Lions coordinator talked about Kerby Joseph’s Pro Bowl snub, Jameson Williams’ intelligence, and why some players like Vikings QB Sam Darnold excel in new homes.
As the Detroit Lions prepare for their huge matchup with the Minnesota Vikings , the team’s coordinators met with the media for their typical Thursday press conferences.
Topics this week range from Kerby Joseph’s Pro Bowl snub, the Ben Johnson/Brian Flores chess match, and how quarterbacks like Sam Darnold can have a career renaissance.
Here are the top seven quotes from Lions coordinators this week.
Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson
On his duels with Vikings DC Brian Flores:
“Each week you try to find a weakness in the armor and look to attack it, and this defense, it just doesn’t have much. It’s been that way for two years now. You can tell that this whole unit, they’ve been together, they’ve been playing in this scheme, they have the answers, they know when they get hit with something how to respond. He always has a curve ball every week, I think (Packers coach) Matt LaFleur said last week that they weren’t anticipating quite as much man (coverage) as they got early in the game and had to make some adjustments. There’s no question, as a coaching staff, all of us, we have to be on our Ps and Qs and just make sure we’re able to respond if he’s hitting them with something that we weren’t necessarily prepared for.”
Johnson has had a lot of success against Flores’ defenses in the past (four straight games of 30 or more points), but it certainly seems like this is the best version of the Vikings defense yet. More importantly, Flores’ unpredictability will cause Detroit to adjust on the fly.
On how Jameson Williams has built more consistency:
“It’s taken a little bit of time, but it’s really taken off now at this point. He’s very detailed, very smart, very smart and that might go unnoticed, but you say something to him, and you coach him, and it hits him. He understands it and I think because he’s so smart, he’s able to really grasp what we’re trying to do and it’s just a matter of getting him all of the reps and all of the looks and he’s been really good here second half of the season.”
This is some high praise from Johnson, and he brings up something that’s not often talked about with Williams: his intelligence. We’ve known he’s a hard worker and has an undeniable love for the game, but it’s interesting to hear Johnson talk about how coachable he is.
He would later continue on Williams’ growth:
“What we’ve seen from training camp until now is other parts of the game develop. Have a lot more trust in his route tree, that’s really grown over the course of the season, we try to challenge him with some new things every week that maybe he hasn’t done quite yet and I’m really excited to see how that expands. A full offseason of spring, training camp, healthy, no outside noise would continue his development in a good way.”
Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn
On Kerby Joseph’s Pro Bowl snub:
“Kerby Joseph is a Pro Bowler also. He might not have it by name, but he is a Pro Bowler in my opinion. I think he is a Pro Bowler in a lot of opinions across this league, too and we know where that all comes from. But he is one of the best, if not the best safety in this league also.”
Glenn was then asked why he thought Joseph didn’t make the Pro Bowl.
“I think we all know that. But it is what it is. The thing is, he knows who he is.”
Is that a reference to Joseph’s reputation as a “dirty” player? Hard to say, but it’s clear Glenn has his safety’s back.
On linebackers teaching points on play action:
“If you’re in man coverage, your eyes have to be focused on your man, and sometimes that’s hard to do because you want to make so many plays and if you have a man and you’re in a C gap and you end up punching that C gap when that guy that’s in that gap is your man, he ends up trying to block and didn’t get out. That’s a tough situation for some guys. But the thing is, you have to continue to trust your ability to cover your guys and still be able to have your gap.
“That’s one situation that’s pretty tough, but our guys try to do as good a job as they can in that situation because we expect you to be physical and get downhill. When you’re in zone coverage, when you have a gap and you get downhill, now you have to get ready to punch out and be able to hit your landmark drop, which our guys work on every day. So, you can sit back and allow teams to get five, six yards a carry, or you can stop those and end up punching back in zone coverages and try to do the best that you can. I want our guys to be physical, I want our guys to attack the line of scrimmage, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Glenn doesn’t talk a lot of scheme and technique, so I thought this was an enlightening answer. Obviously, the Lions have had some struggles with their linebacker play, particularly against play action. It’s interesting to hear that he still prefers his linebackers to prioritize filling their gaps, and punching back into coverage, when necessary.
On Sam Darnold’s breakout season:
“There are some of these quarterbacks or players in this league that people just give up on so fast. Sometimes, the environment has a lot to do with that and I think that he’s gotten to an environment to where he can ‘woosah’. I think it all started when he went to San Francisco and then he ended up going to Minnesota. And listen, (Kevin) O’Connell is a really good coach and when you get around that and you get around players that believe in you also, I think that everything that you’ve built yourself up to be really starts to come out, and I think that’s what he’s doing right now. He’s always had the talent, I think he’s always had the mentality to be a good player, and I think now you’re starting to see it come out.”
Glenn compared Darnold’s breakout to that of Baker Mayfield. I’ve seen others point to Geno Smith or even Jared Goff himself. It’s refreshing to see Lions coaches openly call out other teams for lacking patience or the appropriate environment to develop players, because that is what has made Detroit so special over the past couple years.
Special teams coordinator Dave Fipp
On Jake Bates’ long field goal trajectory:
“The one thing that he’s got going for him on the trajectory is, he’s got such a big leg that he can still afford to hit a higher kick and it’s still got plenty of distance on it. So, for him to have to change, you’re talking about going back to long 60s, I would say, before I think he feels like he needs to do anything different on his kick, which – that’s an advantage to me, because now on those longer field goals, you’re hitting the same ball as you would on a shorter field goal, you should be more consistent at that.”
Fipp always seems to pull something out that I hadn’t really thought of, but it’s worth pointing out that while the risk of a kick getting blocked goes up for most kickers once you hit the 55-60 range, that’s not as much of a danger for Bates until you’re talking long 60s.