The most notable Lions coordinator quotes from this week, including some Hogan Hatten love, Jameson Williams’ impact on defenses, and the Aidan Hutchinson void.
As the Detroit Lions prepare for the Minnesota Vikings this week, the team’s coordinators met with the media for a variety of topics. Here are the most important takeaways from each coach’s media sessions from Thursday.
Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn
1. On not asking his own players to “replace” Aidan Hutchinson:
“We don’t ask guys to replace Aidan because everybody is his own man, and everybody has different traits and abilities. And we ask those guys to be them. We try to put them in positions to be the best player that they can be. The one thing that I’m not going to do and the one thing that I don’t want you guys to do is disrespect the guys that’s been playing behind him or playing with him because those guys go out in training camp, OTA’s during the season, they bust their ass too to get an opportunity to come out here and play, and they’re going to do a good job for us.”
I know we’re guilty of this too, but it really is the wrong approach to look for “replacements” for Hutchinson. Detroit will, instead, lean on the different talents of different players.
2. On if the Lions will have to change overall scheme to accommodate loss of Hutchinson:
“Every week we put a plan together and the plan is about players. It’s not just about this scheme that we have. And I say this every week, we do everything we can to put the players in the best position that we can to where it shows their strengths, and it limits their weaknesses. So, that’s what we plan to do and that’s my job.”
“I tell my guys that we have to be like a chameleon. One week we are brown, other week we can be yellow, other week we could be orange, but the guys that we have are smart enough to be able to do that.”
Earlier this week, coach Dan Campbell said one reason he is optimistic about the defense moving forward is because of Glenn and his ability to adjust to injuries. In the past, Glenn has been very flexible with this defense, and I expect that to continue moving forward.
3. On how important Aaron Jones is to the Vikings’ offense:
“He’s tough to deal with. I don’t know what his (injury) situation is, but you can tell when he’s in there, this O-line has a different mentality as far as blocking downhill. They run this crunch play which is really power to create these doubles, and that’s a team that wants to be physical when they do that. So that’s another added element that they really didn’t have early before he got there.”
I bring this quote to the table because Jones is dealing with a hip injury and did not practice on Wednesday. Jones is averaging 4.9 yards per carry this week, but his backup Tyson Chandler is only averaging 3.5 yards per carry. If Jones doesn’t play this week, it’s a massive difference, even if Minnesota did trade for Cam Akers earlier this week.
Special teams coordinator Dave Fipp
Note: I thought his comments on the recent FG block strategy were interesting enough that I turned it into its own article.
4. On the importance of long snapper Hogan Hatten in Jake Bates’ early success:
“Velocity’s one thing, the next thing about getting it down on the spot would be also location. So, the better the location is, more right over the spot, the quicker (Jack) Fox can get it down, then you’re also talking about the laces and if the laces need to be adjusted then that takes time, which, again, puts the kicker behind it a little bit. So, all those things are really directly affected by the snapper, it’s a huge impact on a kicker’s success. I know I said that when I came in here, you guys asked me about (former Lions K Matt) Prater and I said that a big part of his challenge is, his last year here, in my opinion, were more of the operation than it was him directly.
Fipp feels passionately about the importance of a long snapper when it comes to field goal accuracy, pointing out that the longer the ball can be put in place and ready to go, the more likely the kicker is to make the field goal. His perspective also provides some clarity as to why Matt Prater struggled in his last season in Detroit. Prater made just 75 percent of his kicks that year (his career average is 83.6), largely (in Fipp’s opinion) due to the entire operation (Don Muhlbach’s last year as a long snapper and Jack Fox’s rookie season as holder). Fipp said Hatten has been “outstanding” thus far.
Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson
I also wrote a separate article on Johnson’s comments regarding his well of trick plays here.
5. On the Jameson Williams difference six weeks in:
“I think people are starting to realize that we don’t want to single him out. Defenses don’t want to single him out because he will make them pay. They’re not as fast as him, it’s as simple as that. Hopefully, we continue to get these one-on-one match ups because we are so dynamic elsewhere as well. I think early on in that game last week, they had the philosophy to play more too high to limit guys like Jameson and you saw what our run game did early on in that game. Then they start coming down and Jamo gets some great access looks in man-to-man and he’s able to take advantage of it.”
Williams has truly become a centerpiece of the offense now, where Detroit can dictate what the defenses do, and act accordingly if they make any in-game adjustments. He’s truly a difference-maker, even when he doesn’t get the ball.
6. On Tim Patrick’s growing chemistry with Jared Goff:
“Jared certainly, he’ll come to me and be like, ‘Man, he’s a long target.’ So I feel like a lower range to miss on him, and then we have one-on-ones almost every week and being able to see him compete against our DBs and create separation, come down with a football, he’s been a very consistent separator in that regard, so it’s just been reps, reps, reps.”
Johnson spoke glowingly of Patrick, including his natural fit in a receiver room that is not afraid to block downfield. But I really liked the “lower range to miss on him” quote. In a wide receiver room where there are varied skill sets, Patrick is unique in his ability to make those contested catches, and it showed vs. the Cowboys.
