{"id":859513,"date":"2026-09-24T23:20:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T23:20:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/859513\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T23:20:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T23:20:23","slug":"6-takeaways-from-detroit-lions-coordinators-kelvin-sheppard-talks-explosives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/859513\/","title":{"rendered":"6 takeaways from Detroit Lions coordinators: Kelvin Sheppard talks explosives"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Thursday, the Detroit Lions coordinators met with the media for their weekly press conferences. It was a highly-anticipated day, particularly for defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard, who has come under plenty of fire after Detroit\u2019s defense has allowed 71 points through two games.<\/p>\n

Here are my six takeaways from Thursday\u2019s media sessions, two from each coach.<\/p>\n

Offensive coordinator Drew Petzing<\/p>\n

Slow starts, game scripts<\/p>\n

The Lions have started each of their two games offensively with three-and-outs. It didn\u2019t hurt them much against the Saints, but it was part of the reason Detroit fell into a quick 21-0 hole against the Bills.<\/p>\n

Petzing addressed the slow starts on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you lock in on the plan, some of the first steps that come up in the game,\u201d Petzing said of early-game solutions. \u201cMaking sure you feel real confident in what your job is, what we\u2019re expecting on defense. Playing free, playing fast, I think is part of it. Getting the nerves out of the way pre-game so you can play loose. And calling the right plays at the right time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Petzing said he does start games with a specific script, but wouldn\u2019t say whether he needs to go back and adjust his strategy with those scripts moving forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny time we don\u2019t score a touchdown, I think you\u2019re always going to second guess, \u2018Oh, could I have done this? Should I have done that?\u2019\u201d Petzing said. \u201cAnd I think it\u2019s a balance because I think there are times where you look back at it and say, \u2018Hey, I really liked what we called, and we didn\u2019t have the execution I wanted, or something came up a little different.\u2019 And then there\u2019re other times you look at it and say, \u2018I\u2019m not sure that was the best call and maybe we needed to tweak that. Maybe I need to change my mindset here a little bit.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

One minor complaint I had about Petzing and Detroit\u2019s offense in the Bills game was the seemingly overreliance on rushing plays on second-and-10. It felt like Buffalo picked up on that tendency, and it resulted in a lot of negative plays late in the game when Detroit was attempting a comeback.<\/p>\n

Petzing defended those decisions, noting that getting into a third-and-manageable is very important in this league. And if the Lions just leaned into passing plays, they could end up facing third-down looks from the defense, which means increased pressure looks.<\/p>\n

Additionally, he made the point that in Detroit, they often operate like a four-down offense, so they often treat second down like first down.<\/p>\n

Defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard<\/p>\n

Done with the omitting explosives game<\/p>\n

Last year, Sheppard came under heat for a somewhat ridiculous assertion that Detroit played good run defense against the Los Angeles Rams<\/a> when they allowed 159 yards on 29 carries. He argued that if you just took away three explosive runs, they played fine.<\/p>\n

Sheppard is changing his tune this year. Last year, the explosive plays were the problem, and that\u2019s already reared its ugly head again this year. By the Lions\u2019 measures, they\u2019ve given up 23 explosive plays thus far through two games, and 75 percent of those were \u201cself-induced.\u201d But because it\u2019s been such a consistent problem, they aren\u2019t dismissing them. They\u2019re hell-bent on fixing them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know before, guys, I stood up here and I said, \u2018Alright, we played three quarters good, but in the fourth quarter you take that play out.\u2019 Well, we\u2019re no longer doing that this year because taking those plays out is the exact plays that\u2019s been a demise to our defense,\u201d Sheppard said. \u201cAnd when I say that, coming out of half, I believe we had 77 pass yards total. And then the scramble play to a live aid that I think netted 40-something yards, kind of broke the dam. And led to them finishing with I think around 400 yards passing or something like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheppard said they looked at all 23 explosive plays, and had the players diagnose what\u2014and why\u2014things went wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cTell me what you\u2019re doing. Tell me what you\u2019re supposed to be doing. Coaches, don\u2019t say a word. Let\u2019s let them talk because right now guys, there\u2019s a gap. There\u2019s a clear gap from meetings and practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Sheppard took plenty of ownership, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to do something different guys than we\u2019ve been doing to make sure this gap is closed from meetings and practice to game day, Sheppard.\u201d And I think that was one of the most transparent (meetings). There was a lot of honesty said out loud in that meeting, player to player, player to coach, coach to player. And we hashed out some things.\u201c<\/p>\n

Getting Christian Izien up to speed<\/p>\n

Communication is paramount to the Lions\u2019 defense and that often starts with the Lions\u2019 safeties. Unfortunately for Detroit, they look to be extremely shorthanded this week. Not only are Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch still on the Physically Unable to Perform list, but Avonte Maddox is out for the season with a foot injury, and Thomas Harper is currently sidelined with an ankle injury. That leaves Chuck Clark likely to be paired with Christian Izien, who has mostly been playing at nickel since training camp.<\/p>\n

When it became apparent that may be the reality the Lions were facing, Sheppard wasted no time in getting Izien up to speed. Starting Saturday, safeties coach Jim O\u2019Neil started working with Izien to make sure they don\u2019t take a step back on the backend.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been the sole focus since I would say Saturday when we knew that was a reality and he\u2019s been in here non-stop,\u201d Sheppard said. \u201cI told JO [Jim O\u2019Neil] the other night, \u2018Man, you still in there coaching?\u2019 I mean, it\u2019s just a revolving door in JO\u2019s office right there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheppard insists they won\u2019t have to scale back their defense to accomodate for Izien, despite his relative inexperience at the position. Instead, he feels it\u2019s his job to work with Izien to identify what he\u2019s comfortable doing, and make sure the play calls are geared toward his strengths.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou got a new guy up here safety. \u2018Izzy, come here. What calls do you like on this sheet? Tell me why. Don\u2019t just tell me, \u2018because,\u2019 tell me why you like them,\u2019\u201d Sheppard said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s when you start to gain that level of understanding with the player. And then as the play caller, let\u2019s put him in this position. \u2018Here\u2019s why, because you told me. You got me?\u2019 All good. And that\u2019s when we move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Hogan Hatten is fine, so stop calling<\/p>\n

Lions long snapper Hogan Hatten popped up on the injury report with a wrist injury on Wednesday. And despite him being listed as a full participant, Fipp said agents of seven different long snappers reached out to him Wednesday night. But he had to tell them all they weren\u2019t interested.<\/p>\n

Obviously, the wrist is an important job for the long snapper, but Fipp assured everyone that there is no concern with Hatten or his snapping abilities right now.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe snapped fine yesterday and he\u2019ll play in the game. He looks good to me,\u201d Fipp said.<\/p>\n

Line drive kick still a work in progress<\/p>\n

With the new kickoff format, there is no better weapon than a kick that hits the ground within the landing zone (between the 20-yard line and the end zone). However, that type of kick is difficult, and Fipp noted how everyone around the league is still trying to get consistent at it, including Lions kicker Jake Bates.<\/p>\n

In the season opener, Bates tried that kick, only to land it about 12-yards short of the landing one, resulting in the Saints taking over at the 40-yard line.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously it can be a tremendous weapon, obviously, if you can execute it 100% of the time,\u201d Fipp said. \u201cThe challenge with it is everybody has some challenge with it. The teams that put the ball on the ground have also for the most part come short with the landing zone. And that\u2019s a tough penalty because the ball goes to 40 and on average.\u201d<\/p>\n

One interesting downside of practicing these kicks is Fipp believes it\u2019s impacting the trajectory of field goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do think you\u2019re starting to see some of that bleed into these field goals too. There\u2019s been more low field goals across the league or mishit balls where these guys are hitting a little bit higher on the ball on these field goals and they\u2019re missing,\u201d Fipp said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Thursday, the Detroit Lions coordinators met with the media for their weekly press conferences. It was a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":859514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[4992,4993,349,99],"class_list":["post-859513","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\/859513","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=859513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/859514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}