Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and special teams coordinator Dave Fipp spoke to the media Thursday as they do every week. Here are my 10 biggest takeaways from those media sessions:
1. The Lions rushed for a season-low 48 yards last week against the Buffalo Bills. Johnson said of the 13 run plays called, he counted only four being efficient by the team's metrics. Being better on the ground against Chicago Sunday is a huge point of emphasis for the offense this week.
2. One of the things Glenn said they have to be really on point with defensively this week is the disguise of their coverages. Bears quarterback Caleb Willims is a rookie and he's still learning the ropes when it comes to reading defenses. Detroit didn't disguise it as well in the second half as they did the first half in the first game against the Bears, which is why Williams had three touchdown passes in the second half. Corral and confuse. That's the game plan facing Williams Sunday.
3. Fipp said the expectation Sunday is for 30 degree temperatures and wind around 10 mph. That's not bad for December in Chicago. Because of the wind and the cold, Fipp thinks there will be a chance for more returns in this game. Fipp said it's easier to anticipate where kicks are going and the depth playing outside in the wind.
4. Nothing changes from a scheme perspective in the run game with David Montgomery out. Johnson said Jahmyr Gibbs is ready for this moment to carry the load and nothing changes with how they want to attack teams with their run game.
5. Losing veteran cornerback Carlton Davis III was a big loss for Glenn's defense. Davis was playing at a Pro Bowl level. Glenn has talked all year about the versatility he has in the secondary and he seemed pretty confident Thursday that if he had to move some pieces around and play guys in different spots, he had the right mix of skillsets to do it and not fundamentally change what they want to be on defense.
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6. The Lions signed linebacker Anthony Pittman off Jacksonville's practice squad this week and that must be pretty comforting for Fipp to have a player who's been in these schemes before and has over 1,000 special teams reps joining the fray. Pittman bet on himself this offseason in hopes of getting a job on Washington's defense. It didn't work out, but Fipp said he respects when players take a chance on themselves like that and is happy Pittman is back in Detroit to help on teams and defense, if needed.
7. Practice squad running back Jermar Jefferson is expected to get an opportunity with Montgomery out. Johnson has seen a ton of growth from Jefferson and said Jefferson deserves this opportunity with how he's played on the scout team all year. Johnson called him a 'silent assassin' for the scout team.
8. After being a healthy scratch the last couple weeks, it's expected that veteran cornerback Emmanuel Moseley will be active this week with injuries suffered by Davis and Khalil Dorsey. Glenn was asked about Moseley Thursday and said Moseley has been practicing well of late and Glenn looks forward to him going out there and contributing whether that's on special teams or defense.
9. Dorsey has been one of the best gunners in the NFL all season. With him now on IR who might replace him? It was reserve safety Brandon Joseph last week. We'll see Sunday if that's the case again.
10. Quote of the day from Glenn:
"We're 12-2 and the sky is falling. We're going to the playoffs, we're in the tournament. Why in the hell is the sky falling for us? What do we have to sit back and be sad for? We leave that up to you guys, we let you guys do that.
"Our job is to go play football and that's what we're going to continue to do. We lost two games, we have a chance to win out and accomplish everything that we want to accomplish. So why should we sit back and wallow and think that the sky is falling? It's dumb."
