All three Detroit Lions coordinators spoke with the media on Thursday. All three sessions were highlighted by defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard who spoke with emotion and passion about Jack Campbell and the team’s response to his serious injury.
Here are my eight takeaways from the entire day of press conferences.
Offensive coordinator Drew Petzing
Where do these unique ideas come from?
The Lions pulled a few new tricks last week against the Vikings: a “sidecar” formation with two tight ends packed to one side of the backfield, and a semi-trick play involving Amon-Ra St. Brown lining up 15 yards from the line of scrimmage to get a jump start before catching the ball.
Both fits were extremely successful for Detroit, so Petzing was asked where he found his inspiration.
As for the tight end lineups that contributed to the running game, Petzing said they took everyone’s ideas, but chose running game coordinator/offensive line coach Hank Fraley.
“A lot of the running game starts with Hank,” Petzing said. “And I think he does a great job of putting all that together, staying creative and making the defense difficult, but also doing things that suit us and that we can execute at a high level.”
As for St. Brown’s play, it was credited to passing game coordinator Mike Kafka. Although the exact origin of this piece is unclear, Petzing thinks Kafka’s ties to Northwestern — where Chip Kelly does unique things — may have played a role.
“He graduated from Northwestern and Chip Kelly is out there doing some pretty innovative things right now. So I’m sure some of it comes from there,” Petzing said.
He also admits there has been some influence from the CFL of late.
“The CFL, I’ve seen tapes of the CFL over the last couple of months, but you’re always looking for different ways to be tough to defend,” Petzing said.
Believe in 12, 13 people
Through the first seven games of the season, the Lions did not run the ball well with tighter ends on the field. Exhibit A:
But Detroit was fantastic with 12 (one running back, two tight ends) and 13 players against the Vikings. So I asked Petzing why he chose to stick with this project. The answer is that sometimes it wasn’t about personnel, but either execution or finding the right matchups for each week.
“Some of those metrics for me are, ‘Was this a plan? Was it an execution? We lost somewhere that had nothing to do with the personnel we had on the field,” Petzing said. “So I usually think about it a lot less from that perspective and a lot more from the perspective of, ‘Can we dictate a defense? Can I move the gaps? How do they want to play with these personnel?’ It probably has a lot more to do with what they recorded against certain areas than necessarily how we played against teams that aren’t them, if that makes sense.
Defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard
Finding strength through your own players
When Jack Campbell went down in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game, Sheppard admitted he couldn’t hold back the tears. While struggling with his own emotions, he found strength by looking at the players around him. Although they too were visibly emotional, he was inspired by the way players like Aidan Hutchinson used the moment as a rallying cry.
“Watching the players cry on the field, keeping my emotions intact, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t crying. And where I was able to find my strength was my players,” Sheppard said. “And seeing the tears roll down Aidan Hutchinson’s eyes and hearing them say, ‘We’re about to do this for 46 years.’ And once we got to the sidelines, I know you understood that the moment of unity was prayer. Because at that moment, I believe that there are moments in life where you can lean on people. You can rely on strong people.
Then, on the first play after the break – a critical defensive fourth down – Sheppard did something he rarely does: a blitz on fourth down. For what? He saw the passion in his players.
“We never pressured it on fourth down. And I know I’ve been asked why, what call, why that call at that point? And it’s because when I looked at our players, I looked at that call sheet and I said, ‘Let’s go for 46.’ I heard Aidan and I said, ‘Let’s do it,'” Sheppard said.
Sheppard called Hutchinson and Derrick Barnes’ performance on that play “remarkable,” as they pressured Kyler Murray into a rushed, incomplete pass.
Great story by Jack Campbell
To put this previous story into context, Sheppard explained how much Campbell means to him. He recalled a moment from earlier this year. After the first four games of the season, there was a lot of outside noise about Sheppard and his job security. As the team prepared for the Arizona Cardinals, Campbell visited Sheppard at his home and promised he would play his heart out for him.
“When the pressure was on me, that’s why I spoke the way I did, because of what my players were telling me. You have no idea. Jack (was) sitting on my couch before the week in Arizona telling me he was going to play for me. I’ll leave it at that,” Sheppard said.
Sheppard said Wednesday’s message for the team was to put football aside before they can move on to game planning. It goes back to one of its main tenants as a football coach.
“You understand the person better before the player, otherwise you’ll never get to the player,” Sheppard said. “You’ll never know how to talk to him. You’ll never know how to get him to leave. You’ll never understand why he does things. You’ll never understand why he plays football if you don’t know that stuff. So, I always start there. I always have. I’ve always believed in that.”
Sheppard also thanked Dan Campbell for starting the week by immediately putting football aside and giving the players a platform to talk things out.
“When he starts the team meeting, football is over there right now. Let’s talk about it. “Does anyone want to stand up and talk? Does anyone want to?” And by allowing this platform, by allowing people’s vulnerability, everyone sees this game as a macho game. The real, the real strength, the real leadership, is being vulnerable, understanding your weaknesses, understanding that you don’t have it all figured out and knowing what to rely on people for. And that’s what we did as a team. That’s what we did as an organization. And that’s why we we all love being here.
The remaining linebackers
With injuries to Campbell and Jimmy Rolder, attention once again turns to Derrick Barnes, Malcolm Rodriguez, Trevor Nowaske and Joe Bachie to step up. These players have been playing on defense for several years now, and Sheppard knows them well and trusts them.
“I raised these other guys that are about to play. Malcolm Rodriguez and Derrick Barnes. They’re my little brothers and they know the standard,” Sheppard said. “They’ve both worn the green dot before. So it’s not a first test for either one, because that load could be shared. We’re still working on it, but I have confidence in one or the other. And even a guy like Bachie, everyone in this room is like ‘Bachie, Bachie,’ he’s number 35. He’s going to play a role in this game and we have complete confidence in him if he needs to put on the green dot to stand in front of this unit.
Special Teams Coordinator Dave Fipp
Jake Bates’ failure wasn’t really his fault
Fipp revealed that Jake Bates’ missed 40-yard field goal – his first missed kick of the season – wasn’t really his fault. Holder Jack Fox’s unheld hand was a little too close to the ball and Bates hit his hand with the ball.
“Ultimately the ball ended up hitting Fox’s hand. So his hand was in the way a little bit,” Fipp said. “So he really hit a good ball. It didn’t seem obvious to us and hitting the upright, but that was definitely the cause.”
Sione Vaki’s graduation ceremony
One of the most difficult aspects of being a special teams coordinator is that the personnel is constantly changing, not only from year to year, but from week to week. Injuries force players into larger roles on offense and defense, forcing them to reduce special teams snaps and another player to take their place. That’s a big challenge for Fipp this week, especially at linebacker, where Trevor Nowaske and Malcolm Rodriguez are likely to take on larger defensive roles.
But he may also have less of Sione Vaki, who established himself last week as a reliable RB2 on offense. Fipp spoke of his pride in seeing Vaki succeed, comparing his offensive rise to a degree, a new step in his football career.
“There’s a few things I like. Watching a player like that explode on the offensive side of the ball or the defensive side of the ball, we talked about that earlier. I call it getting a degree, you start getting your degree and moving up the ladder,” Fipp said. “People are starting to realize what you can do and bring to the table. He’s obviously been a great player. It’s no surprise to me that this guy is also a good running back. But yeah, there’s nothing like seeing him. It’s like watching your kid out there, a guy that you’ve been close to and worked with a lot and didn’t get a chance to carry the ball and do what he wanted, I’m sure forever, but he was given the opportunity and made the most of it is truly rewarding.
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