New Lions offensive coordinator John Morton cut his teeth in coaching under Jon Gruden with the Raiders.
Gruden was at the Meijer Performance Center Monday to take in practice, and he couldn’t say enough good things about the coach the Lions are getting in Morton.
“I’ve always enjoyed watching coaches coach during this time of year. This is the coaches’ time,” Gruden said. “I know he’s having to learn what they did last year and there is part of that involved. He’s also got to add some of his stuff. It’s just a process and I’m here to support him.
“He is a hard-working guy. For all of the Detroit fans what you don’t see is the work ethic that you’re getting. This guy is nuts. People thought that I was nuts this guy is freaking nuts, man. He loves it, he’s a creative guy and he’s a great competitor. I can’t wait to see the Lions open up the season.”
Gruden said knowing Morton the way he does, the letters R-C-E will be ingrained into the players. They stand for recognition, communication and execution.
“Jared’s going to do a lot at the line of scrimmage and you’re going to hear R-C-E a lot,” he said. “I used to have hats made. Recognition leads to communication and if you can do that we’re going to execute at a high level. I think RCE is the slogan you’re going to hear a lot around here. You’re going to see a lot of pre-snap movement when you’re trying to recognize what’s going on and you’re going to see communication and then you’ll see (Jahmyr) Gibbs, St. Brown and Sam (LaPorta) execute at a high level.”