Lions new defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard has been making defensive play calls for years.
Not in a game, which he’ll do for the first time Sunday in Green Bay, but on his own simulating games the day before. Sheppard said the drill was to help him get ready for this role, a role head coach Dan Campbell identified for Sheppard years ago when he was a linebackers coach.
“If (former DC Aaron Glenn) AG got sick the night before, how would I see myself calling these games?” Sheppard said this week. “So, it’s the first time others are going to see me call games, call plays, and things like that.
“I know the D and D’s (down and distance), I know the plan, I know what we’ve said we’re going to do here, I know what we’ve said we’re going to do there and not deviate from it no matter what. It’s the same thing we do in call-it periods in practice.”
Along with calling simulated games, Sheppard said his playing experience has helped prepare him for this moment, as did the six weeks of on-job training during training camp where he said Campbell did a great job putting them in game situations every day to help prepare him and Morton for play call duties.
“I’m not BS-ing you at all,” Sheppard said. “I’m not nervous at all. I’m very anxious, but I’m not nervous. There’s a big difference. Someone is nervous, you’re not prepared. We are prepared and we will be prepared, and we’ll let the chips fall where they may on Sunday.”