On Tuesday, three Detroit Lions coaches—head coach Dan Campbell, wide receiver coach Scottie Montgomery, and offensive line coach Hank Fraley—met with the media in the team’s first real day of Week 1 preparation for the Green Bay Packers. While each session was informative, I’m not sure anything was revealed that requires a BREAKING NEWS banner.
So on days in which a lot of little tidbits are dropped, but nothing major, we’ll try to offer a more broad recap of the media sessions for ease of consuming. Here are five things worth noting from Tuesday’s press conferences.
Scottie Montgomery has all of the hats
This offseason, coach Scottie Montgomery moved from the running backs to the wide receivers room. But that is just the tip of the iceberg in what Montgomery—who is also the team’s assistant head coach—contributes to the team.
“Scottie’s a stud, man. He is. He’s an invaluable coach for me,” coach Dan Campbell said. “He does a lot. He wears really a lot of different hats. Not only the Assistant Head Coach, but the receivers, the offense, screen game, the pass game, the splits, the formations, the tendencies. I mean, he wears a ton of hats.”
Montgomery also used the hats analogy, thanking Campbell for the opportunity to do so many thing that is preparing him for bigger opportunities down the line.
“Coming in here, I probably only had three hats. Now, I’ve probably got like 25 hats, a lot of them to cover up the hair that I’ve lost learning some of the things that I’ve learned,” Montgomery said. “It’s just the big picture. You can get so involved when you’re in a room that you can’t see the building, right? What Dan has given me the ability to do since I’ve got here is see the building, not just from an offensive standpoint, but from a defensive standpoint and also an administrative standpoint. That’s one of the things. I’ve got to say thank you to him for giving me the opportunity, and not just giving me the title. There’s two different things. There’s the title and there’s the opportunity to create your ability to see it from the head coach’s position, and that’s what he’s been able to do for me.”
Parsons or no Parsons, the Lions will stick to their rules
At this point, it’s unclear if new Packers defensive end Micah Parsons will play on Sunday vs. the Lions. He’s currently dealing with a back injury and is obviously just getting to know the playbook. Smart money is on Parsons playing a limited role. And while Parsons can play anywhere on the defensive line, Fraley says the outlook is the same for the Lions offensive line: stick to the coverage rules.
“We have rules and when they want to move guys or stuff like that, we have certain rules we follow,” Fraley explained. “And he definitely can be a force off the edge or in the middle when they stand up, when he was in Dallas, rushing through the middle of the A-gap.”
Dan Campbell is confident in defensive line
While many Lions fans are concerned about the depth along the defensive line, particularly on the edge, Campbell expressed his confidence in the unit. It starts with Marcus Davenport, who is expected to not only start opposite Aidan Hutchinson, but Campbell says he’s playing well enough to play on all three downs.
“He’s another guy who’s had a really good camp for us. He’s done exactly what we’ve asked him to do,” Campbell said. “He’s got some versatility with his ability to play, really in all the packages that we have. There’s nothing more that he needs to show me. I know he can do it all.”
The big concern with Davenport has always been his health, but Campbell insists the seven-year veteran has done everything humanly possible to stay on the field.
“He’s doing everything he can to take care of his body, and he went through a rigorous offseason to try to help all of that which is a credit to him to put the work out. He’s in a good place right now,” Campbell said.
Kicking inside, Campbell was also quick to point out how veteran nose tackle DJ Reader also looks at his best right now, nearly two years removed from a torn quad that cost him all of last year’s training camp.
“It’s kind of been this quiet, really kickass camp. He really has, man. He’s shown up. He’s a staple for us right now, and yes, we’re going to need him. He’s big for us,” Campbell said.
Penei Sewell is already coaching
This week, Lions right tackle Penei Sewell—arguably the best player on the team—was named one of six captains. It was his third straight year to earn the honors, and while his play alone would warrant being named captain, Sewell is a prototype of everything a captain should be. Fraley pointed to two stories that perfectly capture the kind of teammate Sewell is.
“Don’t know if anybody noticed, but even in preseason games when he’s not playing, he made sure he had an earpiece and he got the playcall. He got to the iPads before I got to them, and he’s already coaching the guys.”
Later, he talked about how Sewell is particularly hard on himself, even during light, unpadded practices.
“Yesterday, we had practice–not in pads–we worked a couple of combinations, he didn’t feel right. He’s like, “Nah, I need to go again. I need to go again.’ And went three or four times in a row, where other players may go, ‘Ah, I’ll get it later.’ That’s what makes him great. Like, today, watching–in there, he’s watching individual drills. He’s watching himself on his sets, pass sets. And this is individuals, this isn’t even going up against anybody. Actually, he’s hitting the med ball. And he’s watching himself. That’s what makes him special.”
While people are understandably excited about the progress rookie wideout Isaac TeSlaa made this offseason, Montgomery offered a strong endorsement for veteran Kalif Raymond—who repped with the first-team offense for most of the offseason.
“It was probably one of the more consistent springs that we’ve seen at the wide receiver position being here and being detailed, his catch-to-target ratio, his 1-on-1 wins, his ability to separate in tight coverage, his ability to make plays down the field,” Montgomery said. “We’re tracking this a little bit differently than maybe everybody else, we’re just trying to make sure that we get the upper echelon out of each player and he is playing closer to his roof now than he was before. We really like where he is and hopefully he can have a tremendous role in helping us this year.”
With TeSlaa absent from Tuesday’s practice for reasons still unknown, don’t be surprised if Raymond has a big role in Week 1 vs. the Packers.
That said, TeSlaa earned some praise from Montgomery, as well.
”He just came in and did his job,” Montgomery said. “What we would see is he would take it from the meeting room to the walkthrough to the individual drills to the practice tape. When he failed in practice, he very rarely failed again in that same detail. That lets us know, first of all, he cares. But it (also) lets us know he’s in his playbook. When you’re in your playbook, you’re going to get the respect of the people in the room. And when your mental errors are low, you get the respect of the people in the room.”
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