Detroit Lions assistant coaches meet with the media | September 11, 2024

Scottie Montgomery good afternoon how you doing guys have you sto smiling with the way David finished that game on Sunday I don't know if I started smiling and but you got one out of me just then though U no I thought he finished the game well I thought he started the game well I think you know that's why he's here that's why you know the vision that Dan and Brad had I think you I got you got a good chance to see it but it wasn't surprising to us I thought he had like I said before the most consistent all season and and of of just about any player I've been around so extremely excited for him uh but it's one round and we got a lot of rounds left a lot is that the secret value to having two guys like that that they can keep their legs fresh so that when you get to overtime everybody's exhausted not only do you have David's conditioning but you have Gibbs that's taken off the workload of for the whole game well I think they you know it's it's just kind of how it air been flow I think one had 30 snaps the other had 31 snaps right that's almost like I don't know how you how how that happens in the game uh but they do work well together and you know we do there are certain things that um they both can do uh one can do maybe a little bit better than the other one but collectively yeah it's really good to be able to have those guys and to look at them on the sideline and both of them are energized and you don't have a guy on a knee with a water bottle and just exhausted and you know you got to go win the football game and and the most important you know part of the game is the football and that's what you got to maintain in those situations play at least one maybe a couple with the faky is sort of two two if I'm not mistaken SC he played quarterback didn't he under Center does that add something that's a good question man I'm trying you see what I'm trying to do right now yeah no no definitely I mean he he has you know he has he has definitely has value uh we're working to just try to get him better every week and you know uh Craig is was also a part of the plan there as well so you know we're just going to use our most explosive players as much as we can I'm recruiting pan uh to come run the ball uh anybody that we can we can get back there or out wide or you know collectively that can make plays uh we're trying to do it we're just trying to use all of our guys to make sure that uh as we do prepare week five week six week seven week eight week nine everybody's good to go everybody's ready to go no doubt I wouldn't I wouldn't want to that's for sure as the Run game coordinator just curious what you see in the box and just what what what challenged that that prevents I don't know how I got that title I'm not the Run game coordinator I am the assistant head coach and running back coach and I am not but but thank you see I mean obviously you play a big part of that in terms of what you do and setup you know um what you see in from the box uh you know so first of all one of the things they do is they apply a lot of pressure and sometimes when you go against a team that applies pressure they lose soundness uh I think that's what's really you know really good about Todd I mean his genius of of of preparing a team to apply pressure to you uh but also being completely sound on the back end I think Larry foot and and Casey they do a really good job of working together and Todd and those guys do a really good job of working together so you know that's one of the you see the other thing you see they they're really really good in their defensive front and I'm not taking anything and then their second level linebacker they're they're playing really well together so it's going to stress Us in the Run game we understand that but there's also opportunities uh that can come with some of that we just got to be able to we got we got to find them before they find us probably the most important part of of what they're doing defensively is that you know um they're mixing their coverage just enough with disguise to slow you down from getting exactly what you want you feeling like you're in a single high situation you end up in a two- High situation you're feeling like you're in a two- High situation you're end in a single high situation with pressure so that can throw you off balance a little bit especially in the Run game because uh there's a lot to you know making sure support is blocked right and finding that support element for the backs so that they they not just getting hit blindly there so there's a lot that goes into that you know our receiver coach uh you know randao of course I had a pleasure of coaching him in Pittsburgh he knows all about the Run game uh so so that is a very important piece that we've got to get we got to make sure we take care of going into this game first got Montgomery and you know we got Gibbs uh Dan Campbell was comparing them kind of to Mark Ingram and Alvin CRA a little bit when you look at them now who do you is there any kind of Tandem that you can compare these two too like like you say when they they getting so equally amount of snaps or anything who would you compare those guys to or they in kind of leing their own a little bit right now it's kind of hard for me to say because I don't think I've ever had guys that could do the same thing so well but it looked completely different you know what I mean a lot of those guys you know some of those guys that you're talking about you know they have high expertise and just catching the ball or high expertise and you know inside the tackle runs I mean some of the most impressive things that that gibby did this week was the interior runs that one run down there on the goal line not the one that scored but the one that got us the first down that looked like a back that was you know you supposed to see you know the Christian lacoes of the world running the ball that's a that's a that showed you my age right there in that reference uh but it was it was so it's kind of it's different for me because I don't know comparable that I've seen a back like Gibby that was you know has the ability to have short yardage runs and then I don't know that I've seen a back like David at his size and his his body type that can make the play that he made at the Giants and you know uh in in a practice there that was just an unbelievable down the field over theh shoulder contested catch so their skill sets are are unique um and and I just don't know that I've thought about you know a a collection of backs playing together that can do the same things but just do them a little bit differently yeah with the success you guys had in the Run game um what did you see from the offensive line with their run blocking how much do you credit that to just about all of it right like so and the one thing that that's happening now is that game was really good for us as as an old line because that was the most snaps probably ever that we've collectively had together uh with everybody in in spots right and then collectively having those backs behind them seeing how it's it was working out so I thought it just got better and at the end of the game uh I mean our guys we were I I think we're in great shape first of all in our old line but I also think that the communication the growth plan beside each other it just as we continue to play more and more uh we'll continue to get better but they did some really good job they did a really good job of getting us to the second level and then once they got us to the second level there was some finishing that last Drive um you know when we got the ball to the one uh if you saw the surge yeah it was David turning his legs but that was everybody that we had pushing that pile when you start seeing that you know collectively that you have an opportunity to be a pretty good club because they're playing for one another to clear I'm always here for Nigerian Nightmare reference um but uh Dave asked about vaky you know playing a couple of those two back sets people frequently ask how do you get Dave D and and jir on the field at the same time and I'm just wondering is there a component there into not you know keeping their legs fresh and not wanting to wear them out her is that something the coach staff gives a lot of thought to on getting your best weapons on the field in in different for in unique formations absolutely it's it's um it's a it's a thought that we uh you have to weigh it both ways and that's what we're constantly doing but yeah we like I said earlier we trying to get our best players uh without saying too much more than that on the field um together and and then making sure that we can finish we we have to finish games in this league as you guys know the last 5 10 years it's been so many games that's been you know decided by one touchdown or one drive or one opportunity so in these settings we need to make sure that when we get there we got the horses the carriers across uh the finish line and right now I think Ben's doing a good job of of of kind of mixing that and as we grow we'll grow and um you know and the other the other piece to that is you know there was some uncertainty probably for me uh of just you know how Jah was going to do coming out of uh training camp you know and he did fantastic and I didn't have any uncertainty in the game it was more so leading into that first week second week of practice I mean he's really been on the field like 10 days maybe nine 10 days since we got going and man he did a he did a good job I'm proud of him for the way he took care of his body and got himself ready to play in this game just kind of going off that a little bit um before overtime David Montgomery's last carry was I believe a little over 10 minutes left in the third quarter so how do you decide how that workload is is going to go is that something you decide before the game where you're like oh we want to start with him and then maybe go back to him later I guess just how how do you figure that out there's some e and flow to it there's some feel to it right uh but at the same time there's also this thought process that you know we need to to to make sure both of them are getting touches right and a a lot of it can you can kind of look at it from a standpoint is if someone gets hot you you know in the game just like a a basketball player he gets hot you're very rarely going to see somebody Sub in there to get him out of there right so once a guy gets hot especially with me I got so much respect for those guys we'll leave the hot guy in and uh at the end of that game uh David he was hot it was like watching Steph right he was he was on fire so we just we we uh we mixed it just a little bit to make sure you know J got some perimeter touches and some interior run touches which was good for us uh and and and then just the scheme of what we were doing there really showed up in that last Drive there's no doubt about it David Montgomery runs with a chip knowing him as you do where does that come from life every day life um our history um is is is really really a flashlight for our future uh if if you know what I mean he is a guy that has had to overcome several things in his life he's been told that he wasn't good enough he's been told that he wasn't big enough he wasn't been been told that he wasn't fast enough and this was before he even got out of high school um so when you continue to hear some of those things or you've been in situations to where you haven't been able to really capitalize even though you've played at a great level things haven't always gone your way you get to a place where you have had you can have some success you want to make sure that it's not you the reason that you're not having it so that's why you see the edge uh as as we like to call it uh and he gives us all Edge um there's no out I mean I probably the most similar people in the building is Dan and and demo so those those guys are are great leaders for us and um the rest of us are just trying to make sure we hold up our end of the bargain time for one 19:35 - Terrell Williams more aot offensive line yeah we're excited to get them get them back I mean we still got to get through the week of practice but um things are trending up for him but it's a it's a good physical group and when you add him DJ the neighborhood gets a little tougher so we're we're excited to get them you explain a little bit how Marcus and Aiden how they you know match so well with each other talk about it the other day a little bit crushing the candy called it yeah when you look at them they're both about the same height about the same around the same weight um arm length everything's the same so when you got big guys on the edges that can uh that can Crush those tackles and then you got guys in the middle that can push then now we basically build a box around the quarterback and it's hard for him to throw and you know I know we had two sacks in the football game but we affect at the quarterback and and if we can do that every week then I think we'll be in good shape now something couple weeks ago about Marcus to said he's got one of the best bull rushes he's ever seen um just as a as a coach what what makes a good bull rush what does he do power like he's a powerful guy and he's a big guy and he knows how to get underneath for a guy that's six six or whatever he is he can bend and get underneath Neath guys I'll tell you what was probably more impressive like we look at the game but what he was doing on field goal block I mean I was like wow like normally you don't you watch field goal block and it's okay whatever but the things that he was doing on field goal block if he continues to do that he'll get him one you mentioned the affecting the quarterback I think something like 26 pressures 12 hits on the quarterback obviously that's stats you really like there was a few times where Stafford got away from the Gras biger guys what what is the emphasis and the coaching points on on just finishing and you making sure you yeah you always got to take one more step and um when you're playing guys it's it's funny I was talking to um one of my former players who's a coach now Ryan carrian I coached him at Purdue a long long time ago but he um we always the players always remember the sacks that they missed and when you watch them there's a lot of Miss sacks and and the common theme there is take one more step like sometimes guys are and then there's quarterbacks that are Elusive and this quarterback that we're playing this week Mayfield is one of those guys but you like to see them all finish but what happens is if a guy misses the second guy's got to go clean him up and and I think we have to do a better job at that going into this football game Rams are obviously getting the ball out pretty quick on Sunday what did you just notice in terms of the differences between how Stafford and Mayfield were operating in Pocket week one well I think that a lot of that depends on who you play against I told our guys I said uh when the quarterback's getting rid of the ball quick that's hats off to you because that means that they're they they know that they can't hold the football and um when they did hold the football we hit them and that's how it has to be every week I'm curious this comes up a lot from from fans mcneel and and Hutchinson play a lot I mean you know aden's been up over 90% I think his entire career um what what is the line we were just talking to Dan about Malcolm Rodriguez playing and how it kind of spreads the load for the linebackers for you what what's the the line to make sure you're getting maximum effort for that guy in game but also all the way in December and January yeah it's a it's a field thing I mean and we have very capable backups that can go in there and play I mean that's the one thing I'm one of the things I'm excited about but you know Hutch played he normally plays like you said 91% of the snaps I think he was at 80 88 this week but the problem is we played so many defensive snaps so he was actually below his percentage but he played the most snaps that he's ever played in a game because we played so many um defensive snaps so we just got to find a way to to get off the field when we have opportunities to get off the field so I mean when the game's on the line you're going to have your best guys out there like that's just part of the job just thoughts on Levis first week I mean it seemed like everything that you guys have talked about for the summer car he was again he did everything we expected him to do and now it's got to show up every week like that's who he is now he's a big physical guy he can affect the quarterback and play good in the Run game and that's what the expectation is now so it's not a you know now when you see it it's like okay you're doing your job let's move on to the next play like that's that's what it is now and that's a good thing for Levi and a great thing for us about M Wingo is deut what you see he only played six snaps he had a winning performance he was um you know I think five of the six six snaps were positive plays so um he'll continue to play more and continue to develop it's uh you know when you got a rookie and we have really good players in the interior like that's the thing he's competing for playing time with Mack with um with with um Levi Petco now you throw rer in the mix like it's it's we're we're excited about our depth and he's a big part of it talk me about it being a when a quarterback is is throwing quickly I imagine similar when teams are trying to get their run game going by going to the perimeter an avoiding the heart of your defense but you know the Rams were able to to hit the defense with a few of those um what what more can your guys do or is that not maybe necessarily their responsibility to to be slowing those down I think it's all of our responsibility on defense even when they're running in the middle I mean you got um Corners that have to crack replace and line back everybody everybody's in involved in the Run game so um we can do a better job of setting the edge when we can set the edge and then run from inside out but if people are running jet sweeps and tosses and all of that it it it can only last so long eventually you're going to have to run the ball or attempt to run the ball in the middle and I feel pretty good about our matchups Dar thought just wor I think second year playing by tackle now and obviously a good match up this week probably W if you weren't keer coaching this popcorn watching this I don't know he that good he's a good player he's a really good player I mean he's an elite player I think they paid him like you pay an elite player and um he'll be a challenge for us you you don't have a lot of big guys that are as athletic As He Is We happen to have one here that's the same and when you play against those guys you you have to to to play hard play physical and take your opportunities when you get there so it'll be a great matchup I mean he's been again he's played right tackle he's played left tackle you he can play D tackle I'm sure I mean he's a pretty good football player now we uh we as Dan what's different about their offense with the new coordinator he said a commitment to the Run um my understanding is it's a a more versatile run scheme that they had previously what what are you seeing when you look at the film the sample size is obviously very small but what what Tampa is trying to accomplish with their their ground game they got two good backs um White and the rookie from Oregon uh number seven they're they're really good football players um they complement each other Well they um and then the line does a good job of working together I mean the sample size is small as far as scheme but the the actors are the same like we know those guys like we know uh we played against them in Tennessee last year um here played against them twice a lot of the Personnel is the same the scheme's a little bit different but at the end of the day it's it's really more about personnel for us than it is about scheme okay thank you all right