Tag: Darrell Bevell

Lions coaching staff for Saturday’s game in real question after COVID-19 contacts

Darrell Bevell and others might not clear COVID-19 protocols in time

When the Detroit Lions face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Saturday, there could be some unusual absences and gaps on the coaching staff. The positive test for COVID-19 that occurred on the coaching staff, which shuttered the team facilities on Tuesday, is having a major impact on the ability for the coaches to work this week or be on the sidelines for the game.

Ian Rapoport from NFL.com tweeted out the crux of the issue, one that has been echoed by several other outlets on Wednesday morning. Availablity is a real urgent problem for the Lions coaches, it seems:

Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press adds this note to the chaotic situation,

It’s unknown which coaches specifically have been impacted or who tested positive, but the uncertainty casts a long shadow on preparation for the Buccaneers. Stay tuned for updates on the coaching availability for the unusual Saturday game.

Video: Why the Lions needed to fire special teams coach Brayden Coombs

Jeff Risdon and Chris from Detroit Lions Podcast break down why the Coombs firing had to happen

Special teams coordinator Brayden Coombs was fired by the Detroit Lions on Monday, a day after he undermined interim head coach Darrell Bevell by running a fake punt against the coach’s orders during the team’s 45-26 loss to the Tennessee Titans.

The move, orchestrated by Bevell and approved by team president Rod Wood, has caused quite the social media ruckus. In an attempt to cut through the bluster and consternation, I joined with Chris from the Detroit Lions Podcast to record a short (15 minutes) video breakdown of why it was the right move and why the fan vitriol needs to stop.

This video contains no profanity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2vXe08ftbM

Darrell Bevell explains why Brayden Coombs was fired

Darrell Bevell explains why Brayden Coombs was fired

The move to terminate special teams coordinator Brayden Coombs has met with quite the controversy for interim head coach Darrell Bevell and the Detroit Lions. Coombs was a popular young coach seen as a rising star.

Bevell’s press conference on Monday afternoon was dominated by the move and the ins and outs of why it was done.

He termed the fake punt that Coombs called in spite of Bevell’s wishes to punt the ball away “not a correct decision” and reflected upon how he didn’t respect having his authority as the head coach undermined.

Bevell noted, “There are clear lines of communication, there’s basic protocols that we use each and every game. Going into a game we have meetings to determine parameters fo what we want to do in a game.”

Bevell explained that Matthew Stafford getting hit hard on consecutive plays made him want to “flip the field” and work with the defense and the three remaining timeouts to try and win the game.

When asked directly if he told Coombs to go with the punt and Coombs then went with the fake on his own, Bevell affirmed it with a simple, stern “yes”.

He later elaborated on the point,

“I think it’s important that I have a philosophy and I have a belief in things that I’m trying to instill in the team, instill in the coaching staff and instill in the program. When things happen outside that are outside of it then there needs to be something that happens. If something doesn’t happen then really you lose some credibility.”

Bevell continued,

“I tell our coaches all the time ‘we need to do what we say we’re going to do'”, and that was not something he felt happened with Coombs.

Bevell acknowledged he made the decision and it was approved by team president Rod Wood. When asked if new special adviser Chris Spielman had input, he deferred from answering the question.

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Bevell: No talk of shutting Matthew Stafford down for the season

Bevell: No talk of shutting Matthew Stafford down for the season

Matthew Stafford will not practice on Thursday, and the injured ribs the Lions quarterback suffered in the Week 14 loss to Green Bay could very well force him to miss Sunday’s matchup with the Titans in Tennessee. But the Lions have not even discussed the possibility of shutting down Stafford for the rest of the season according to interim head coach Darrell Bevell.

In his Thursday press conference, Bevell shot down any notion that the Lions were planning on pulling the plug on Stafford for the remaining three games.

“That has not been talked about yet,” was Bevell’s full, direct answer to the question when asked if the team has discussed shutting down Stafford due to his rib injury and the team’s near-elimination from the playoffs.

Bevell also quelled any notion that Stafford would sit if center Frank Ragnow cannot play due to his broken throat.

 

Darrell Bevell tries to explain D’Andre Swift’s concussion and illness

Lions interim head coach Darrell Bevell tries to explain D’Andre Swift’s concussion and illness

Lions running back D’Andre Swift has missed the last three games with a concussion. Or at least the Lions believe it was a concussion.

Interim head coach Darrell Bevell, perhaps unwittingly, cast some doubt on the nature of Swift’s absence in his press conference on Friday. After noting that Swift “had another good day” on Thursday and is trending towards playing, Bevell was asked directly if Swift did indeed suffer a concussion or if the rookie RB was dealing with migraine headaches.

“Yes, I think it’s safe to say there is a fine line there. I don’t think it’s for me to be able to comment on his health to the public. But yes, there is a fine line and things there that we were looking at, yes,” Bevell explained.

Swift was cleared from the NFL’s concussion protocol last week in plenty of time to play against the Bears on Sunday, but an undisclosed illness kept him out of practice for the rest of the week. Swift has passed all COVID-19 tests. A common side effect of migraines, in speaking from personal experience, is uncontrollable nausea and vomiting, which could certainly be construed as an illness.

Bevell was pressed on if the team could confirm Swift ever suffered a concussion.

“I cannot say that,” Bevell admitted, anxious to get to the next question.

Swift’s status for Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers has yet to be determined.

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Marvin Jones speaks of ‘different feel’ and freedom to have fun under Darrell Bevell

Via Michael Silver, Jones offered some telling quotes about Bevell vs. Patricia

“Watch what happens now that the dictator is gone”.

Quite a statement from a Lions assistant coach, who related that tidbit to Michael Silver of the NFL Network. He wasn’t the only Lion to celebrate the departure of head coach Matt Patricia.

Silver laid out the details of a conversation he had with veteran Lions wide receiver Marvin Jones in a segment on the network.

“I’m not gonna lie, it’s been a while,” Silver quotes Jones as saying when he asked when the last time he had as much fun playing football as he did in Sunday’s win over Chicago.

“It’s a different feel, there’s no way around it.”

He noted how Jones talked up the “juice” on the sidelines, how “everyone was engaged the whole game”, two things that simply did not happen under Patricia’s authority in Detroit.

Jones credited interim coach Darrell Bevell for the sea change in attitude.

“Keep doing what you’re doing … do it with passion,” was Bevell’s message at halftime instead of the typical browbeating from Patricia. It worked; the Lions staged an improbable comeback and knocked off the Bears.

That Jones was willing to put his name on the quotes for Silver and not snipe at Patricia anonymously speaks volumes about how the locker room felt under the fired coach.

Week 13 snap counts: Lions roll out 4 down DL under Darrell Bevell

Breaking down the Detroit Lions snap counts after their Week 13 victory over the Chicago Bears.

There’s not a lot you can do to the physical makeup of a roster in a week, and for interim coach Darrell Bevell, he needed to rely on the scheme put in place by Matt Patrica — with a few twists mixed in.

On offense, there weren’t a lot of changes, which isn’t overly surprising considering he likely had some weekly influence on how much players played, but on defense, there was a noticeable change up front.

The most notable change was the use of the Lions’ base defense ends Romeo Okwara and Everson Griffen.

Over the last two weeks, the Lions relied on their linebackers to create pressure off the edge, but in this game, Bevell and defensive coordinator Cory Undlin went back to their strategy against Washington and used bigger bodies on the edge.

Okwara was on the field 96-percent of defensive snaps, while Griffen saw 65-percent of his own. Each player did rush from a standing position at times, but the idea of getting bigger up front suits this team’s strengths — especially when Trey Flowers, Austin Bryant, and Julian Okwara return.

That, and more in this week’s snap count review.

Darrell Bevell pulls off an anti-Matt Patricia victory in first game as interim coach

Welcome to the Darrell Bevell era in Detroit. The Lions still have their flaws, but the team is noticeably different than they were under the previous regime.

Welcome to the Darrell Bevell era in Detroit.

The Lions still have their flaws, especially on defense, but this team is noticeably different than they were under the previous regime. From the team’s approach leading up to the game to how they closed out the victory, this was the antithesis of most things former-Lions coach Matt Patricia has preached for three years.

When Bevell took over last weekend, he said he was going to change some things. While not all those changes were made public, there were notable changes in practice: ranging from music aimed at a younger generation to an adjustment of the player’s schedule — players reportedly complained to Bevell they were feeling run down under the Patricia schedule — and the energy level went up a notch.

Consistently, players were reported to be looser and more relaxed in the locker room and it matched Bevell’s approach of allowing them to have more fun during the week.

Once the game started, Bevell — who is still calling the plays — was aggressive on offense, opening the playbook up a bit more, especially the deep pass, as noted in Matthew Stafford’s pass distribution chart, courtesy of NFL Next Gen Stats:

The Lions managed sixty yards and two touchdowns on the ground, but they were by no means married to it as something they had to “establish”.

Additionally, the defense failed to stop the run today — another phrase we have heard every week for the last 1,000 days — and while that led to a double-digit deficit, the late-game playcalling didn’t force the team into a meltdown.

Make no mistake, the defense is still bad, there’s only so much you can change in a week, but the demeanor and attitude that surrounds this team has been altered.

In today’s post-game press conference, worn-out all-too-common phrases — like “We didn’t execute well enough. We’ve gotta coach better, I’ve gotta coach better. And we’ve gotta play better.” — were nowhere to be found. Instead, Bevell introduced thoughtful and raw insight.

Here’s a sampling of the best responses from Bevell’s post-game presser:

“We had a windshield and no rearview mirror.”

“They continued to play, you know, for 60 minutes.”

On his halftime speech: “Play just until there’s no time left on the clock, and continue to play with the joy and the enthusiasm that we wanted to play with and we’ll see what happens at the end.”

“That’s what I asked them to do, just keep playing and keep playing and good things would happen at the end, and it did.”

“My mentality was that, like if I’m going to lead these guys, I gotta have that same belief.”

“We kind of let him (Stafford) play today, and he just responded in a big way.”

“I think we just probably had a little bit more focus on them (big plays) this week, and Matthew (Stafford) responded in a good way.”

“Matthew Stafford presented (me with) the game ball in there (locker room). It was just — I mean I can’t even describe it, just amazing.”

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Lions Week 13 Studs and Duds: Darrell Bevell’s offense leads the way

Reviewing the Studs and Duds from the Detroit Lions Week 13 victory over the Chicago Bears.

The Detroit Lions, under the guidance of interim head coach Darrell Bevell, came back after trailing the Chicago Bears by 13 points in the fourth quarter to pull off a Week 13 win in the Windy City.

There were plenty of struggles on defense, but overall there were a lot of things for Lions fans to be optimistic about.

Stud: Darrell Bevell’s offense

There was a different kind of energy on the field — one that Lions fans haven’t seen in a long time.

Stafford walked out of the tunnel with a smile on his face, presumably knowing he’d have his best game of the season under interim head coach Darrell Bevell.

The offense looked much more comfortable under Bevell. Stafford was able to let loose and make some deep plays. The Lions used just about every weapon at their disposal to move the ball, and move it quickly.

The up-tempo feel to the offense was a breath of fresh air watching this team come back from a double-digit deficit.

Bevell may not be the head coach after this season, but at least he got the bad taste of Matt Patricia out of everyone’s mouths.

Dud: The defense

It’s clear that the Lions will have a lot of rebuilding to do on defense. The unit was so bad against Chicago that it was difficult to pinpoint individual players for the “duds” list.

Penalties were everywhere, with Romeo Okwara and Darryl Roberts assisting Chicago’s offense due to their errors in the first half. Everson Griffen had a neutral zone infraction turned a third-and-six to a convertible 3rd-and-one.

In coverage, everyone struggled. There were holes everywhere, allowing Mitchell Trubisky to look like a Pro Bowler while carving up the defense with passes to Allen Robinson.

And then there’s the run defense that allowed three touchdowns in the first half. The Lions’ front-seven simply could not do anything to contain David Montgomery or Cordarrele Patterson in the run game, allowing over 100 yards in the first half by the duo on their 18 carries.

Tackling proved to be an issue throughout the matchup as well. On one of David Montgomery’s touchdowns, two Lions defenders missed tackles on the young running back before Duron Harmon was able to get his hands on him. Unfortunately, Harmon wasn’t able to bring Montgomery down before he crossed into the end zone.

At the end of the game, the defense bent, and nearly broke, as they tried to prevent Trubisky from coming back in the final seconds. Allowing first down after first down and a horse collar penalty from Jayron Kearse, the defense was able to make a fourth-down stop to ice the game for Detroit.

The defense just didn’t play well, and MLive’s Kyle Meinke summed up their struggles best:

Stud: Matthew Stafford

Bevell’s playcalling has allowed Stafford to do what he does best — throw it deep. The quarterback was making tight-window throws and heaving some accurate deep passes, including one really impressive one to rookie Quintez Cephus — his first career touchdown.

His communication was on point with the young receiver, signaling for him to continue running his deep post and make the touchdown grab.

Stafford hasn’t looked this comfortable in the pocket in a long time, and it showed with the throws he made. He did have one brutal interception on a screen pass in the second half, but overall he balled out.

The quarterback played strong throughout the game and delivered a victory with a 402-yard and three-touchdown game.

Dud: Jonah Jackson

The rookie offensive lineman was bailed out three times in the first half, but that doesn’t excuse his blunders.

Jackson allowed a sack on Stafford by Khalil Mack that would have forced a punt if not for a penalty by Bears slot cornerback Buster Skrine that gave Detroit a first down. Later in the first half, Jackson had a holding penalty that was offset by a Chicago defensive penalty.

To finish off the first half, Jackson also committed a false start penalty. Luckily, Stafford was able to get a first down on the following play.

Stud: Adrian Peterson

The future Hall-of-Famer looked better than he has for most of the season and his late-game performance helped propel the Lions to victory.

His final stat line was 16 carries for 57 yards. He scored Detroit’s first and last touchdowns of the game. His goal line score at the end of the fourth quarter is what sealed the game for Detroit.

Dud: Marvin Jones

This may be an unpopular decision given that Jones finished with eight receptions for 118 yards and a score, but he had some glaring issues in this game. Despite making some solid first down receptions, Jones looked slow on several deep balls from Stafford and then later failed to hang on to a Hail Mary that could have gotten the Lions a walkoff touchdown for the first half. in the second half, he got his hand on another ball that he was unable to bring in.

Jones did help the Lions catch up late in the fourth quarter, but his struggles outweigh his successes in this one. If he was able to hang on to those balls and get separation from the defenders on those plays, the Lions would have been up by a few scores against Chicago.

Stud: Matt Nelson

Tyrell Crosby’s backup has not gotten enough credit throughout this season. When asked to fill in, the former collegiate defensive lineman held his own as Detroit’s right tackle while Crosby was sidelined with an ankle injury.

He didn’t have the best game, but he really put in his best effort against a scary Chicago front-seven.

Stud: Jamie Collins

Collins was a lone bright spot on the Lions defense. The veteran linebacker had two tackles-for-loss on run defense despite the unit struggling as a whole.

Stud: T.J. Hockenson

Despite gaining any yards after the catch on his seven receptions, the former first-round pick came through as one of Stafford’s top targets. The young tight end made some crucial and athletic catches on deep throws and finished the game with 84 yards.

Stud: Romeo Okwara

Okwara came out of the gates early, blocking the PAT after Chicago’s first touchdown. Though he was quiet for almost the whole game, he made his presence known late in the fourth quarter, forcing a fumble on Trubisky and giving the Lions the ball at the seven-yard line with less than two minutes to go in the game.

D’Andre Swift misses Friday’s practice with illness

Swift cleared concussion protocols but is now battling an illness

It doesn’t look good for Lions running back D’Andre Swift to get a chance for personal redemption against the Chicago Bears in Week 13. Swift missed the Lions’ practice sessions on both Thursday and Friday with an undisclosed illness.

Swift has been out with a concussion, though interim head coach Darrell Bevell noted for the second consecutive day on Friday that Swift was cleared from concussion protocols. Bevell stated that the rookie RB’s illness was not COVID-19-related.

“So he’s no longer in the concussion protocol,” Bevell said of Swift in Friday’s pre-practice press conference. “He was here a little bit yesterday, and he started not feeling well, so went ahead and sent him home before practice. Let’s see. So as far as the concussion protocol, he’s no longer in it, and has been something that is not COVID-19-related but is still having some issues.”

As for Swift’s availability on Sunday?

“So he’s not going to be out there at practice today, as far as it goes, we’re going to continue to take this through the end of the week. We’ll see how he continues to react to things, and then we’ll be able to give you an update for Sunday.”

Swift played well overall against the Bears in Week 1, but he dropped the game-winning touchdown pass from Matthew Stafford in the end zone. Getting another chance to prove himself would be a welcome opportunity for Swift.

Bevell also noted Friday’s practice session was pushed back due to a delay in COVID-19 testing results.