As they do every normally scheduled week, the three Detroit Lions coordinators met with the media on Thursday morning.
Rather than pepper our front page with a lot of little stories from those three press conferences, I’ve gathered the main takeaways from each session.
Here are the most notable storylines from offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, and special teams coordinator Dave Fipp.
With Alim McNeill out, there’s an opportunity for many Lions defensive tackles to step up and reclaim a job—or, as Dan Campbell put it earlier in the week, “prove their worth here.”
But when I asked Glenn specifically about Onwuzurike getting an opportunity this week, it didn’t exactly sound like Detroit was planning on putting him out there this week.
Glenn is making an overall point about the entire room, but for his mind to go there specifically with Onwuzurike seems like a bad omen for him.
The Lions knew Martin was going to be a long-term project when they drafted him at the end of the third round this year.
So it’s no surprise the rookie has only made one game appearance on defense this year.
That said, Glenn gave us some insight into what Martin has been working on and some of the progress he’s made.
Hutchinson is having a decent year, even if the sack numbers aren’t rolling in. One thing he’s had to deal with is a ton of extra attention via double teams and chips.
Glenn said the second-year defender has watched tape of Steelers edge defender T.J. Watt to help learn how to deal with the extra blockers.
The Lions defense is one of the youngest in the league, but they’ve recently added a couple of 36-year-old players to bring some stability: Bruce Irvin and Tyson Alualu. Glenn pointed out how both have helped bring a veteran mindset to the room.
Earlier in the week, it looked like Soldier Field could be a sloppy mess on Sunday.
However, recent forecasts suggest that while it will still be cold (30s), we may avoid precipitation.
That appears to be to the Lions’ benefit because while they love to run the ball, they also have aerial weapons.
Sorsdal appears to be heading for another start at right guard with Frank Ragnow trending towards missing Sunday’s game.
While he has had his struggles this year, Johnson appears comfortable with where Sorsdal is at—in particular compared to next year.
Something mildly wacky happens during every Dave Fipp presser.
As he leaped to the podium on Thursday, someone remarked on his ups, and it led to a conversation about how he used to be able to dunk.
