| July 24, 2019 LIONS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR DARRELL BEVELL QUOTE SHEET On the amount of work done during the break by him to get to know the new system: “First, is reconnect with the family. Get back with them because we are living in different areas right now. But yeah there’s still a lot of knocking things around in my head, thinking about the personnel, thinking about where we might go next, what we’re going to do. It’s just really a fluid situation right now, that we’re trying to – when we go out there tomorrow will be the first time getting to see a couple guys that didn’t do any OTAs. Always thinking and always seeing where we can go next.” On where he thinks the offense is at after closing out mandatory mini-camp: “I think our guys have done a great job. Really all of them coming in and buying into the new system and just really coming in, putting their nose to the grind stone, getting to work. Learning the new language is really the way to describe it. It is a new language for them and then being able to carry that over to the field. I think they’ve really bought in. I think they’ve worked hard. They were dedicated, they were committed. You could see it on the field, how much work they were putting in.” On what percentage of his system he’s been able to install up to this point etc.: “We’ve touched on most of the areas. It’s still a growing process, but you have to hit all the different areas for your football team – whether it’s first and second down, third down, red zone, two-minute. All the situations you have to be able to hit. You have to teach your philosophy, teach your beliefs. We’ve been able to hit on most and we’ll continue to grow from there.” On the most important thing he has learned about QB Matthew Stafford: “As I told him, I was really impressed with his offseason. He had a lot going on, as we all know – he had some off field things with his family that he had to take care of, but he was really committed to us. He was here. He was putting his time in. He was working hard. He really lead the way on learning the offense and the verbiage and getting to know the new language. Sitting in the huddle being able call it, helping guys when they needed help. I was just impressed with the level of dedication and commitment that he had to us, with the other things he had going on.” On what he thought of QB Matthew Stafford as a quarterback before he started, and now as he has worked with him: “I was always an admirer from afar. I think he plays a great game. Obviously, we know about his ability to throw the ball. I was excited to get to know him on a personal level, get to know more about him. What he likes, what he doesn’t like. Just get those lines of communication going and open so that we can continue to grow from here.” On what he has learned about QB Matthew Stafford so far: “Well I think we’re still learning each other, and it’s no secret as I’ve already said before – things that he likes, that he feels comfortable doing, I think probably is a better way of saying it. Things that he’s not comfortable with, and sometimes those things that he might not be comfortable with is because he hasn’t done them enough. And then like sometimes, it’s like, ‘I’m not comfortable because I’m not good at them.’ And so we have to be able to grow together and say, ‘Hey I need to push you on this.’ Also I need to be flexible enough to say, ‘OK, yup, that’s right,’ then we won’t do those things. It’s a give and take, and it’s a learning and growing experience right now.” On what he thinks about QB Matthew Stafford’s season last year and how they can work together to make it better (than last year): “We’re really just kind of putting that behind us. We kind of just really scrapped the whole thing, so last year doesn’t really have any bearing on what is going on this year. So I’m more concerned about going forward, and what he does with this offense – how he picks it up. I said, his level of commitment to us has been great, and so just want to be able to see that continue to grow and do the best that we can within this offense.” On what he believes are key things to have implemented by the first game of the season: “I’ve already talked to him (QB Matthew Stafford), our communication has to be great. He has to be comfortable enough to come to me and have open lines of communication on what we like, what we don’t like, the things that we’re doing well. Obviously, I’ll have an opinion on it. I played the position, so I kind of know from his experience as well about sometimes you might not be comfortable with something. The coach might believe in it, it’s like, ‘Ah I’m just not comfortable with it.’ Again as I just said, it’s kind of that give and take – where is it where I need to say, ‘We do this better than you think, or ‘OK, I get it, let’s do something else.’ We’ve had some great conversations already. We’ve put a few things in that he feels comfortable with and other things we’re going to push him on. I think by the time we get there (first game of the season) we need to be able to have enough stuff, offensively, that we can challenge the defense, but not too much where it’s overloading ourselves. So that’s the balance that we’re trying to get right now.” On if there is a progress of becoming comfortable and strategically aligned with QB Matthew Stafford: “That’s where we need to get to. Yeah, that’s where we need to get to, and I’ve had that with some other quarterbacks I’ve worked with. It’s almost like, ‘Yup, I knew that was coming, and that’s exactly what I was expecting.’ You feel really comfortable and confident that way.” On an example of something he has implemented that QB Matthew Stafford has felt comfortable with: “I don’t really want to give away any strategical conversations that we’ve had, but it’s ongoing, but we’ve talked about a lot of things. I’ve already made a couple of adjustments just in terms of, maybe, menu of plays that we’ve had in before and said, ‘OK, let’s drop these two. And you really like these two, so let’s put these two in.’ We’re doing those kind of things.” On what he has seen from TE T.J. Hockenson this spring: “Number one, I’ve seen a big upgrade in that room. I mean with Jesse James, with Logan Thomas, with T.J. Hockenson, Isaac Nauta is in that room as well. We upgraded that room as a whole. We upgraded in height as well. It’s a big, tall room, but all those guys have come in. They’ve learned the offenses really well. They’ve worked hard again, as I’ve said. I mean, that’s going to kind of be the thing because they’ve really done a nice job of committing to it. As far as T.J. Hockenson, he just needs to come in and do what he’s capable of doing. Not try to, overthink things. Not try to ‘I’m this guy. This is where I got picked.’ He just needs to come in and play his game. I’ve seen him do that. I don’t think the game is going to be too big for him, and I like the way that he’s in there working.” LIONS DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR PAUL PASQUALONI QUOTE SHEET On the status of the defense: “Everybody’s here. So, we had a good morning, a good start. We’re anxious to get out there and see guys run, see what level of condition we are in as a team. We will start there, we will start at the very, very beginning, you do every year. Regardless of what happened last year, 16-0 or 0-16 you are starting over every year. I’ve always looked at it that way. I’ve been doing this a lot of years and it’s hard for me to change that approach.” On the evolution of the tight end position: “That’s a great question, exciting for me because I started in 2005 coaching the tight ends with the Dallas Cowboys. When I got there, I was very fortunate to have a young guy by the name of Jason Witten, who was a great, great guy. I was also very fortunate at that time, I had Danny Campbell as a veteran tight end. So I had Campbell and Witten. Obviously, Witten was the pass receiving, crafty route-running, great hands, very smart with the pass game and the blitzes, and he was a hot receiver. Quarterback, Drew Bledsoe at the time was a quarterback with the Cowboys, loved him. When Tony (Romo) came in, Tony and Jason just immediately had this bond because Tony could trust Jason with his life, getting rid of the ball when he had to get out first. I’ve watched that position with particular interest over the years since that time. It just seems that in this day of age, most teams have a very, very athletic, tall, fast, very good route-running, good hands, big hands, ability to catch the ball, and multiple tight ends. To me, what a lot of people like to do with that position is show you a two-tight end look and then go out there and line up like it’s three wide receivers. So it puts you in the dilemma of, ‘do I defend this like there are really two tight ends, or do we defend this like there are three wide receivers and one tight end?’ We try to do both based on the skillset of those guys that are in the game. So not only do people have that type of tight end, but they usually have one or two other guys that complement them that create all these matchup issues for you. Flexing really good guys as a single receiver to one side, and then putting three receivers on the other side, or putting this good tight end over there, or this other tight end and two receivers over there. It’s very complex, it becomes a very, very difficult thing for the defense.” On if it is more difficult to disguise his own defense because of the tight ends: “Yeah, you sure are. You are trying to disguise it, and you are also trying to come up with this guy on your defense who is almost like a unicorn defined, who can be a good run defender but at the same time go over and matchup with one of these guys. It becomes hard to find that guy and then it becomes hard to disguise those looks because eventually you have to declare what you are doing. You’re right. It just makes it hard on the game plan.” On how the addition of DT Damon Harrison Sr. in 2018 impacted the defense: “Well, I think this, as the season started, we gave up some big plays. As the season ended, we didn’t really end that far out of whack because we got better progressively with the run game as the season wore on. I think what happened last year to our run defense is under the category of, ‘Don’t take anything for granted.’ I thought we really improved as a tackling team as the year went on, so regardless of what happens, what the personnel is, you’re hoping as a defensive coach that if they run the ball, we’re hoping to make the play at the first level. If we can’t make the play at the first level, we are hoping to make the play at the second level, which is the linebacker level. If it gets by the first level, which is the defensive line and it gets by the second level, then you’re hoping the third level is going to make the play, which is the secondary. A year ago, when those big runs broke, it was the responsibility of the entire defense, it wasn’t just the guys up front. As we progressively got better – I thought that fundamentally we got better and veteran players from a technique standpoint – ok, they’ve been in this league, they’ve played a lot of football, they understand fundamentals, technique, I think that’s always going to help. Hopefully we can pick up where we left off a year ago.” On the amount of ‘unicorn’ players in the NFL and if he sees any on the roster: “Well, I don’t know that. You get into preseason camp and you start to work and try to figure out what the skillset of each player is. When you start talking about the skillset – years back I’ll give it to you this way, years back, I’m coaching at Syracuse. Everybody knows Al Davis and who he was, not everybody knows that Al Davis was a Syracuse guy and had a tremendous affection for Syracuse, and I was fortunate enough to be the head coach at Syracuse. Al donated the locker room at the Carrier Dome, his name is on it. Not many people know that. Prior to the Draft every year, Al would call me, and we would talk about college players, anybody I was familiar with, anybody we had played against. Al was a real detailed guy, he was a personnel guy. So this one year, I think it was 1997, I had this player by the name of Tebucky Jones. Jones was a tremendous athlete. I’m such a good personnel evaluator I played him as a tailback for his redshirt season and then the next three. That’s how good I am. So, in the back of my mind, he played at New Britton High School and they played New Canaan at Southern Connecticut for the state championship in 1996. I always remember that game in the back of my mind, Tebucky Jones playing safety and made every play. He made every tackle and if they threw the ball it was either complete, or he made the tackle, or he got his hands on the ball or he intercepted the ball. So, his senior year I call him in and I say,”Buck”, I’m going to move you to safety,’ and he looked at me like I was crazy. He says, “Coach I’ve been playing tailback.” I said, ‘I know that, but I’ve gotta exhaust this thing with you playing safety.’ So eventually I had this other safety by the name of Donovin Darrius, and once we put Buck over there, Donovin said to me, ‘Coach don’t worry, he’s never playing tailback again, I’ll take care of it. You’re out of it.’ I said great. So, Al calls me and he says, ‘This guy Tebucky Jones, he’s tough as hell, he can support the run, he’s athletic and he’s fast he can play man-to-man, that’s a rare guy’. That’s how far back it goes. So, you’re looking for that guy who can be tough as hell, support the run, have linebacker qualities, and at the same time is athletic and fast enough where he can cover either a wide receiver or one of these crafty tight ends that we’re putting up with more and more this day and age. Now going all the way back – 20 years ago or however long ago that was – coaches, general managers, personnel people in the NFL were looking for that guy. Long way of telling you, we’re going to work our way through preseason camp and try to find out who those people are. We really like the people we have here in the back end, the safety position. We’ve added a few guys. So, again now, we’re just starting preseason camp. I think we’re in a good position, everybody’s in good position. We had a good offseason program. We put ourselves in position to have a good day one, that’s where we are, we take it one day at a time. I don’t look beyond that because it’s just too much to look beyond that.” On the competition for the second cornerback spot: “I think that we will be able to really compete. I personally think we have a really good crew of wide receivers so hopefully everybody is practicing hard, going hard, full speed. We’re going to have a really good chance to really see. It would be premature for me to say, ‘I think one is better than the other,’ you just can’t do it right now. It’s not fair to do it.” On the development of CB Teez Tabor: “I like him. I like his focus during the offseason. I thought he worked hard, I thought there was production there, so I’m excited to see where we left off.” LIONS SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR JOHN BONAMEGO QUOTE SHEET On the offseason transition from collegiate to NFL coaching: “Pretty seamless. Probably the biggest thing, the thing that changes most, is the players change every year, every week. It took a little time to catch up to that. There were some rule things that were obviously a switch, but I’d say it’s been pretty smooth, very seamless. Fortunately, I’ve got a good assistant in Marquice Williams who comes to us from the Chargers, who’s been with them the last three years. It’s a team effort, we work together on a lot of things. Coach Patricia has done a great job of communicating his expectations and allowing me the meeting time and practice time to get taught what we need to get taught.” On the versatility he looks for on the special teams unit: “I think this is a business where the more you can do the better you enhance yourself of winning a job and keeping a job for a long time. All of the skills whether it is snapping, holding – obviously the kicker and punter are specialists – guys that can catch kicks, catch punts, guys that can cover may not be the frontline, may not be the starter, but it changes all the time, it changes daily. The League is about change and it is about being adaptable and being able to change. That is one of the things that allows you to have success long term.” On what stands out these first couple of days in evaluating special teams players: “It’s their attention to detail. Can they take the meeting to the practice field? Eventually, you’re going to get evaluations in the preseason games. So, really the process isn’t any different than what you expect offensively or defensively. You have a similar type of install, you have a chance to learn it on the board, to walk through it, practice it in individual and group settings and then team settings. You’re looking to see, can the player process? Can he physically do what you’re asking him to do? There is a lot of development that has to take place because guys aren’t at this level because they were standout special teams players per se, they were the best at their position. They were the best receivers, the best linebacker, the best DB, it’s an all-star league. A lot of young players in particular come in and they haven’t done this stuff in a long time or maybe ever. The way to develop confidence for a player is through repetition and they have to have a good base of fundamentals, and build your techniques off of those, and then you insert those in your schemes, and you allow them to go out and play and perform.” On how he looks back upon the past few months and leaving Central Michigan: “You don’t look back, you look forward. I’m a Detroit Lion, and I’m excited to be here.” On if players know what specific things they can do to make the last few roster spots: “I think Coach Patricia does a really good job of supporting that theory and enforcing that theory and educating the young players. He does a phenomenal job not just in that area, but across the board in terms of giving them a leg up in what he’s looking for, and really what it means and what it takes to be a pro. How does a pro study? How does he practice? What does he do in his down time in terms of maintaining his body? He’s done an exceptional job in educating those guys. So, for me, when I come in, I’m just restating things that he’s already talked about. I’m just reinforcing his message that he’s already delivered.” On how you build on things from OTAs into training camp: “Sure, your true evaluation comes when we get into games and see – you know, bottom line is players have to make plays – our job is to get them in position, and they have to show they can make plays. It is a bottom-line business, it’s a production business for all of us. That’s why the preseason games are so important, especially for young players.” |
