The Detroit Lions coordinators met with the media on Friday to discuss last week’s game against the Chicago Bears and the upcoming Monday night bout with the Baltimore Ravens. Here are my six biggest takeaways from those sessions.
Offensive coordinator John Morton
Feeling better about offensive line communication on the road
In Week 1 in Green Bay, the Lions’ offensive line communication—or lack thereof—proved to be costly. There were missed assignments galore, and it resulted in one of the worst offensive performances in the Dan Campbell era.
While Week 2 was a get-right game, it also took place in the comforts of Ford Field. This week, the Lions will face another tough road environment in Baltimore on Monday night. Morton expects a very loud stadium, but believes they’re better prepared for communicating properly this week.
“You practice in the noise. You make it hard, you make it loud. I think that helps,” Morton said. “The communication, we’ve got to do it in practice, so we feel good about it. And if there’s anything that’s a problem, we just take it out. But that’s the main thing, we’ve been doing that. That’s what you have to do. And these guys, listen, they’ve been on the road. We’ve all been on the road. We’re going to be smart in the things that we do, so we don’t have miscommunication. I think that’s important.”
Morton enjoyed the Bears tape one extra time
In their 52-point effort against the Bears, the Lions offense did just about everything right. For Morton, in just his second ever season as an NFL offensive coordinator, he admitted he savored the film a little more than during a typical week.
“I watched the tape twice. It was impressive, just all phases, man. The line coming off the surge, the guys running routes, Jared (Goff) throwing the ball,” Morton said. “I mean, he’s been over 80 percent the last two weeks. You don’t see that. […] I watched it twice because I was like, ‘Man, is this real?’”
While that Bears game is closer to the Lions’ weekly expectation than Week 1 was, it was still nice to see Morton admit that this unit can leave him in awe, too.
Defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard
Third-down defense struggles
Sheppard opened his presser talking about how they need to be better on third down. He pointed to a trio of examples from the Bears game that could have easily been cleaned up to turn Chicago’s 7-of-13 third-down efficiency into 4-of-13. Given that this was a problem early in the Packers game, I asked Sheppard if this was a case where they are still trying to figure out what this team does well on third down. He strongly disagreed.
“No, it’s doing your job,” Sheppard said. “I know what these guys do well, and they know what they do well. It’s all about execution; it has nothing to do with anything else. We need to execute within the framework of the scheme, which we did do for the most part of the game. ”
Al-Quadin Muhammad continues to earn more reps, regardless of Marcus Davenport’s status
It’s no secret that Lions veteran defensive end Al-Quadin Muhammad is set for a significant role this week against the Baltimore Ravens. With starter Marcus Davenport’s status highly in question, Muhammad is the next guy up. But Sheppard mentioned how Muhammad has earned a bigger role, regardless of who is available this week against the Ravens.
“It has nothing to do with who’s available, who’s not available. If you’re available for the game and you show us you’ve earned the right to be out there and get a role, we’re going to find that role for you,” Sheppard said. “And the better you do, the more that role will uptick for you.
“He’s been phenomenal, man. It has nothing to do with ability. Look at the effort he plays with. That is the identity of the Detroit Lions defense.”
Brian Branch: Pillar of the defense with room to grow
After a game in which he tallied a forced fumble, a sack, and six solo tackles, Brian Branch has reminded everyone that he’s a pretty dang good player on this Lions defense. But Sheppard went above and beyond in his praise of Detroit’s third-year safety.
“Make no mistake about it, he is—if not our best—one of the top pillars to this defense, and I want that to be said,” Sheppard said. “And we go as far as our pillars take us, and he’s one of those, and he’s a pivotal piece for me each week, week in and week out.”
Even scarier, Sheppard thinks they’re just scratching the surface of Branch’s overall talent.
“There’s so much growth left with that player,” Sheppard said. “A lot of coaches will see a player like that and be so excited that you forget to coach him. I see that there’s so much left within that player.”
Special teams coordinator Dave Fipp
Consistency over explosives in the return game
Thus far, the Lions’ kick return game has not been very explosive. Their longest return—granted, there have only been seven attempts—is 28 yards. All but two teams have a return longer than that.
I asked Fipp if he was thinking about changing strategy or if he feels they are close to breaking one, and he offered an interesting answer about consistency. He pointed to the Bears last week and how late in the game, returner Devin Duvernay tried to make an explosive play against the Lions’ coverage units. Instead, he was stopped for just 15 yards.
Fipp’s point being: sometimes being consistently good is more valuable than trying to be great at the expense of a handful of bad returns.
“You know you do want the explosive plays, you also don’t want the real negative plays, too,” Fipp said.
Thus far, every one of the Lions’ seven returns have been returned for between 20 and 28 yards. The end result may only be a 23.4 kick return average (25th), but it appears the Lions are willing to take that tradeoff for consistently average field position.
Still, Fipp would love an explosive in the play, and he thinks they’re getting close.
“The one thing about this kick cover, kick return game that we’re playing now, it’s like everybody’s right on the edge, man. The cover group can look good, but man, they’re inches away from giving up a big play. And so, it’s very volatile, I think is the best word to use,” Fipp said.
Source link
