Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin and offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter spoke to the media Thursday as they do every week during the regular season.
Here are 10 takeaways from those media sessions:
1. Cooter said he dove deep and learned "a bunch" over the bye week about his offense's performance through the first six games. He said he threw some stuff out that wasn't working well, and expects the offense to be a much bigger factor in them winning football games moving forward.
2. On the flip side of the ball, Austin said the bye week allowed him to also take a look at what the defense has been doing good and not so good, and gave them an opportunity to refocus. The bye week lets players regroup physically and mentally, and come back fresh and ready to go. The Lions are 3-0 under this coaching staff coming off the bye.
3. The Lions haven't used Ameer Abdullah and Theo Riddick on the field at the same time very much this season, but Cooter said he would consider it more moving forward.
4. Consider Austin a big fan of Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell, who Austin called the most patient runner he's ever seen. Bell doesn't rush a run, according to Austin, and the other difficult thing about playing against Bell is that his style is so unique Austin can't replicate it on the look team at practice.
5. Cooter certainly sounded like a guy who expected Brian Milhalik to get some playing time this week. Cooter said he really won't know what he has in Milhalik, who could start for the injured Greg Robinson, until he sees him on gameday.
6. Tackling Steelers receiver Antonio Brown is a big key Sunday. Austin knows the Steelers are going to find ways to get the ball in his hands, they just have to tackle well, and limit what he does after the catch.
7. When asked if his offense was too predictable at times this year, Cooter said he didn't think it was.
8. Producing some negative plays in the run game is also a big emphasis for Austin's defense this week. The Steelers are very good in second-and-short and third-and-short situations, so it's important to generate some long down and distance situations to make things tougher on them.
9. Marvin Jones Jr. gets a good amount of press coverage from opposing defenses, and Cooter says Jones is winning some and losing some. He said there's some things he can do schematically in terms of moving Jones around that could help as well. He said Jones continues to improve in that area.
10. Austin is seeing growth from rookie MIKE linebacker Jarrad Davis, just in the sense of him reacting more and thinking less.
