Top Lions coordinator quotes from this week, including some Isaiah Williams love, thoughts on the failed fake punt, and MORE BLITZING.
As always, the Detroit Lions coordinator met with the media on Thursday and covered a wide span of topics before the team’s Week 8 matchup with the Tennessee Titans. In an effort to not let even the smallest of stories slip through the cracks, here are the seven most notable and important quotes from all three press conferences.
Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson
1. Undrafted rookie WR Isaiah Williams is making strides
“He’s been the guy that pops every week on scout team, and I know he’s won scout team player of the week several times for (defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn) Coach Glenn and the defensive staff. And so, you see it. You see what you saw in the preseason with the speed, the explosion, and now it’s just carrying over and you’re seeing it day in and day out. And so, the trust level’s certainly going up. If he’s up here this week, then we’re getting more confidence in what he’ll bring to the table as well.”
Earlier in the week, coach Dan Campbell suggested there’s a chance Williams is activated for the first time given Jameson Williams’ pending suspension. While it still seems unlikely Williams will see any significant playing time on offense, it’s good to hear he’s continuing to progress in practice.
2. On the Titans defense:
“Tennessee is a very good defense. I think Coach already alluded to, might be the best we’ve seen all year. Maybe not as challenging from a schematics standpoint, but personnel-wise, these guys are, across the board at each level, sound, they are violent, they’re physical, they finish, and when you see a team that plays as much two-high as they do and yet still be able to shut down every run game that they face, we already know that we have our work cut out for us.”
I know Lions fans are already chalking up Sunday as a win against the 1-5 Titans, but don’t sleep on this Tennessee defense, particularly against the run. They’re a top five run defense in just about every metric, and while the Lions proved they can move the ball against the Vikings strong defense last week, their success rate was way down compared to their season average. It’s going to be a battle again this week.
3. On Kalif Raymond getting more opportunities with Jameson Williams out:
“He’s got probably the best press releases on the team because of how small and shifty he is, guys can’t keep up with his quickness, he’s a threat in man-to-man, and then his run after catch is that of what you would expect from a punt returner. So, very dynamic weapon, there were some games earlier in the year, didn’t feel like was giving him enough opportunities, and so the last couple of weeks we’ve been able to get the ball in his hands and he’s taken it and ran with it.”
If you haven’t seen it yet, Raymond’s release on his touchdown catch fooled veteran Stephon Gilmore so hard that he fell to the ground:
I didn’t realize how crispy Raymond’s release was on his touchdown. He put Gilmore in a blender. pic.twitter.com/7UJP6X7fKD
— Justin Rogers | Detroit Football Network (@Justin_Rogers) October 22, 2024
Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn:
4. On blitzing linebackers to help kickstart pass rush with Aidan Hutchinson:
“I want to blitz those guys as much as possible because I think it’s hard for a running back to actually block those guys. You’ve got Jack (Campbell), he’s a 6-foot-4, 250-pound man on the running back, man, I’m going to take that matchup all the time. Same thing with Alex (Anzalone), you have a 6-foot-3, 240-pound man on a back, I’m going to take that matchup all the time. So, it’s not the fact that we’re just trying to blitz to recoup what (Lions DL Aidan Hutchinson) Hutch gave us, it’s the gameplan that we’re trying to make sure we take advantage of. But at the end of the day, I like to blitz.”
The Lions won’t just be down Hutchinson this week. It looks like Josh Paschal is out, too. So don’t be surprised if Detroit continues to send extra players in pressure packages to get Mason Rudolph off his game.
5. On their success taking away other teams’ No. 1 wide receivers:
“I want to smother people as much as possible. (Carlton Davis III) CD does a really good job of that. Man, he’s a 6-foot-1, 200-pound man with long arms. Same thing with (Terrion Arnold) TA. Amik (Robertson)’s on the small end, but I tell you what, he is feisty, he is scrappy, he is highly competitive. And all our guys have that same trait about themselves, so when you have guys that’s like that, man, you want to put them in situations where they’re able to do what they do best, and that’s go play man coverage. So that’s a huge part of what we do. Now, listen. We’re going to double those guys too, I mean these receivers in this league are – they’re elite, elite athletes, and it’s hard to just contain them with one guy, so there’s going to be times where we double them, but there’s going to be times where they’re by themselves.”
Last week, the Lions held Justin Jefferson to seven catches for 81 yards. And while that may not seem like holding him in check, it’s tied with the second-lowest output Jefferson has put out all season. The previous week, CeeDee Lamb caught just seven of his 14 targets for 89 yards. Again, they’re not completely shutting down these top guys, but it’s worth noting they’re battling after really struggling at it last year.
Special teams coordinator Dave Fipp
6. On not being deterred from the failure of the fake punt vs. MIN
“You know that there’s an element of risk, but I also think that it’s just like I was saying, it ends up paying you back. The guys who swing the bat, it ends up coming back to them. The entrepreneurs out there who go for it, they come up with some crazy idea and they let it rip and it doesn’t always work out, but those guys are never discouraged and that probably leads into something else that ends up being great for them.”
I just thought this was an eloquent analogy from Fipp, and it speaks to the team’s fearlessness of being aggressive and bold on special teams.
7. On the kneel downs that pushed Jake Bates’ game-winning kick back 4 yards
“In general terms, closer’s always better. I felt very comfortable with where we were on the field. Obviously, Jake’s got plenty of leg for that and the truth is, sometimes he’s better from further than he is tighter. It’s a little bit straighter kick, there’s a little bit less aiming the closer you get up if you’re on a hash, the closer you get up to the uprights, the more of an angle is on the kick. So, it’s a little bit straighter from further back and he’s got a big leg so it kind of allows him just to swing straight through the ball a little bit.”
While there’s a little contradiction of himself in this answer, I think the overall quote speaks to Fipp’s overall confidence in Bates, and he would even go on to say he “wasn’t worried about a couple yards.”
