Pride of Detroit
The Detroit Lions coordinators had their typical Thursday press conferences ahead of the team’s big Week 11 game against the Philadelphia Eagles. While the big conversation for offensive coordinator John Morton was about his response to having play calls taken away from him—which is covered in a separate article here—there were plenty of other takeaways from Thursday’s media sessions.
Here are the seven biggest stories:
Note: There’s a separate article on Morton’s reaction to having play-calling duties taken away. Below are other things he talked about.
Vic Fangio, same as he ever was
Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio has an NFL defensive coordinator history that spans literally three decades. His first coordinator job with the Carolina Panthers was in 1995. And while we think of the NFL and its strategies as a living being—constantly evolving and growing—Morton says when it comes to Fangio, he’s barely changed anything.
“He’s been the same, I’m just telling you,” Morton said. “You can be the same. And that’s the way Vic has been. I mean, there’s been plenty of guys—Vic has this tree of these certain coordinators, they all do the same thing.”
The key to Fangio’s defenses? A terrorizing defensive front. That’s certainly no different this year, with the Eagles sports stars like Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, and now Jaelan Phillips along their line.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do handling these guys up front, that’s the biggest thing,” Morton said. “Their rush, their front. Man, they really get after it. It was the same thing when I was in San Francisco; we had a great front seven. That’s what he really relies on. They don’t do a lot of stuff; they really rely on that front.”
Loving the chess match
As one of the masterminds behind Detroit’s passing game, Morton spoke about how defenses are responding to two of their biggest weapons: Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams. Both have dealt with bracket coverages, double teams, or over-the-top shells to take away big plays in big moments. While that could be frustrating for some offensive coordinators, Morton enjoys the challenge it presents.
“How do I get him open a certain way? And I love that. I love the game planning aspect of that, I live for this week,” Morton said. “I live for it, because it’s a little chess match that you play to get guys open, and then you show them this is why we’re doing this, ‘OK, you’re going to get doubled. Well, let’s do this, so you can’t.’ There are certain ways to do it. Like I said, I’ve done it for a long time. When I’m looking at how to get guys open, I’m thinking of all the plays and guys I’ve been around, how we’ve done it, the coaches I’ve been around. I just love that whole aspect of just the grind during the week and figuring out things.”
**Deep pass coverage needs to be...
