Detroit Lions players meet with the media ｜ September 5, 20241 / NFL Football 2024

how excited are you I mean you're going to get the majority of the Reps now you you're not just a guy that comes in you're started just getting 50 60 reps a game how excited are you today um I'm excited it's something I'm ready for um you know getting back into being myself playing ball really excited to go out there and just play ball with with the team and get a w how different does this opener feel for you compared to going into it last year whenever you had to wait I think I'm just excited as I was last year you know even though I wasn't playing I was I was I prepared last year for the Chiefs game just like I was playing even though I was at the house you know just the excitement is there um I'm just really excited and real ready to just go out there and play you know how cool is it that everything the same one more time how important is it that everything is the same in here continuity stay the same coaches um I think that's real important you know cuz you can't get too ahead of yourself you know just of what we did last year you know it's whole new season last year was behind us and ready to go to work this year and do do more than we did last year so I think that's important he said you know he's as confident as ever and you how did that feel to earn it like really earn that confidence in coach last couple uh it feels good you know um being a ball player hearing that from the guy who calls a play so you know he has his trust in me so he can come to me whenever he feels like he he ready he know I'm ready for it so it feels good you know have you had a grow in confidence or do you feel like you're just as confident I know I always been confident in myself I always had the the utmost confident in myself you know I feel like I'm the best and I just feel like I make plays so the confidence is always there we know you've set some pretty high goals for yourself this season how would you measure a successful season for yourself um winning you know that's that's the main goal winning even though I got my own goals but the team goal is to win you know what do you expect that atmosphere to be like on on Sunday night oh I I expect it to be on fire you know um from the jump from when we go out doing the returners go out on the field from the first 60 minutes before the game 90 minutes before the game I expected to be on fire you know I I know what they going to do I know what our fans going to bring and I know the atmosphere they going to bring so I'm prepared for it um I hope everybody else is what's your favorite part about week one um you know U my favorite part about week one I would say just being able to play against somebody else I I I would say you know we've been we've been going at each other uh we had a joint practice versus New York uh that was probably like our most competitive thing we've done since last January um besides going against each other you know as far as going against another team so you know just competing going out there and competing against somebody else who we could just put put put it on instead of like you know not on our teammates when it comes to your own goals J do you have Targets in mind and no no no no I don't got no you know I said something I said something the other day it kind of got like blew up but you know like I just said I just want to win what gives you the that you can take the next step personally you I'm me you know like you everybody seen me play football before so that' be the main thing Aaron Glenn laughed about going against you said ion CHP iron but he he laughed when he said you're going to do what you're going to do which is run past people what can other teams expect out of you uh like this is kind of your first season debut um third you know you're just getting comfortable now so what can other teams kind of expect of you um you just expect the ball player you know um I do my thing when I'm on the field and I just try to do it to the best of my ability to help the team and you know take us over the top you know it's it's that that would be my main thing um just helping the team in as many ways as I can blocking catching the ball moving the sticks you know even if I got to go out there on special teams and return or do something you know just helping the team in as many ways as I can this this new defense this new secondary some of the different pieces up front and just showing everybody how much improved you can be as as a defense I'm I thing uh one thing is just going out there and uh obviously showing that we have Elite Defenders I mean we brought a a new D line in brought a new secondary in we're revamp but the other thing is we just have to go out there and trust each other too so I mean we've had joint practice against the Giants we've gone against our offense which is I believe the top the top offense in the NFL and uh we've done a good job of that so uh just going out there and just seeing who shines in the bright lights and just knowing that uh no moment is too big and we've already prepared for this moment how ready are you for those big lights for I mean I went to Alabama so uh I feel like this is really just another game but uh for me knowing just knowing that I'm the rookie I mean you know that obviously as a cornerback every play that can come after but me being particular being a rookie you can know like guys like that such just I mean I don't really know what type of quarterback or what's going through Matthew Stafford's head uh but I know like Aaron Rogers they pray on rookies like that so my main thing is just be alert at all the times is there an extra motivation for you being the rookie and wanting to maybe prove people wrong or at least prove your worth I mean my my main thing isn't really proving people wrong uh I feel like my main thing is just proving it to my teammates because I really want to learn I mean earn their trust and I feel like I've done a great job of doing that but just going out there and showing them day in and day out I mean everything I say back to what you're were saying you expect Stafford to come at you a little bit cuz you're a rookie yeah guess right I mean obviously I play corner too so I mean it's one of those things like you you can kind of feel when the ball is coming so I mean it's just your job to go out there and make the play and if a play is being made it's also your job to have a short mentality and tell me about the challenge of those two receivers you know pauka and Cooper I mean that whole offense but especially those two obviously you'll be matched up with them at some point so um I don't know what what makes them good that you've seen them film how excited are you to play a Duo like that well number one is their coach I mean Shan M he does a great job of dressing up his plays he has a lot of motion before and it can kind of get your eyes uh when really they're just running simple basic routes but uh guys like that they do a very very great job of controlling the tempo they might not look like guys who would just line up and beat you one-on-one but they know how to attack your weaknesses know how to win their leverage and they have a great chemistry with their quarterback so you just really have to stay disciplined when you're guarding guys like that when you watching the tap what do you think Stafford I mean I think Stafford is El leite man uh like uh me and uh JG even talked about uh he's probably one of the best in the game at no look throws I mean even when his own coverage it look like his eyes are over here and he's throwing the ball over there so he just had to do a great job but uh not trying to be greedy just being in the right spot and trusting it what's your process going to be like on Sunday walking out on the field for the first time but also having to lock in want to help this team go want to know uh I've already been locked in so I think just going out there it's going to be execution I mean same way that I went out there executed and practice today just have to do the same thing in the game and uh Dan has done a great job even allowing our fans to come out here and putting us in atmosphere as almost like game like so I think it'll it'll just be another uh practice like situation but it's a real game who was your debut at Alabama against um it was against uh Utah State yeah but uh the first game that I really really felt like which was a game like this would uh it would have been against Texas and I still remember it to this day because I had a over rout by Xavier worthy who is my uh my friend and I climbed on his back and I dropped the pick so hopefully when I get an opportunity like that I make it this time yeah Utah stay a little bit different than the Rams the NFL season nowhere near close it's way different but I the same thing like in those early games do you remember because you were a firsttime starter like that quarterback saying I'm coming at this guy right here and kind of what goes through your mind like yeah I'm going to you know up and show them what I can do I mean in college it was a little different because like our secondary we were we were all kind of young it was like me Kool-Aid we had obviously Brian Branch um Jordan battle but I just going into those games you knew you could kind of feel when the ball was coming uh even like last year when I was at Alabama the first play of the game they tried me but I kind of got that feeling like back short of fade is coming so I mean you can kind of feel it and if you just trust your n and trust yourself that's what makes a good quarterback you mentioned all the you know sort of this whole group that you have in the secondary you guys haven't played a lot together I mean just because the injuries really the whole defense hasn't right reader's been out but so H how have you sort of uh you know covered that Gap I guess what have you been doing to make sure that communication isn't an issue that you know you know what's going on with the guys that you need to just based on the lack of experience playing together well I kind of credit that uh theay and Jo uh they do a great job in our in our meetings if we see a play we have to communicate right then and we also have this thing called a fine book so I mean it's just about holding each other accountable it's just one of those things like if you mess up on this play hey we all calling you out on this and it just kind of jails with our chemistry and it gals with uh seeing different looks and things and the main thing they do is they allow us to go out there and play our game I mean they're going to coach us to have the right alignment right technique but at the end of the day we brought you guys in for a specific reason and I'm and I'm not going to hinder you from doing that so they do a good job of that you been find yet couple more guys of course yeah what what for uh I got f for uh I mean he's very very strict on it uh just for you know uh loafing which is that's conduct detrimental I mean you can't Loaf and I've got fine for not punching at the ball so I mean they do a very very good job with just trying to make it intense and I mean it's kind of becoming muscle memory so even in the game if I see a ball on the ground and you just pick it up it might just happen to be a fumble and you think it's an incompletion so just trying to uh reiterate muscle memory for the majority of snaps for Brian Branch last year he was in the slot but you've seen him way more at the safety and you've seen everything he can do flying around there what do you think that will look like and how this defense will benefit from him being so much more flexible this year I mean I tell anybody I've been around BB for the longest he's a playmaker and he's just one of those guys like when he goes out there you never really know what he's going to do but you know it's going to be something exciting so with him being at safety uh you know him a chance to show off his versatility stay in the middle of the field but uh even when he kind of gets a a full steam ahead at running downhill like that's that's going to be pretty scary I just know like if I'm in the middle of that play right there I'm probably going to back up so yeah I'm going let him take that tackle on by itself but uh just him being over there at safety uh it's been fun to watch and interesting to see because uh it kind of shows off his versatility shows off his range and then BB is a very cerebral player and like I always just reiterate to him like man just trust yourself you can feel it happening so just go out there and make play so I think people are going to get to see like his full tool box and his playm ability thank you guys well go time week one Give me the give me the excitement level we're we're excited uh I feel like you know us as players um you know the way last year ended it kind of left a you know bitter tase in our mouth but we came back in OTAs ready to work training camp preseason and now it's finally here so it's a new year um new team new guys every team is different in NFL this year and so you know we get to restart and starts starts week starts week one did end the way you wanted but there was a lot of success in there what does that success do to help you guys this year I think you know we learned a lot of things last year uh it was a pretty pretty successful season you can say if you look at overall but you know we understand that we want to get to that big game and we fell one game short last year and so we want to do anything we can this year to to not you know make this same mistakes that we did last year but like I said it's it's just week one you don't make it to the playoffs in week one it's a you got to put together a bunch of weeks and we got to take it one week at a time and I feel like as a team we understand that so this week is the ram so all of our focus is is on La where do you see this offense getting better this year you guys were awful good last year I think there's a few few areas of improvement for us obviously you know taking care of the football is one of the biggest things if we can limit our turnovers um you know our chances of winning go up drastically um so taking care of the football I would say is number one and then just being efficient whether that's in the pass game Run game whatever it is um just being efficient on third Downs first and second downs we did pretty good last year um and then once we get in the Red Zone we got to got to get points whether it's six or three we want to get six but when we get in that red zone we got to come out points every time on top of that JG was talking about how good Ben Johnson is about being creative and Innovative and making a good offense continue to get better how is it being on this side of it where you have a coordinator who is you know constantly pushing it a little bit it's awesome I love Ben I think we all love Ben here uh he does a great job of you know bringing us new schemes that are you know similar but a little different little wrinkles in our offense that make it tough on defenses because we have so many different formations different shifts movements but for the most part it's a lot of the same plays that we know and we love and he just dresses up differently and you know obviously every year we have new plays and new things that we like to do but for the most part you know the core is the core and we understand what we do well um we're going to learn throughout the season what what we're good at but this is just week one so feel like week one we're going to do the things that we did in training camp a lot um stuff that we're comfortable with obviously there's wrinkles for the Rams and their coverages but for the most part it's what we do what we do best same two teams as in that playoff game but I mean their secondary is completely different this year their defensive Line's different this year how different is the challenge this time around being in week one against the Rams yeah it's I mean they're going to bring you know they're not obviously happy of the way they're their season ended last year so we know they're going to bring their aame they're going to be excited they're going to be pumped Stafford coming back to Detroit again for a second time um but no we know their defense is going to you know they're going to be excited they're going to be ready to play they got young guys up up front that you know have high Motors get after the quarterback in the Run game um and then the back end I mean they got brought some guys in um actually their nickel 37 Quinton Lakers you know I went to high school with him that's my boy um so you know we were just on the game a few days ago talking but uh can't wait to against him that's my boy um but n they're they secondaries solid group they they can um they do a lot of different things but they play they play together who made you who you are is really that having that Underdog Spirit you know being a fourth rounder when you had the summer that you had endorsement deals you know being in a new light obviously receiver show how do you continue to maintain that going into this year do you find different ways or is it even stronger how is it how was that for you being on this side this year yeah I think for me uh it's just you know same mentality that I have every year the new year uh everything is reset this is a what have you done for me lately type of league and right now I'm just you know I'm at the bottom I got to restart I got to do it again and that's what motivates me really uh that's what gets me going is you know last year was last year it's a whole new year um I got to put it together again it's easy to put one or two years together but to do it you know five six seven years that's really what separates you so for me that's that's really my motivation is is doing it trying to do it again cuz it's like I said it's easy to do one or two years but to do it each and every year for multiple multiple several seasons um that's really what separates guys you expect defenses to give you extra attention this year uh I think so um you know with the guys we have I mean we have a bunch of guys on offense so it's going to be tough uh when you have guys like leapa J jir David u i mean you go across we got Playmakers on offense so that's what I love about our offense is if you double me someone's going to be one-onone and it's probably not going to be a match up that you like uh so that's why I love playing here we have a bunch of Playmakers and either you double me double Sam Double J one of us is going to find F open crease so um Ben Johns does a great job of understanding you know or anticipating that teams might double certain players and he has you know he has ways to get other guys open how about opening up on this stage Sunday night Bright Lights only game going uh yeah I'm excited uh Sunday night I love Prime Time games one of my favorite um Sunday I mean we had the Thursday last year the first game of the season love that that was one of my favorite games uh so I expect nothing less in Detroit week one I remember what two my second year I think we played the Eagles week one and I was sold out and so for this game I just you know best fans in the world the Detroit fans I te them to break the the deal record you you broke out the thrust on opening night last year anything anything planned for for touchdown celebration I I have something in mind I do um you know hopefully I can get that end zone so I can show you guys but I do have something in mind what's your impression of the two receivers added into the room yeah they look they look great they look awesome uh you know they've made plays in this league they know they understand terminology obviously our offense is different than what they came from but a lot of stuff in the NFL is you know a lot of terminology is the same and so they're picking up the offense quick uh big body receivers you know that can help us on the outside U make those big contested catches but like I said they've made plenty of plays in this league so those are guys you can just plug and play you heard you've heard so much about J Mo talk so much about J Mo what should we expect from J Mo this season uh I think a a a better a much better year than he did last than he had last year obviously you know last year was supended for a few games but this year I feel like everything's been going right for him U been able to be here for ota's training camp no hiccups with nothing and we're all I feel like all on this team expecting a big year for J Mo I know you guys are too so um and I think he understands that he feels it and he's definitely lived up to all the expectations in training camp so far and I can't wait to we can't wait to unleash J cuz we don't feel like he was truly Unleashed last year so we're we're excited