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Dannie Rogers on the Lions culture, truth about their Defense | Countdown to Kickoff · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It's Week thirteen. The Jaguars face the Detroit Lions at
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Ford Field in downtown Detroit, and Detroit Lions reporter Danny
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Rodgers is with us to tell us all about the
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Ford seven Lions. It's a battle of Ford and seven teams.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: And Danny, this is like looking in the mirror almost right.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: I mean, both these teams really need this game. Yeah,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: you nailed it, hit the nail on the head. And
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: coach Campbell said that earlier this week that these two
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: teams are mirror images of each other. You've got two
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: teams that are gonging and hungry Jacksonville, you guys, of
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: course getting that big win over Baltimore and then Detroit
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: going three and one in their last four games. So
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: both teams are kind of on the uptick. It's just
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: for the Lions that are coming off the loss to
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: the Bills. It was really close loss, only by three points.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: So it's now Kansas. The Detroit Lions bounced back and
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: continue on their their nice little uptick into the season.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Let's start with the coaching there. You mentioned Dan Campbell
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: and what he brings in terms of mentality to that team.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: He's got a toughness, a roughness, kind of a rough
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: edge about him, but it seems like the team takes
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: to him. They sure do. You will hear all of
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: these players just say amazing things about coach Campbell and
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: the staff, who a majority of them are former players,
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: so you know they're kind of operating on the same
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: wavelengths coaches can relate to the players. For coach Campbell,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: he brings an aggressive mindset to this team, a physical mindset,
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: and that's exactly what these players need. That's how you
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: need to play when you're not very experienced. Both of
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: these teams Jacksonville and you Try are both very on
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: the younger side of the spectrum here for NFL team,
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: so detrait especially on the defensive side, like you have
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: to play so physical, so aggressive. Um, when you don't
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: have a ton of experience, you have to be able
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: to play fast and and play in a simplified system,
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: which is what they do. And so Coach Campbell, um,
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: I love him. I think he's a great coach. I
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: think there's no better leader right now to lead this franchise.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Um and I'm glad it's him. He deserves all the
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: praise that he can get. Elevating Ben Johnson to offensive
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: coordinator who has produced one of the most explosive offenses
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  Speaker 1: in the league. So um, he marked all aggressive mindset. Yeah,
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: and the players, we freaking love it. Danny Rodgers with
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: this Lions reporter and staying on the coaching conversation here,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: of course, Jared Goss playing pretty well the last month
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: or so, four or five games. How much is Mark
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: Brunell had to do with golf finding his way at
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: least early in his time in Detroit. And and we
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: know Mark pretty well around here obviously, So how's he
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: been to deal with and in that kind of a
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: world where he's the quarterbacks coach, how does golf take
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: to him? Coach Barnell, what sticks out to me just
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: listening to his press conference is he's very transparent. He
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: keeps it one hundred with you. He doesn't sugarcoat anything.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: But what I love the most about that quarterback coach
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: and quarterback relationship is how loyal they are to each other.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: And you can tell the coach Brunell knows how good
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: of a quarterback Jared Goff can be and how good
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: he's been playing for the Detroit lines. I mean, he
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: went to a Super Bowl. We don't want people to
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: get Jared Goff played in the Super Bowl, and Coach
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: Brunell doesn't want you to forget that either. He has
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: all the trusts in the world that Jared can perform
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: very critical situations, and he's very real in the things
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: that Jared needs to get better. Sometimes this pocket presents
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: um knowing when to stay in and wanted to get out.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: So you also have Ben Johnson backing up Jared Goff
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: as well, saying I believe that he can make all
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: the critical throws in the world when we need to
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: have them. UM. So what I love the most is
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: just the loyalty there. You can tell that you're two
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: in a system. Is all of the help in the
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: world here and that's what they're in there and here
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: two everyone's acclimated to each other, they have trust each other,
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  Speaker 1: they're loyal. UM. Coach right now can get a little
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: fifty and he doesn't want no one talking about drafting
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  Speaker 1: a quarterback with Jared Goff as his QB one right now.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: And I love that. I love that he told he
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: told it to the media straight. So look, we're not
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: talking about that right now because I believe my quarterback.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: So I assume there's some one of a bromance there
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  Speaker 1: with Brunal Jared. I love watching this. This Lions offense
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: can pound the football, they run it. It's the best
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: rushing attack in Detroit since what when Barry Sanders was
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: in the backfield. But this is more than just one man.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: I mean, this is multiple running backs, big physical offensive line,
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: oh and a fullback to those are pretty rarely in NFL.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: And this is old fashioned lineup and run at your football.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: Feels like, yeah it is. I mean, the secret sauce
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: to this Detroit Lions offense hasn't and it will be
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: under head coach jam Campbell to run the ball. That's
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: what he said Tom when when he got here. We're
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: going to be physical, aggressive, run the ball down your
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: throat type team. They're finally living up to that identity
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: this year. Um, I don't believe they rushed below eighty
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: yards in a game, which is pretty hard to come by.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: And you're doing that without your running back number one,
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: DeAndre Switch For most of this season, he's had shoulder
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: in injuries ankle injuries that had been nagging at him.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: So whence incomes sixth year Jamal Williams, who Detroit lines
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: picked up a year ago from Green Bay who has
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: been carrying the load. He's been crushing it. But you
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: can also ask second year receiver aman Ross st Brown
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: to come up there and step up in the run
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  Speaker 1: game as well. I think he had fifty yards in
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  Speaker 1: one game on the ground, which is insane. So yeah,
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  Speaker 1: it's it's a really good combination of a team effort
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  Speaker 1: depth at that running back position. Do Staley a obviously
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: does an awesome job with those running backs. I love
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: watching them in practice. They're the one group that kind
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: of like, you know, piques your interest with how aggressive
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: they are in their drills. UM. And then of course
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: you have that offensive lineman that is anchored by the
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: tackles Taylor Decker, Penny school Um and Senator Frank rag Now.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: And it really doesn't matter. Detroit was without their two
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: starting cards against the Bills. UM backups came in, they didn't.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: Okay job, It certainly wasn't why Detroit lost. So you're
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: looking at it, Yeah, a very explosive offense. But the
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: thing that sticks out to me is they are very
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: well aware that they can do a lot better, which
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: is kind of scary to think about. Danny Rodgers with
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: US Detroit Lions Reporter, and let's flip into defense now,
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  Speaker 1: and we all see the rankings thirty second in a
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  Speaker 1: lot of the categories. So give us some bright spots
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  Speaker 1: of this Lions defense. What are some things they do
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: better than the rankings might say. It's still a little
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: mind boggling to look at those rankings, especially in the
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: month of November and see that this Detroit Lions defense
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: is towards the bottom in the league. Because the reason
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: why they were winning these games, um, these really close
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: ones against Chicago Green Bay is because of the defense
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: and the critical game winning stops they were making. So
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: it's a little hard to wrought my head around that. Um,
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: it's still towards the bottom. I know they're making significant
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: improvements on that side of the ball, but the right spots,
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: there's a ton of right spots, and they are in
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: the form of rookie east Adan Hutchinson, which just seeing
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: the NFL defensive rookie of the UM. The last Detroit
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: Lions player to do that was in Dominican Sue I
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: think in two thousand and eleven, so it's been a minute.
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  Speaker 1: It's hard to come by that that honor eve Aiden
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  Speaker 1: Hutchinson defensive lineman who will go out on the edge,
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  Speaker 1: drop back and coverage and pick off very very very
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: good quarterbacks. And Aaron Rodgers and Josh Allen. Um, you
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: have safety Kirby Joseph in the secondary who has been
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: a ball magnet, so instinctually smart in football. Um, he's
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: come up with three picks. He's everywhere. Josh Pascal was
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: a third round pick for these Detroit Lions. When he's
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: in UM, he's showing some really good bright spots. And then,
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: of course last game against the Bills, you have James Houston,
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: a sixth round pick out of Jackson State. His nickname
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: is the problem because he had sixteen and a half
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  Speaker 1: sacks his senior year. He comes in and sacks Josh
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: Allen twice off of a combined five defensive snaps. Those
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: are the bright spots. It's the rookies, even only McNeil
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: who angers the defensive line there. He's in a second year,
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: so he's so young too. We had ten pressures against
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: Daniel Jones and the Giants, so those are the right
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  Speaker 1: spots the rookies. The foundation of Detroit defense has been laid.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: It's built um so, now it's canny knock down this
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: next barrier of Okay, we took an ol Can, we
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: bounced back and make some some more critical game winning stops.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: But bright days are coming for this Detroit Lions defense.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: I promise you're tried and true, Michigander. I mean, you
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: went to school at the university, you're you're from the
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: are you work in Detroit? Now? So it sounds like
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: Aidan Hutchinson's everything he's cracked up to be and was
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: promoted to be and maybe even more so far so,
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  Speaker 1: all right, he's doing all these good things. What's the
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: next step for for Hutchinson and his development if there
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: is one? Yeah, And I talked to him in the
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: locker room this past week and I said to him, like,
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: I know you do not want to talk about yourself,
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: but you have this NFL Defensive Rookie of the Month
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: award here in cranted. When you're a second overall pick,
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: you kind of expect things like that, but they're still
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: extremely hard to come by. But I asked him, what's
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: what reassurance do you have and just the growth and
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: improvement you're making throughout the season to you know, come
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: by an award like that, and he'll tell you straight
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: he really likes the improvement and the growth that he's making. Um,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: and you won't sugarcoat it. He knows he's improving. Um.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: It was a slower start. He had a few sacks
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: against Washington, married me too, and then his performance kind
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: of tapered a little bit, and then it was an
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: uptick after those picks against Green Bay. So I think
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: what you you can see from him and what more
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: they can meet out of him is just for him
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: to show that versatility of picking off quarterbacks and also
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: being able to rush quarterbacks, which is still insane to
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: think about. Just where they have and they can play
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: him on the edge, you can play him within the
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: defensive line. I think if he can show more consistent versatility,
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: that's what his next step is, growing and improving. As
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: long as he doesn't, you know, taper off again in Plateau.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: I think he can be everything they wanted him to be.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: It's it's been funny. Obviously you guys had the number
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: one pick, took Traymon longer, and the media is obviously
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: asked the coaching staff, you know, kind of just their
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: final takeaway from okay drafting Hutch over Treylon Walker, and
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: every single one of them kind of let out a
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: little giggle at the end, and they're like, yeah, we
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: think we got we think we like our buy, we
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: like Hutch just a little bit. And they would laugh,
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: they would laugh at that and Google so, um, I
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: know they really love what Hutch has been able to
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: do from and I think he's his stallizer for me
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: exceeding expectations. Then there's been a lot of change obviously,
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: both organizations really the last you know, ten years or so,
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: a lot of struggles, a lot of change, coaching changes,
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: and again in Detroit the last couple of years, maybe
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: it's settled in a little bit now quarterbacks there after
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: the big trade and everything, and as you mentioned, all
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: the rookies on defense that are have a promising future.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: So what is the what's the end game? Like? When
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: will the Lions arrive? Is there a season a date
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: of you know something that you expect this team to
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: be in the postseason if you ask any player on
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: this team, And and Jared Goff said this year, this
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: week or last week, he said, Detroit has arrived. Offensive
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: lineman offensive tackle Taylor decker Um this past post game
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: against the Bill said they are not the same old Lions,
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: and he used an exploitative and that I can't say it.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: But these players know that they're not the same old
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: Lions team. And to me, the fact that they believe
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: that they know that and you can go in, Um,
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: I mean I go in every Sunday. I'm like, yeah,
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: I think we have a really good shot of being
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: the Bills who are Super Bowl contenders. And they almost
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: did that, um mr field goal, which I'm sure they
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: would love to get back on that and the secondary
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: broke down at the most untimely part of the game there.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: But but these guys know that every single time they
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: go into a Sunday that they can win a game
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: and they can compete. It's just can you put that
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: w on the scoreboard when teams are above average better
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: than you? Um, they've done it against teams that their
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: average against here so far. UM, So that's that's they
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: weren't winning those games last year that they should have
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: beat Green Bay which was not really supposed to happen
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: in Arizona last year, which was not really supposed to happen.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: So now they're winning games you're supposed to. To To me,
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: I think they've arrived. I really do. I normally saying
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: that four and seven, and I'm from Michigan. You said that,
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: so our expectations low. To me, they're not, because that's
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: just not the vibe that I get from this coaching
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: staff and these players, UM, is that they have low
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: expectations and low standards. They don't. Coach Campbell does not
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: have low standards. UM he was on that, he won't
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: be He really doesn't even claim when he was on
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: that O N six team Lions team, because he was injured,
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: He's like, well, I really didn't experience that, So he
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: doesn't claim that his standards are not low. Doesn't really
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: know what it feels like. So the standards are there.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: I think the Detroit Allions have arrived. I mean if
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: they're able to crack into the playoffs. M Granted, this
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: staff and this team won't really talk about that right
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: now that they're all focused on Jacksonville. UM, but I
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: think even if you're a game out of playoffs this year,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: like Okay, they're here, they've arrived, Um, they have something
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: to build on. So I just I don't think the
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: lines are very very far outside media, outside fan bases
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: they'll be like, oh, it's just the same allliance. I
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: think if you're here in the building, you know that's
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: not true. And they're a lot closer than they might appear.