions WR Isaac) TeSlaa made a nice play on that one. The second field punt, we didn’t punt as well. We did a good job covering, the net was a little bit less. But situationally in that game, once the ball crossed the 40-yard line, I thought we punted the ball exceptionally well. So, yeah, he ended up doing a great job. Field position was big, I think they were pinned back there inside the five like four times after a punt, so that was huge.”
On Lions WR Kalif Raymond closing in on setting the franchise record for punt return yards and what it will mean to him: “I would say it’s a testament to who he is. He’s just a very competitive player, and I would also say it’s a testament to the guys who’ve been around him. The guys are blocking for him, holding up for him. He’s got a lot of faith and confidence in those guys. He catches and returns a lot of balls, he doesn’t take a lot of fair catches. He’s a great player, he’s very competitive. I mean, everybody loves him. Yeah, happy for him. Obviously probably a reflection of him and the team.”
On former Eagles Head Coach Doug Pederson confirming in a clip who suggested calling the infamous timeout before the ‘double doink’ field goal attempt in the 2018 NFC Wild Card game: “I had no idea about (the clip) until somebody did and said something to me coming down the hallway, and I was like, ‘Oh, this is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. I don’t think I said that, but.’ No, I don’t know, I don’t remember. I know this, I loved working for Doug Pederson, he’s a great guy and a very good coach, we obviously won the Super Bowl together. The craziest thing about the double doink play, well, a couple things. Number one, (former NFL K) Cody Parkey kicked for us when I was in Philly. And then I was still in Philly playing Chicago, and he was kicking for Chicago in that game. Anyway, the thing that no one talks about is that the kick was blocked at the line of scrimmage. And everyone says, ‘Well it was a double doink, he missed the kick.’ The kick was deflected at the line of scrimmage, so anytime the ball is deflected at the line of scrimmage and doesn’t go through the uprights, they call it a block. But no one ever talks about the fact that the ball was technically blocked. Now it was barely, the guy just nicked it. And they didn’t catch it at first, and so then replay ended up seeing it later on. But it just never got told in that whole storyline. And then I think, I don’t know, Cody said something the day or two after that didn’t go well or whatever it was, and so then it just took a life of its own. But I would say the other thing, Cody Parkey, he was a great guy, great kicker for us, and hated seeing that happen to him. That being said, obviously in the game, on that day, we were happy about the outcome.”
On who blocked the ‘double doink’ field goal attempt: “I forget the guy’s name. He was an interior player, hadn’t played a lot for us. He went out there and he just, man, he got off the ball and put his hands up, and it just barely flicks his finger.”
On how much slight contact with the ball after it is kicked can affect the outcome of where it lands: “I would say this, it definitely affects it, I know that. Now you can block a kick or tip the ball at the line and still have it go through, but if it doesn’t, then you call it a block.”
On what happened after the safety play at the end of the game in Cincinnati and why the Bengals violated the NFL’s new kickoff rules: “With the new onside kick rule, the ball’s got to stay within 25 yards of the line of scrimmage, in essence. So, that doesn’t matter if it was a kickoff in a normal situation, or a kickoff post-safety. That one happened to be a post-safety kickoff, or punt. But either way, the ball’s got to stay within 25 yards of the line of scrimmage or where the ball starts. That play, it started at the 20. So, 25 yards down the field is 45. So, we can only have nine guys in front of the 45. We have to have two guys behind it. So, in that play it was (Lions WR Dominic) Lovett and (Lions WR Amon-Ra) St. Brown were behind the 45. Their punter is out there because it has to be punted from there on a post-safety, so they had the option of doing whatever they want with the ball, just can’t touch the ground before he kicks it or punts it. So, he could hit some kind of an onside kick on the ground to one of our frontline players. They elected to hit that high ball. They hit the high ball, but the ball traveled 26/7 yards down the field – six, seven. No, I only laugh, it’s the funniest thing. The truth is, I only laugh because my son number one makes the whole thing a big deal. There’re all these things that are a big deal to these young kids. And then so I’m like, ‘What is six, seven?’ He’s like, ‘It’s a meme.’ I’m like, ‘Well, what’s a meme?’ I don’t even know what that is. Shoot. Anyways, so it was 26/7 yards down the field. So, then he said to me, he’s like, ‘Well you should like play a game and see how many times you can put it in a press conference.’ So, he’ll be laughing finding out that I actually did it. But it totally was an accident. Oh, man. Anyways, so the bottom line is the ball went too far. So, in that case, the penalty takes it from the line of scrimmage is half the distance to the goal line. So, from the 20, half the distance goes back to the 10. And technically on that play, had we not fielded the ball or had we touched it and not fielded it, the play’s already dead because he touched it past that 25 yards. So that was kind of the situation. There were a number of plays in there that were interesting.”
