HEAD COACH DOUG PEDERSON
POSTGAME MEDIA AVAILABILITY VS. DETROIT LIONS
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 2023
(On the overall assessment of the game) “Good, good. Because we played so many of our younger
backups and even some of third-string guys today, I thought that they played really hard, they played
physical, it was good to see. It wasn’t perfect, but I really felt like overall offense and defense did a nice
job today.”
(On not playing the starters due to worry of injuries) “Exactly. Training camp is long, tough, hard and
physical. There are obviously things that are going to happen and unfortunately it happened today with
some injuries. I just wanted our young guys to get a really good opportunity to compete and to play so
we can evaluate properly.”
(On any injury updates of the offensive line) “Cooper Hodges [OL Cooper Hodges], I believe it’s his
patella, so we’ll see. We’ll get MRI’s and x-rays and stuff and probably have a better update tomorrow
or the next day with him. Brewer [OL Chandler Brewer], they were checking him with his left shoulder,
possibly a situation there so we’ll see where he’s at. I think he’s going to be okay, but again, we’ll find
out after this meeting. For Darryl [OL Darryl Williams], it was his shoulder but he battled through it. He
played really well.”
(On performance of offensive line despite injuries) “Hats off to Phil Rauscher, our offensive line coach.
He did a nice job of keeping that mix in there. It’s all about preparation, I talk to our guys a lot about the
preparation part of it and they do a really good job of coaching those guys up. This is why you see and
why we like to have versatility in the offensive line. Tackles need to play guards, guards need to move
outside or they got to play left and right. We’re able to do that with some of our offensive line pieces.
Those guys did a nice job.”
(On if there’s a competition for the number two quarterback spot) “No, no. I thought Nathan [QB
Nathan Rourke] did well again today, a couple of touchdown drives there and he’s done a nice job. He’s
done exactly what we ask him to do. C.J. [QB C.J. Beathard] is our number two and Trevor [QB Trevor
Lawrence] is number one.”
(On what’s liked about QB C.J. Beathard) “I like the way C.J. operates, I like the way his mental capacity
is, the way he thinks, he sees the field extremely well and he’s tough. You saw some of the athleticism
today, the movement skills and stuff with him. He throws a really good football, and he played well
today, he led us into a couple of field goal drives there. He does a nice job for us.”
(On importance of having depth on the team) “Yeah, I think we’re in a better position, we do have more
depth and that’s a good thing. It creates the competition that you want, and it creates competition even
for the starter. The starters are out there looking, they’re watching the same game and they’re seeing
these players. It motivates the starter too, so there’s an underlying message sometimes with that. The
young guys played well, we still got a couple weeks of training camp left and one more preseason game
so a lot of football still ahead.”
(On evaluation of the team’s pass rush) “I thought both of those guys, Jordan [OLB Jordan Smith] off the
edge, Yasir [OLB Yasir Abdullah], Tyler Lacy [DL Tyler Lacy] had some good push, Ledbetter [DL Jeremiah
Ledbetter] is a veteran player but stepped up big. I thought the younger guys really did a nice job in
those passing situations and getting the quarterback down on the ground.”
(On what RB Tank Bigsby can do to adjust to the game) “He still has some room to grow, obviously.
There are some things we can show him on tape and he’s just continuing to get better. We wanted to
see extensive reps with him today, and again, this is the first time some of these guys have played this
much football. You see the physicality, the conditioning, the mental capacity, but I thought he did some
really good things for us and some things we can correct and continue to improve.”
(On Lions having deep punt returns being due to young guys adjusting to special teams) “Yes and no,
some of it is by design. We want to see our guys cover, so we asked our kickers to make them return it,
kick it high and make them return it. We want to see them cover, that’s an important part of the game.
Some of it is by design to do it that way and we have to get better. Some of our young guys need to
improve there and some of these guys, it’s their first time to cover kicks. It’s a big part of our football
game and we do have to improve there.”
(On importance of OL Walker Little and OL Cam Robinson working together) “I think it was very
important. If that’s the route we choose to go, it’s good for those two guys to get to work together.”
(On QB Nathan Rourke’s performance ability) “I just like his poise, his poise in the pocket. Accurate
passer, I’m sure there’s some throws he wants back, but for the most part he’s an accurate thrower. He
made a heck of a throw, a couple of back shoulder throws on the sideline, a slant throw on a third down,
and the toughness aspect of it. He’s not afraid to pull the ball down and run. Those are all things that I
appreciate about him and the effort and leadership that he provides.”
LIONS HEAD COACH DAN CAMPBELL POST-GAME QUOTE SHEET
Opening statement: “It’s always tough to lose no matter what time of year it is and what you’re doing,
so you don’t like to lose and you don’t like to lose that way but then also you try to keep into
perspective that it is about evaluation and trying to put these guys into position to where you can find
out about them a little bit. And I felt like we found out about a few guys today that we have to know
(Lions Executive Vice President and General Manager) Brad (Holmes) and myself and the coaches.”
On how he evaluated an offense that could not get going: “It’s tough, it was tough we couldn’t get into
a rhythm and it just kind of felt like there was always one guy that would – we were taking turns
offensively messing something up and offensively I’ve said it before, one guy on defense messes
something up they can wreck it for an offense. But when offensively one guy messes up it’ll mess the
whole thing up and it’s rarely do you ever come out on the other side. So, we had a couple protection
issues, our runs we were – we had a couple of I.D. issues, we weren’t cut off on the backside you’re
getting some TFL’s in there, second-and-longs just trying to run the ball, couldn’t convert, had a lot of
drops, lot of drops. So, it’s tough, but hey, there again we did find out about some guys too.”
On Lions LB James Houston’s contributions today: “Yeah, I mean there again we’ll be able to watch the
tape, but I did feel like he showed up and did some good things today. I wasn’t able to watch him the
whole game, but I felt like I watched him enough to feel like you could feel his presence out there which
was good.”
On if he thinks Lions QBs Nate Sudfeld and Teddy Bridgewater need snaps with the starters to get a
better read on them: “No, I don’t think so. I think that – because ultimately we had some – I felt like
there were enough plays that were out there to be had that we could’ve made to continue to move the
ball. We should’ve had five conversions on third down that I can think of right now that were things that
we just didn’t finish on. So, listen it was one of those days offensively, and when you have them you just
– you want on the other side your defense and special teams to help you out. We just never got in a
flow, we never got in sync. I thought we had some really good returns in the special teams game, I
thought our defense really played – we had a couple of things early but ultimately I thought our defense
made some critical stops, played pretty good football for a while and we just could never answer back
offensively.”
On the lack of depth at the offensive line position and wide receiving corps: “Yeah, I mean we’re
working through it. We’re working through it and there again, we’ll look at this tape and find the guys
we can rely on and listen, you just never know. (Lions Executive Vice President and General Manager)
Brad (Holmes) and his crew they’re looking at everything and it’s not just our own squad, they’re looking
at 31 other teams too, so we’re always evaluating. We’re always looking and look, we’re going to take
the positives out of this game and learn. But we’re also going to find the negatives and what can be
done about them, or it is what it is.”
On Lions WR Chase Cota and Lions CB Starling Thomas V having strong kick and punt returns: “Yeah, I
think we – it was one of the reasons we wanted them back there. We think skillset-wise they were a
couple of guys we were intrigued by, and wanted to see what it looked like in real-time. So, they did
some things, we blocked it up well too. But yeah, it was – we were encouraged, we wanted to see both
of those guys, see if they could do something with it so it’s encouraging.”
On what the lower round draft picks need to do to earn a spot on the team: “Yeah, I think it’s no
different than any – we just need to feel consistent growth. As long as you feel these players growing
and they are continuing to get better every week and we’re not doing this – we take this big step back
and then these baby steps up and then you take another leap backward. That I think is what we’re
looking for and I would say all three of those guys are – I feel growth. Now we’re all going to want it at
warp speed time, but I do feel growth by all three of those guys. But man there’s – when you’re a rookie
there’s a lot going on out there and so they just got to keep working keep correcting it, and they can’t
get down in the dumps when things don’t go your way and you feel like you’re not having the camp you
want. You can’t. You got to keep your confidence up and just worry about the work and what your
coaches are saying.”
On what Lions CB Steven Gilmore’s performance tells him about his ability to respond to mistakes: “I
think those are the type of things you’re looking for from these young players is – these things are going
to happen, you’re going to get hit on a play, something bad is going to happen, you may get a flag
thrown on you. It’s all about what happens next. You want to know if these players have – they’re
resilient and I would say, Gilmore, that was encouraging. You give up a big one and then you go right
back, and you don’t bat an eye, you get a big knockdown in the red zone and then he gets a ricochet
interception. Those are big. That’s encouraging. I think it kind of tells you, ‘Well, you know what, it’s not
too big for this guy.’ He didn’t get frazzled, he didn’t lose confidence, he just goes back for more and
those are the type of players you want.”
On the progress of the linebacker room: “Yeah, really love that room, really like it a lot where it’s going.
I started with love and then went to like. Really love it, still love it. Now, we have a ton of confidence in
all those guys and I feel like the room as a whole, they all bring something different, and they all just
continue to get better, I feel like every day. (Lions LB Derrick) Barnes is playing at a high level. I feel like
(Lions LB) Jack (Campbell) has gotten better every time he’s gone out there and suited up. (Lions LB
Malcolm) Rodriguez is getting better. I feel like (Lions LB Jalen Reeves-Maybin) Germ, we know exactly
what he is and what he brings to the table. I feel like (Lions LB Anthony) Pittman is doing a really good
job, and now is getting better. A young, free-agent linebacker. And then obviously (Lions LB) Alex
(Anzalone) who didn’t play tonight, but I just – I think that room – we have a lot of depth and a lot of
versatility.”
On Lions LB Jack Campbell playing the whole first half: “Yeah, I just felt like, man it was – let’s let him
go a little bit. Let’s let him play. He is – man, speed of the game, picking it up, playing faster and we feel
like the more he plays, the more we’re going to see out of it. Now, he got a lot of rest, but so did those
other guys. I mean (Lions DB Brian) Branch got almost 80 reps in two days or whatever, and so a lot of it
is that, is trying to be smart with the amount of reps we gave those guys the other day. That was kind of
– the idea was to really load those guys up with good work, good on good and then they’re probably not
going to play, so that was what we did.”
On his initial thoughts on what he saw from Lions QB Teddy Bridgewater: “Yeah, I thought Teddy was
solid. I mean, look, there’s always going to be stuff to clean up, but in my head, it was always about
getting him in a flow. Let’s get him in there, let’s get him used to how we run our offense, our cadence,
our formations, our shifts, our motions, and just go play a little bit. More than was this going to be – is
he going to go out there and have a perfect quarterback rating, it was in flow. And look, there’s some
throws you wish you had back, a couple of things, but also, I thought he made some really good throws
too. We probably had three drops there that could’ve been for conversions, so I thought it was solid.”
On if Lions QB Teddy Bridgewater came out with two minutes left in the first half due to a lack of
knowing the offense: “No, it was just originally it was I told Teddy, ‘We’ll get you maybe three series,’
but we just kept sputtering out and I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to see if we could get him in a
rhythm and so, it was time. We really – you could argue it was more than I thought we were going to
give it, but I didn’t think it was fair either that he was just three and out, three and out. So, it was time
for (Lions QB) Nate (Sudfeld) to go.”
On Lions DB Saivion Smith’s injury status: “Yeah, don’t know. We’ll know more tomorrow, but I think
they could be down a little bit here. I don’t know how long that is, but I think it could be a long shot for
Carolina.”
On if the fumbled exchange between Lions QB Teddy Bridgewater and Lions RB Craig Reynolds was
due to miscommunication: “Yeah, that was not either one of them. That was an offensive lineman.”
