Detroit Lions players meet with the media | September 10, 2025

Detroit Lions players meet with the media | September 10, 2025

to Scotty Montgomery. Um, obviously there are times when you have to check it down the way you did against a defense like that. So, what is the key to that being more effective? How do you get more out of checkdowns? Yeah, great question. Uh, you know, we got two really good backs and two good good tight ends for that matter that can do a lot with it after the catch. So, you know, getting it to them in space, I guess, is the best answer. Uh, finding those voids underneath a zone defense that has that space. um and being able to put them in those places and and I thought we did a good job with that. Now, would we have liked to break one of those off for like 15? Sure. But sometimes it doesn’t happen. They tackled well. After watching the tape, what was your biggest takeaway of of just that performance? Yeah, just just sloppy. Just got to be better in the details and communicate better and and I I mentioned this after the game, it starts with me. I got to communicate better and um take a little bit stress off those guys um in the communication aspect and uh yeah, just be cleaner. I think Dan said it a million times. Just be better at the bread and butter. Uh, we got good athletes, we got good players, we got good plays. If we execute the bread and butter, um, we’ll be just fine. Jared, when you say, you talk about the the loudness of your voice or No, no, just clear. Just clear and making sure everyone’s on the same page. Okay. Very often we’ll have two or three plays that are called in my headset that are called in the huddle and making sure that we all know which one of those two or three that we’re going to run. How much can just coming home cure some of those issues, too? Yeah, I I mean, it should be cured on the road. But if we were on the road, I’d say it’d be cured as well. But um yeah, certainly at home, you can hear a little bit better. But I don’t think that’s that wasn’t why we had miscommunication. It was just um straight miscommunication happens and uh it’s inexcusable. Your defense adapted to your offense and some of the things you guys have done over the years. Did you feel that more in the pass game or or in the run game? Uh I said they adapted. Yeah, like their defense had adapted things. I think they I I I I don’t know when I said that, but I think they did a lot of what they’ve done. Um I think they had some new wrinkles that were good. Uh I think they were they’re a really good team. They’re a really good defense. They’re very well coached. They’re a year older than they were last year and they played well and we didn’t. I don’t know if there’s much more to it than that. They they’re a good team who played well and we’re a good team who didn’t play very well and that’s the outcome. Accomplished the you know last three years. Were you surprised at the reaction? Do you feel like you guys deserve the benefit of the doubt as I mean it was obviously pretty negative from from the outside. Don’t care. We’ve we’ve we’ve heard that we’ve heard negative from the outside before. Is it anyone in this building? I don’t think so. Awesome. You guys also face questions about the coordinators. Obviously, they made their debut going against Ben Johnson this week. How happy are you guys just to kind of put that narrative behind you though? Just kind of build your own season. Talked to Scotty Montgomery about that, but just putting whatever last year’s success was behind you guys and Yeah, I think we’ve put it behind us to be honest. I don’t feel like there is certainly not a narrative in here of of uh anything about last season. I think we’re very aware that you last year we had a good year and this year we’re zero and zero and now we’re zero and one and um very aware of the reality of that. I don’t think there’s anything from last year that comes into this year and gets you a head start. You know, we know it all starts over and um have to find a way to get a win this week. Chicago was missing three starters on defense. I’m just curious Dan expects a couple of those guys to be back. What jumps out to you watching the tape of Chicago’s defense? Yeah, I think they got a good team. I think they got I think they’re very well coached and I think um I think they always have been to be honest on defense and uh I think bringing in a guy like Dennis Allen to coach their defense is is a is a strong coach and he’s he’s a good leader and has done it for a long time and they’re sound and they know where they’re supposed to be and they’ve got really good smart players. They’ve got good veteran players at this point. Those guys have grown up. Um and if yeah, if they get some of those guys back they’re they’re even more dangerous. But we got our hands full regardless of who plays and um got to play better than we did last week. John David passing stuff looked like there were a few times where maybe just a half second away from being able to put the ball in the window. Do you feel like you’re close to maybe unlocking that part of the offense? Yeah, it’s one game so uh if there was something downfield open and I should have thrown it. I don’t I don’t feel like there was but if there was then I should have thrown it. David hold themselves to such a high standard. Can you get a sense that there might be a Jaw and David? They hold themselves David. Jaw and David. Yes. Sorry. Great question. Do you get a sense from them just based off week one that they have a little bit of a chip on their shoulder going into week two? Everyone does. I I don’t think it’s just them. I think it’s them. I think it’s the O line. It’s myself. It’s our receivers. Um I think we were very straightforward and honest with ourselves about uh the reality of what what we did and didn’t do last week and um how we need to get better and uh I think you know I expect us to get a lot better this week and today it started and tomorrow will continue and and just continue to improve. Jared, I want to ask you about the concept of offensive identity. you know, when you have so many guys coming back, it just seems maybe on the outside like the identity would remain Yeah. with continuity as well. Why why from your perspective does it take time to maybe find a shift in in identity each given season? Yeah, I think it I don’t think it matters um necessarily if your players are coming back, if your coaches are coming back. I think every year is new and every defense is new and there’s trends in the league that change and come and go and certainly offensively and defensively and um you know maybe maybe certain runs that worked in the past don’t work anymore certain p like you have to find those little niches that your guys are good at that are also successful plays and I think that’s that’s no different than last year the year before anytime in the past and um I think anytime you’re in the early parts of a season like we’ve said it takes you know three or four weeks for the offense to get their footing and Um, I feel like it’s been that been that way ever since I was a rookie. When you go back and watch that tape pane, just what’s your reaction to it? Uh, poor uh, probably put it in the summary of poor play by um, by our standard and um, it’s a it’s an emphasize of and urgency to get better. So, that’s what we’re working on. Is this a situation where instead of going it’s not going back to the drawing board, it’s just more intensity at the drawing board? Um, yeah, I would say though. You guys have had such a standard here for such a w such a such a long time going now. Does is it a matter of not freaking out internally? That’s that’s the sense we’re getting from a lot of your teammates. Yeah, I mean uh again it’s week one with a new team. Uh again, we got young guys in the part of the five up front and um but the other three we know what it looks like and it’s our job to bring bring along the the other two. How do you feel like they they get it? They they can come along pretty quickly here. Oh yeah, without a doubt. I mean, again, they’ve been uh Christian’s been in the room with Frank and uh the other vets. So, uh now just Tate, you know what I mean? And uh he’s getting it day by day. So, Tate Tate was pretty hard on on himself after Sunday’s game. Hated the way he played. What What’s your message to a rookie like that that you’re playing next to after he has a debut that he’s not proud of personally? Uh it’s a long season and uh that’s again one of the things that I like about the league is that you have more opportunities and um I I firmly believe you’re if you can um your best performance is your last. So um we have 17 more games and we have 17 more times to answer back. You guys have built obviously a standard in that room. Just how much were you an anxious to get back on the field even for practice today? just get back going and and how much are you looking forward to Sunday to maybe change what what we saw on film from from the last game? Uh yeah, it’s kind of just piggyback what I was just saying. Uh it’s another opportunity for us to prove ourselves, you know what I mean? Uh that who we are and what what we’re capable of. Out here a little late, but just the respect know you have respect for Ben Johnson throughout the years. He helped us helped you guys throughout that. How’s it going against him though? just putting that to the side, you know, going against him on the coaching side. How can you anticipate that? I mean, for me personally, it’s it’s it doesn’t really change because Ben is more involved with the offense. Um, and they have a good DC in there, uh, Dennis Allen and, uh, so that’s really our metro, but at the end of the day, when it comes in between the lines, we got to go to work both sides. You guys have run the ball so efficiently here for three years going. Just how frustrating was it on Sunday to not be able to get that going? And how vital is that on Sunday to reestablish the run? Yeah, I mean it was it was very frustrating just because of we know um who we are. We what we want to be, you know, and um uh personally I’ve said it multiple times. I I prefer going forward and backwards. So um yeah, but again we have 17 more opportunities, bounce back and uh prove ourselves right. Thanks for that. What’s communication like between you and your brother this week? Uh, not much right now. Uh, I just letting him do his thing. Um, but I think after the game, you know, cuz both sides, we we both have to go to work and I don’t want him to think anything different. I want his best. After a tough week, that’s something good to look forward to. For sure. Yeah, we want to deliver for the fans and deliver for our home crowd. How do you evaluate your first game? Yeah, it was uh it was it was a tough game for the team for sure, you know, but we’re going to uh we’re going to bounce back this week. personally. Uh yeah, I feel like um just didn’t feel like a ton of opportunities were there and we got behind the eightball a little bit on the team and so kind of go into a little bit more of conservative mode on offense and so uh didn’t have some of those late game opportunities that you sometimes have. But uh yeah, you know, I’m just moving on to week two and I’m hopeful. Um and I’m looking forward to the rest of the season. I’m not sure if you got a chance to see the Bears, but Monday Night Football just what was your thoughts on him and just your thoughts on going against, you know, Ben Johnson and what what do you think, you know, just him and the history you guys have here? What do you anticipate that being like with him coming back and just that adding to the rivalry that you guys already have with Chicago? Yeah, it’s going to be it’s going to be a ton of fun, man. It’s going to be a ton of fun. I know this game’s going to have a lot of hype and just with the connection um and we’re going to be ready on Sunday. You had moments in your career where maybe you suffered a loss, but it helped your team better in the long run because you kind of went through it, went through the adversity. I’m sorry. What was the Have you had moments in your career where a loss ended up being a good thing for a team long term? Yeah, I mean, I feel like this is um this happened in 23 against Seattle. This happened last year against the Buccaneers. This year we have the early loss to the Packers. And um yeah, I mean I think the everybody thought the world was uh falling apart there for a little bit and then we we came back. So I that’s my that’s my expectation for the squad. Aiden, is there comfort in this because you guys have responded before after adversity? For sure. Yeah. I think we’re built for it and I think um you know, if you look at history, it’s it’s what we’ve done. Do you enjoy going against a dynamic quarterback like Caleb Williams? A guy that moves around a lot and you get your chances with sometimes it’s hard to get him. Do I enjoy it? Um yeah, the quarterbacks are just getting faster and faster. Huh. Um no, it’s uh it’ll be fun. He’s a competitor and uh we’re going to get after it. Dan was talking about, you know, you getting chipped and double teamed constantly. just how difficult is is it to kind of stay engaged and keep showing up play after play when you know you got multiple guys defending you? Yeah, you know, it was um thought they had a good game plan, but I think we’re going to have an answer for it this week. And I think um we’re going to make our own adjustments and uh you know, I’m sure it will still be there, but I think the whole the whole goal is to not not get frustrated. Don’t let it get in your head. Keep rushing and um we’ll be all right. How do you learn from those chips and double teams? How maybe I’m not going to get in the pocket, but how do I help my guys out? What can you learn from those? I think the biggest thing to learn from them is you have to make the most out of your one-on-one opportunities when they’re going to be a lot fewer in the game, but once they’re there, you got to take advantage of it. To what extent do you think you’ll recognize some familiar stuff on Sunday from Ben Johnson, having gone up against it over the last few years? Yeah, I’m sure he’ll have some some trickery mixed in there or some some different plays in that first 15, but I I’m hoping I’ll I’ll get the rhythm of the offense once we get into it. How many times do you think you really were just one in the last game? Just off the top of your head, if I were to think about it, I would say I don’t know, maybe uh two or three times, I think. Um, I mean, it wasn’t a lot of uh, like I said, it’s, you know, we just defense we let up points early and it’s like we got behind the eightball and when when you get in that mode on defense, offense gets conservative and you get less obvious passing downs where you can just ping your airs back and go. So, it’s just uh, I think we’re going to bounce back and it’s, you know, we got to start better on defense and if it’s going to be a lowscoring game, we got to we got to do our part and and we didn’t on those first couple drives. I’m happy with how we played in the second half. I’m happy with how we responded and it gives me hope, you know, going into going into this game. When people think of Ben Johnson, one of the first things they always think of is the trick plays, but to what extent do you guys worry about that as a defense? Not much. Not much. Yeah. I mean, when they come, you just got to react to them, but you can never anticipate them. Probably more question, please. more of a question for for Calvin tomorrow when we talk to him, but just dropping you back in pass coverage, can you walk us through the decisions to do that, the planning to do that, and and your reaction to when those plays are called? Yeah. Um it’s just uh I think we we adjusted as the game moved on, you know, and got out of that a little bit more, but just happened to uh kind of be in those positions um in that game, which is obviously not the most ideal situation, but um the important thing is we we adjusted and we we evolved. So, it’s not going to be a core thing that we’re going to see. I don’t think so. No, I don’t think so. Yeah, I watched the game. Uh, I thought they played well defensively. Um, they were flying around, got some new pieces on the defensive line, obviously. Um, and then it’s a coordinator that we’ve, uh, played against before as well. Um, and then obviously with Ben coming back here, like they’re going to be excited to play and, you know, both of us losing the week one game, you know, we’re both going to be pretty hungry to get a win. How much are you anticipating that match up with Ben, though? you know, you guys know each other, been knowing each other for years, but how is it keeping it about the team and not necessarily just about I mean, I don’t I don’t have a match up with Ben. It doesn’t he’s not doing anything to me. Um, yeah. I mean, I think I think media is going to read a lot more into that than any of us are. Um, cuz like I said, I’m not playing against him. He’s he’s calling the offense. He’s not game playing against me. So, like Dennis Allen’s game playing against us. So, I mean, I’m sure he’ll have his input, but um it’s whatever. Yeah. Taylor, you guys have such built such a standard in that room as an offensive line. I’m just curious, what was it like watching that tape with with with uh Hank this week and and how eager are you guys just to get back to practice today, get get things going and and move ahead towards Chicago? Yeah, overall not up to our standards and I think I kind of mentioned that after the game even without having watched the film. Um, and it kind of was what I thought it was going to be where it was miscommunication or guys not getting the communication. Um, and then based on that, the execution wasn’t there because there was times where guys were running different plays. There were times where guys didn’t hear calls that they needed to that were changing on the fly. Um, and there’s there’s really like no excuse for that. All the stadiums are going to be loud. You’re going to play on the road. Um, and we can we can just work on improving from there. Pointing type of way, but does that come from two new guards making starts at those spots for the first time in their careers? No, I don’t think so. I think, you know, regardless of them, there were other people miscommunicating and there were other there was a play the play on the goal line that everybody’s talking about, Tate left the the defensive tackle. I ran the same play Tate was running. Everybody else, the other three ran a different play. Um, so no, it’s not on the two guards. It’s just it’s everybody. It’s all of us all 11 together. Um there’s just there was miscommunication. Um and it’s not any one person or two people’s fault. That’s it’s just that’s crazy. You know, Taylor, on those lines, Dan said this week like one of the advantages the O line had in years past was the chemistry that comes with experience playing together. Like the ability to communicate non-verbally, the ability to communicate just like off a glance. Um, in your experience, how long does it take to develop that with with two newcomers now on this offensive line? As far as like the non-verbal communication? Yeah. And and just just the chemistry of knowing what maybe the other lineman is thinking in concert with you, I think it just depends on the player. You know, I’ve had certain guys that it’s quick, other guys where it’s longer. Um, as far as like non-verbal for the most part, I feel like me and Christian are are pretty good between one another. I think our communication between me and him is pretty good. Um, so as far as a whole unit, um, again, I think our communication when we can all get the communication is pretty good, but we weren’t all getting it at times. Um, so and again, there’s no excuse for that and and we can be better. Um, and the bright side of that is, and I even told some of some of the guys this, it’s like the missed assignments look really bad, but there wasn’t like, you know, one guy’s getting his ass kicked the whole game. Um, there was just a lot of things that we can control and can uh clean up. This may sound a little silly then too, right? But to practice communicating, talking, is it just about talking? You know what I mean? Like, you just got to be louder. you just got to talk more in practice, but get to that point that you need to I mean, we we we we do it with um we do practice with crowd noise all the time. Um I think the big thing and you know to to give credit to last week they were moving the front when the center’s head’s between his legs a lot. Um and that makes it hard for us to communicate because Graham’s looking between his legs. He needs to bump mic points and stuff like that. Um, so you know, I will give them credit, but again, that’s that doesn’t mean that we’re not supposed to be able to get it right before the ball is snapped. Um, so yeah, knowing what you guys have accomplished 38 wins these last three years, were you surprised at the outside reaction, how how negative it was? And then do you feel like you deserve the benefit of the doubt? Over the past couple years, people have asked me all the time, how does it feel getting all this love and people want to watch you and stuff like that? And I’ve said multiple times, it’s nice, but I remember the times when people on us, and that’s for a week like last week. You like, I’m not going to I’m not going to sit here and be like, “Oh my god, the world’s falling.” Because the media is saying bad stuff about me. No, I remember those days. I remember when people would joke about us and clown us. Um, and then alls it takes, even though we’ve been winning over the years, is one off week and then all of a sudden we’re just getting on again. So, but I remember that. So, I’m not going to get too high or too low based off public like national media. Like, it’s crazy. Is that the kind of people holding you guys the same standard that you hold yourselves to because you’ve been so good. It surprises people when you have a game like that. Well, it’s the NFL. You’re not going to play your best game every single week. So, I mean, everybody’s entitled to their own opinion, but like I said, over the years, everybody talks about like, “How cool is it? How cool is it?” Yeah, it’s cool. But like I said, I also remember the times when people were negative about us, non-stop negative. Um, and I’ve kind of kind of held that in reserve and I like I remember that. So, I mean, it’s not it’s not something that I haven’t dealt with before. Yeah. Taylor, are you uh health-wise, how are you? We didn’t see you out there today when we were out there. You okay? Yeah, I didn’t practice today. Um, just got some stuff that I’m dealing with and hopefully be out there on Sunday. No, yeah, hopefully. game super important for the play action pass. I mean I mean you guys were I think Jared was 10 for 11 when he was able to throw the you know throw a play action pass. I mean run play action. So I mean given given that I mean how important is it obviously to get that run going on the first and second? Yeah I mean I think you hit the nail on the head. We the way we like to play football is to establish the run because we can be explosive in the play action game. Um, and we just didn’t establish the run. And against a defense like that where they want to play too high last week, keep everything in front of them. If you’re not getting the ground game, you’re not getting them out of too high. Um, so it’s going to make it hard to get your shots. Um, there were plays called, but the ground game just wasn’t established enough. And that goes back to like us up front. We needing to execute better. Um, and we own that. And I mean, anybody who watched the game knows that the ground game was not good enough. So, um, like I said, we’re looking forward to being able to improve and get like way way better this week. Just to seek seek the clarity of of just the communication thing. Dan’s talked about it. Jared’s talked about it. You’ve talked about it. Is it a collective thing of maybe John not getting their plays in in time of Jared not what is No, it was at the line. I mean, it was stuff that was at the line and it was stuff that um adapts is the box box is going to change with motions with shifts and things like that. as far as like in and out of the huddle, like it’s not like I mean I can think of one play in the game where we were a little short on the play clock. Um and I think that was because of some shifts in motions, not because the play calls weren’t getting in and out. Um so it was more stuff at the line of scrimmage that’s changing as the box changes. I’m wondering what was your relationship like with Ben and what’s your message to those who may give him way too much credit for how the offense ran? A lot of people say that Ben Johnson was a lot of the reason for the success of the offense. I don’t really I don’t really have a message for that. I mean, that’s getting into speculative gossip stuff like that. I mean, what like whatever. I mean, you know, I I I wish him the best in his professional career. I I love Ben. He was He’s a phenomenal coach. Um, but as far as all that speculative like this and that, like whatever. Like, I feel like that’s so drawn out and overdone. I’m just like, that’s all you hear about, fine. Yeah. Practice ran a lot of, you know, cover three off the zone, cover two, you know, obviously, like you said, put the safeties high at that. Allen seems to blitz some more and run a lot more man. I mean, how much is this, you know, I mean, the game plan has to be a little bit different, I guess, going into this. Um, knowing knowing what how different the defensive scheme that you you’re running up against. We don’t have the full install in yet. We just have early downs right now. Um, I mean, there going to be some things that we just like to carry over every week if we can, and they might be running a little differently. Um, and there’s other things that we’re going to have to change up. You know, it’s different defense. Um, maybe they have different strengths at different positions than the team we played prior. Um, so yeah, I mean, there’s going to be some similarities. There’s going to be some things that are different. Um, and there’s going to be things that we’re going to like pair it down so guys can just play fast and not have to worry about overcommunicating. Is it good to get a test of, you know, such different defenses in the first two weeks? I mean, when you you face one scheme and then you face this other one just to kind of get a baseline of where where this offense is. I mean, I feel like anymore like so defenses have their nuances that make them so different even though they seem the same. Um, and then just based on who their who their studs are on defense, they can run the like two teams can run the same defense, but they can have a stud at a different position and it just makes it play way differently. Um, so every week feels different anyway. Like it feels like gone are the days where you’re gonna get a 4-3 like three linebackers off the ball, four down. Like that doesn’t happen anymore. The guys are moving all over. They’re running over fronts, underfontronts, jam. Like they’re just five down on the line. It’s just everything. Zero out of nowhere. Um so every week really feels different. Hey Z, when they’re making shifts at the line and Graham has his head between his legs in the silent count and he can’t see those shifts, whose responsibility is it to make those right corrections on his behalf? It’s like who does that fall on? You, Jared? Typically, typically it’s on the guards. Um, and then but when Graham gets up, Graham has to get the communication as well. Um, so if his head’s between his legs and he doesn’t know what the front looks like, we can all be on the same page, but if we can’t get him on the same page, um, like we we all need to be on the same page basically. And it can be whoever. I mean, there’s there’s certain zone plays where if his head’s down and somebody runs across with a motion where I can bump it. Um, it really just depends on the play and whoever’s comfortable doing it. There’s things that Jared can do. You know, it’s just ultimately it’s on all of us to get it right. Um, but a lot of times because the guards are right next to him, they’ll relay the information to Grant.

Hear from Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff, tackle Penei Sewell, EDGE Aidan Hutchinson and tackle Taylor Decker as they speak with the media on September 10, 2025.

0:00 – 5:25: Jared Goff
5:26 – 8:40: Penei Sewell
8:41 – 13:57: Aidan Hutchinson
13:58 – 24:43: Taylor Decker

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