Who's Back From Injury, Red Zone Practice, QB Spy

WXYT-FM / 97.1 The Ticket

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00:00He's 10 months old. Coming up on 11 months, he was born last October. So he exists in a world where

00:06the Lions are only Super Bowl contenders. He's a spoiled brat already.

00:13All right, let's talk injuries. Any updates on any players? A lot of guys limited and some guys

00:19not practicing, specifically in the secondary. Yeah, so Terrion Arnold was back in practice

00:24today. That's encouraging. He had missed Wednesday and Thursday just with an illness.

00:28So obviously all signs point to him playing on Sunday. Even Aaron Glenn hinted

00:32at him covering Marvin Harrison Jr. So I fully expect him to play. Alex Anzalone,

00:37who returned yesterday in limited capacity after being in concussion protocol, still is in protocol.

00:43The last fifth hurdle for him to clear to exit protocol is to respond favorably to football

00:48activity. I think that's what they're testing today. So hard to say on him probably until

00:53tomorrow for sure. Graham Glasgow, who had a rest day Wednesday, is back out there. He's good to go.

00:59Full practice participant all week. Same for St. Brown. Mella Fong, who still has not practiced

01:04this week, did not practice today. He might be an IR candidate as the season unfolds. But Dan

01:10Campbell did say he's progressing. And Ennis Raikstra also no practice today after injuring

01:15his hamstring in pregame warm-ups last week. But all told, a pretty encouraging practice report

01:21entering game three of the season. Is there concern through the first couple games here with

01:27Terry and Arnold and the past interference calls? Or is this just, hey, look, they're growing pains.

01:31It's going to happen. Some of them may be ticky tack and others might be just it's a learning

01:36program. Yeah, I don't think there's much concern internally. There might be externally. But I also

01:42thought it was interesting, something that Carlton Davis told us recently, which is that as a physical

01:47kind of press man corner and he and Arnold both played the same way in his rookie season,

01:52he experienced the same problems and he would often feel targeted by referees. And then he was

01:57a victim of a lot of questionable pass interference calls. He said as that season went on and as his

02:03career went on and referees around the league understood how he played, they afforded him more

02:08leeway when it came to some contact down the field. Now, Arnold does need to get his head around

02:14sooner when he's in coverage and probably needs to be a little bit less handy down the field.

02:19But I think those things will be ironed out as the season progresses. Dan Campbell spoke today.

02:24What's the most interesting thing he had to say? Well, look, he came in and he was fired up. They

02:30had just gone through their walkthrough and Friday is red zone day. And he said, even in the walk

02:35through, everyone was champion at the bit to get rid of the taste in their mouth from last week.

02:41And they obviously went one for seven in the red zone. So he was kind of pounding the podium. He

02:46was kind of huffing and puffing. These guys are so eager to get to practice today to attack those

02:51red zone issues and to hopefully come out on Sunday as a more polished product in the red zone. So

02:57that jumped out to me for sure. He didn't give away what the game plan or tell what they're

03:01planning on changing by chance, did he? No, no. You know, he was asked over and over again,

03:07what do you plan to do on second and three from the 18? He just refused to divulge that for some

03:11reason. Not entirely sure why. He also noted that this feels like the perfect time for this team

03:17to go on the road. He said, you know, there's really nothing better, as great as it is to play

03:22in front of, I would argue, the best home field advantage in the NFL. To be in a bunker and you

03:27got nothing but each other and probably 20,000 Lions fans on Sunday, but on the sidelines,

03:33nothing but each other. You know, that's a real bonding agent for a team and it feels like the

03:38right time for these guys to hit the road and hopefully come back with a win. People always

03:43flip out when you have to take on a quarterback that has the ability to run. It's one thing to

03:48be mobile and move around in a pocket, but it's another thing when you can just take off and use

03:51a 4-4 speed that you have, like Kyler Murray does. How much of a concern do you think that is

03:57for the Lions and how much does the experience of last week taken on Baker Mayfield help them

04:02with this week against Kyler Murray? Yeah, I don't know. I'm wary of comparing Baker Mayfield

04:08and Kyler Murray. I mean, like, Kyler Murray is a legitimate rushing threat. I think Baker does it

04:12out of necessity and he definitely carved him up, in fact, on two snaps in a row to score a touchdown,

04:17but the defensive struggles under Aaron Glenn defending mobile quarterbacks are real and I know

04:22it's probably easy to say, well, everyone struggles against mobile quarterbacks and that's true to an

04:27extent, but I want to offer you guys a but here. I was just looking up some numbers. Justin Fields

04:33against the Lions in 22 and 23, four games, 110 rushing yards per game against the Lions. Against

04:39everyone else in that span, 56 rushing yards per game, so half as much rushing production. Jalen

04:44Hertz against the Lions in 2022, 90 rushing yards against everyone else that year, 46 rushing yards,

04:50half as much rushing production. Patrick Mahomes last year against the Lions, 45 rushing yards

04:56against everyone else that year, 22 rushing yards, half as much production. So there is a clear issue

05:02with this defense and you can diagnose it as not wanting to use a quarterback spy, as losing

05:08contain, as not being disciplined enough with their rush lanes, but it's real and on Sunday, they're

05:13going to have to overcome it and for me, it's just about awareness and as Hutchinson said a number of

05:18times this week, rush lane integrity because the minute you allow Murray to see a crease, he's

05:24going to hit it and right now, he looks a lot like 2018 Heisman Kyler Murray. So if you were to

05:30implement a spy of some sort, who would be the leading candidate to do so? It's a great question.

05:37When Aaron Glenn was asked about that very concept yesterday, he bristled at the notion and

05:43basically said, turn on the tape and see what happens when teams try a quarterback spy. I guess

05:48Buffalo tried it against Murray to no avail. I don't know who it would be. I assume a linebacker,

05:56but that also exposes you to vacancies in the middle of the field if you're going to have one

06:01linebacker just locked in on Kyler Murray. I think there are enough playmakers now on this defense

06:06where you don't have to do that and I would be surprised given Aaron Glenn's response yesterday

06:11if they do. Well, I'm hoping they can do to him what they did to Baker Mayfield and like you said,

06:16they're different quarterbacks, but if they can hold him to under 200 yards passing and under 50

06:21yards rushing like they did to Baker, that's a win for the defense. And I love with the defense and

06:26especially that you just mentioned, like Terrion Arnold's back and it sounds like some of the guys

06:29are going to be healthy and in uniform. This is a great data point is whether or not this defense

06:35will be better because Arizona's offense for two weeks through the air and on the ground has been

06:40great. Yeah, they've been really good. And obviously a lot of the talk is focused on Kyler

06:44Murray. That's going to happen when you post a literally perfect passer rating last week. But

06:49I think as you guys mentioned earlier in the show, they've been just as impressive running the ball

06:53and it's, you know, as much as Kyler Murray's numbers might look like his Heisman campaign

06:58at Oklahoma, their usage of him is much different than it was in college and really than it's been

07:03in the NFL. You know, it was mostly shotgun in college. It's much more under center, heavy

07:10personnel, a lot of play action, a lot of boots, a lot of heavy downhill run game. And he's using

07:16that to his advantage when he does throw, especially via play action. This team won't

07:20abandon the run, even on passing down a little bit like the Lions when they get the ball rolling

07:25with Montgomery and Gibbs. And James Connor, man, is a is a tree. Like I'm not I'm not talking like

07:31a birch tree. I mean, like he's got some oak to him. He's a he's a he's a a maple tree and and

07:38defenders bounce off him. So the Lions better come ready to wrap up on Sunday. Shots fired

07:43against birch trees. Yeah. Well, hey, I can say I'm part of the family. You know, I am. I am a

07:48birch myself. So I am allowed to make those judgments. The Lions quarterback, Jared Goff,

07:54he's coming over some fire so far for the first couple games of the season. Turn the ball over

07:58more than people thought he would. He's the quarterback of his team and not getting the

08:02team in the end zone. One out of only one out of seven last week. If you heard anything about

08:07how he has practiced this week and if they kind of fine tune some things that they thought were

08:11issues. Yeah, so I actually caught up with Jared after his media scrum on Wednesday, and I just

08:18wanted to ask him a little bit more about this idea, this theme that we've heard that he did

08:22too much on Sunday in Sunday's loss to the Bucs, because I think all of us saw the same thing.

08:26And I just wanted to know from his perspective on what plays, what throws he felt like he did that.

08:32And Jared is always accountable. You guys know this, but I think for the first time I heard him

08:37really critical of himself when we were talking. He said two throws stand out. Obviously the fourth

08:43quarter interception when he just flings a back foot pass under pressure. It's really no one in

08:47particular that's picked off. Another one to St. Brown down the sideline, I believe in the second

08:52quarter, where again he's under pressure. And in both cases, if he just takes a sack, that's not

08:58a bad play. Instead of lofting a ball up that should be picked or was picked, he said the

09:03second pass to St. Brown should have been intercepted. And he said, look, it's dumb.

09:07It's really stupid. He said sometimes he's so conscious of not taking sacks, not taking negative

09:12plays, that he allows that to override his ball security. He said that can never happen. That

09:17always has to be priority number one. So as far as practicing this week and playing Sunday,

09:22I would expect him to place a premium on taking care of the ball. Because look, guys, Jared Goff,

09:27when he plays in himself, is a top 10 quarterback in the NFL. I think the numbers back that up.

09:32When he tries to play beyond his own capabilities, as he did last Sunday,

09:36I think he's more like a bottom tier quarterback, more like the quarterback

09:39the Rams gave up on. When he does not throw a pick, the Lions are 15-5 since 2022. When he does,

09:45they're 7-9. If he takes care of the ball on Sunday, this offense should be just fine.

10:02Thank you, Birch Kidd. We appreciate it.

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