{"id":290780,"date":"2025-11-14T08:36:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T08:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/290780\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T08:36:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T08:36:09","slug":"7-takeaways-from-detroit-lions-coordinators-week-11-vs-eagles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/290780\/","title":{"rendered":"7 takeaways from Detroit Lions coordinators, Week 11 vs. Eagles"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Detroit Lions coordinators had their typical Thursday press conferences ahead of the team\u2019s 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\u2014which is covered in a separate article here<\/a>\u2014there were plenty of other takeaways from Thursday\u2019s media sessions.<\/p>\n

Here are the seven biggest stories:<\/p>\n

Offensive coordinator John Morton<\/p>\n

Note: There\u2019s a separate article on Morton\u2019s reaction to having play-calling duties taken away. <\/a>Below are other things he talked about. <\/p>\n

Vic Fangio, same as he ever was<\/p>\n

Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio has an NFL defensive coordinator history that spans literally three decades<\/a>. 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\u2014constantly evolving and growing\u2014Morton says when it comes to Fangio, he\u2019s barely changed anything.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been the same, I\u2019m just telling you,\u201d Morton said. \u201cYou can be the same. And that\u2019s the way Vic has been. I mean, there\u2019s been plenty of guys\u2014Vic has this tree of these certain coordinators, they all do the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The key to Fangio\u2019s defenses? A terrorizing defensive front. That\u2019s certainly no different this year, with the Eagles sports stars like Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, and now Jaelan Phillips along their line.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of work to do handling these guys up front, that\u2019s the biggest thing,\u201d Morton said. \u201cTheir 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\u2019s what he really relies on. They don\u2019t do a lot of stuff; they really rely on that front.\u201d<\/p>\n

As one of the masterminds behind Detroit\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow 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,\u201d Morton said. \u201cI live for it, because it\u2019s a little chess match that you play to get guys open, and then you show them this is why we\u2019re doing this, \u2018OK, you\u2019re going to get doubled. Well, let\u2019s do this, so you can\u2019t.\u2019 There are certain ways to do it. Like I said, I\u2019ve done it for a long time. When I\u2019m looking at how to get guys open, I\u2019m thinking of all the plays and guys I\u2019ve been around, how we\u2019ve done it, the coaches I\u2019ve been around. I just love that whole aspect of just the grind during the week and figuring out things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard<\/p>\n

Deep pass coverage needs to be better<\/p>\n

Last week against the Washington Commanders, the Lions allowed Marcus Mariota to complete 3-of-6 passes that traveled at least 20 yards downfield. Those plays went for a collective 108 yards (most in Week 10)\u2014more than half of Mariota\u2019s total passing yards on the day (213).<\/p>\n

Sheppard identified that as a big part of the defense that needs to improve, and that starts with altering their mindset.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the ball\u2019s in the air, traveling over 30 yards, it has to be our ball. And that\u2019s the mentality I want our DBs to take on, and I know they will because I know who coaches that room,\u201d Sheppard said.<\/p>\n

He credited the Lions\u2019 secondary for consistently being in the right place to make a play, but that\u2019s no longer enough. He challenged those players to now take the next step.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told the whole room,\u201d Sheppard said. \u201c\u2018Being in position, that\u2019s good in training camp. That\u2019s good, maybe Week 1, Week 2, Week 3. But where we\u2019re at right now in this season, being in position isn\u2019t good enough. You\u2019re paid to be in position. Now, you\u2019ve got to go make those plays in critical moments in games like we\u2019re getting ourselves into.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Terrion Arnold answered the challenge<\/p>\n

Last week, Sheppard praised Arnold\u2019s coverage against the Vikings, but publicly challenged him to improve in the run game after what he called an \u201cunacceptable\u201d performance<\/a>. Though he only played a half of football against the Commanders this week before leaving the game with a concussion, Arnold stepped up to the plate and delivered a strong overall performance. Sheppard was impressed with the response.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing I love most about him, seriously, is that I challenge that player and I challenged him publicly and a lot of guys can\u2019t take that,\u201d Sheppard said.. \u201cAnd I know he\u2019s one that can because of the relationship we have. He knows I\u2019m not being demeaning towards him. I\u2019m being very demanding, though, because I see something in him. I see what he can be, and I fully expect him to not only reach that but usurp it, and I think he will.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut he responded. You look down, he had a play in the tight red (zone)\u2014probably my most proudest play. His coverage speaks for itself, but I told you the part of the game I was looking for. And you look down in the tight red, they ran a sweep to him, he had a blocker on him. He beats the blocker and goes under to make the play. That was probably my most proud play in that game with Terrion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hassanein loves Sheppard; Sheppard loves(?) Hassanein<\/p>\n

With the return of Ahmed Hassanein to the building this week after Detroit cut him with an injury settlement before the season, Sheppard talked about the energy the rookie has brought to the facility. He had a funny description of one interaction with the Lions\u2019 defensive end.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if he\u2019s ever had a bad day. I\u2019m serious. It\u2019s unbelievable. His energy\u2019s contagious,\u201d Sheppard said. \u201cPeople saw him at the combine yelling before the drill like, \u2018Is this fake?\u2019 Is he seriously being serious when he says, \u2018Coach, I absolutely love you. No, I\u2019m serious.\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018\u2026love you too?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Special teams coordinator Dave Fipp<\/p>\n

More low kicks, but faith in Jake Bates is still strong<\/p>\n

Jake Bates missed a critical field goal against the Vikings in Week 9 due to kicking the ball too low. Unfortunately, Fipp revealed that it happened again twice against the Commanders. One resulted in a blocked extra point, the other was still a make. Despite the repeated error, Fipp\u2019s faith hasn\u2019t wavered in Bates.<\/p>\n

\u201cA situation like this, it gives you an opportunity to grow and get better, and I think he\u2019ll do that, probably in multiple ways,\u201d Fipp said. \u201cMaybe a little bit of technique stuff, also mindset stuff. I think 15 years down the road, he\u2019ll probably look back and say, \u2018It was good for me, it made me better.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, he\u2019s got to attack that the right way, and he\u2019s got to respond obviously and get better. I\u2019ve got to help him out, certainly my job too. I do know this: he is a great player. I won\u2019t waver one bit with him. It\u2019s hard to find good kickers in this League, and he\u2019s certainly one of those.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kick coverage overall is still good <\/p>\n

Against the Commanders, the Lions gave up another long kick return, allowing Washington to take the ball all the way down to their own 48-yard line. And while Fipp repeatedly said that play wasn\u2019t up to their own standard, he was also quick to point out that Washington\u2019s starting field position in the game\u2014including the long return\u2014was still below average.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt drives me crazy when you see the ball get past the 40-yard line when you\u2019re covering a kickoff, but I would say also because of that\u2014and I\u2019m certainly not making any excuse, it\u2019s definitely not my standard, I would tell you that for sure. I like the ball inside the 30, but their drive start at the end of the game was at the 28-yard line. To me, that\u2019s the most important thing, probably at the end of that play. Well, there were only three other teams that had a better drive start around the league after that play last week. And then if you look at on the season, I think the fourth best team on drive start, their drive start is the 28-yard line.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Detroit Lions coordinators had their typical Thursday press conferences ahead of the team\u2019s big Week 11 game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":181648,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[4992,4993,349,99],"class_list":["post-290780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-detroit-lions-news","tag-detroit-lions-quotes","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}