Offensive coordinator John Morton, defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard, and special teams coordinator Dave Fipp spoke to the media Thursday as they do every week during the regular season. Here are my 10 biggest takeaways from those media sessions:
1. Sheppard felt pretty good overall about the defensive performance in Green Bay after watching the tape. He lamented a few plays, particularly the two-play, 65-yard touchdown drive on the Packers' third possession of the game, but overall he wasn't disappointed by the 188 passing yards and 78 rushing yards they allowed in the contest.
It's worth noting those totals are off just 47 total plays run by Green Bay, which is almost 20 plays below the league average. Green Bay played most of the game with a big lead and offensive strategy changes when playing with that kind of lead. Packers quarterback Jordan Love threw just six passes in the second half.
2. Morton plans to put a little bit less on the plate of his players offensively from a game plan perspective so it will allow them to play a little faster. There were some things Morton liked offensively against the Packers but he admitted there was also plenty to clean up.
He said no one at the Meijer Performance Center is in panic mode with some of the struggles they had running the football or converting on third down and in the red zone.
"It's being addressed, it's being fixed," he said.
3. Fipp said he was disappointed with his unit's performance in Green Bay, particularly their punting operation. Punter Jack Fox and that unit were No. 1 in the NFL last year in net punting average at 46.2 yards per punt. Green Bay returned three punts for 32 yards as Fox finished the game with a 36.7 net punting average. Fipp expects a bounce-back week for that unit Sunday at Ford Field.
4. Detroit was credited by Pro Football Reference with blitzing Love eight times but they didn't generate any sacks off of it.
"Got to be better. Got to be better," Sheppard said. "You get your number called, you've got to be better, point-blank, period. That's also been addressed."
5. One of the things Detroit's really cognizant of heading into the matchup with Chicago Sunday is some of the blitz packages Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen creates on third down. It goes back to being good with their communication Sunday and limiting the missed assignments.
6. Detroit's special teams could get a boost this week with second-year running back Sione Vaki returning to practice and trending toward playing Sunday. Vaki is one of Detroit's best special teams players, leading the team in special teams tackles as a rookie last year. We also saw Vaki as a kickoff returner in camp where he showed the ability to be dynamic in that role.
7. Detroit did a really nice job limiting the Packers on the ground (3.1 avg. per rush) and keeping Love in the pocket. Sheppard knows the latter will be even more important this week facing Bears quarterback Caleb Williams, who made a ton of plays out of the pocket Monday night against Minnesota. Williams led the Bears in rushing with 58 yards with a rushing touchdown.
8. Morton expects left tackle Taylor Decker to play Sunday despite missing practice time this week with a shoulder injury.
9. One thing Fipp would like to see a big improvement in from Week 1 to Week 2 is players on special teams getting off blocks in space. That was another part of the tape that he said he was disappointed in from Sunday.
"I say this league comes down to two things. It comes down to if you've got a double-team, you've got to dominate it, you've got a single, you've got to win the one-on-ones in this league, in this business."
10. Sheppard didn't appreciate cornerback Terrion Arnold continuing to play through a groin injury that Arnold said after the game he suffered on the second series.
"If you're injured, come out of the game," Sheppard said. "We're not making any excuses, no, no, no. We're not making any excuses."
Love had a 124.3 passer rating when throwing at Arnold Sunday with a touchdown. Sheppard pointed out that the touchdown was on the same route that Arnold got beat on against San Francisco last year. He said Arnold needs to do a better job learning from previous mistakes.
