Offensive coordinator John Morton, defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard and special teams coordinator Dave Fipp spoke to the media Thursday ahead of Detroit's matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday at Paycor Stadium. Here are my 10 biggest takeaways from those media sessions:
1. It was interesting hearing Sheppard talk about the variety of defenses they've played through their first four weeks. He said they've played more variations of schemes than they've ever played in past seasons under head coach Dan Campbell and former defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn. It's a credit to the defensive coaches and to the players being able to handle a variety of information and implement it on gameday. It's also a credit to Sheppard's game planning and creativity setting up the schemes week to week.
2. "We can do whatever we want."
Those were Morton's words in describing the talent level and versatility he has on offense. The Lions enter Sunday's game in Cincinnati ranked No. 1 in points (34.3), No. 6 in total offense (365.0), sixth in rushing (139.0) and 10th in passing (226.0).
3. Fipp is loving the impact special teams is having early in this 2025 season. We've already seen a number of blocked kicks and long field goals impact games. Kalif Raymond’s 65-yard punt return touchdown last week broke the game open for Detroit. Fipp admits it puts a little more pressure on him to have his teams make an impact every week, but he wouldn't have it any other way.
4. Veteran defensive lineman DJ Reader's impact doesn't jump off the stat sheet every week, but make no mistake, he's had a huge impact on Detroit's defensive performances the last three weeks. Sheppard made a great point when he said linebacker Jack Campbell doesn't get double-digit tackles without the way Reader and rookie Tyleik Williams are playing inside.
5. Morton isn't worried at all about a couple drops that surfaced with wide reciever Jameson Williams last week. Morton said Williams bounced back right away with some plays late in that game. He said that's been part of the maturation for Williams this season.
6. Campbell and Fipp put a big emphasis last week on being aggressive and returning punts. They thought there'd be an opportunity for a big return against the Browns and Raymond proved them right with his 65-yarder in the fourth quarter. Raymond returned five punts last week vs. Cleveland. He had returned just six the previous three weeks. Will the Lions look to be aggressive this week in Cincinnati returning punts?
7. To say Sheppard was impressed with Alim McNeill’s first practice Wednesday coming off the PUP list would be a bit of an understatement. Sheppard said McNeill looked like he'd been in training camp and practice all year. Sheppard is really excited about getting McNeill back, whenever that might be, and said it will be fun deploying what he called four starting caliber defensive tackles – McNeill, Reader, Williams and Roy Lopez – in the middle of his defense.
8. Morton has been around some good offenses over his 20-plus years coaching in NFL. He said this year's Lions group has a chance to be the best, even better than the early Oakland Raiders teams he was on with Tim Brown, Rich Gannon, Jerry Rice, Tyrone Wheatley and Charlie Garner.
9. The NFL had a rule change this year a lot of people might not be familiar with. Teams are allowed to manipulate the kicking balls throughout the course of the week, practice with them and bring the same ball to the game. That's a change from previous years where balls could only be manipulated on gameday in front of officials. The ability for teams to manipulate the football and practice with them all week may be part of the reason we're seeing so much kicking success early in the year.
10. Tyler Lacy has played an increased role on defense the last two weeks playing 19 snaps vs. Baltimore and 27 last week against the Browns. Sheppard is deploying the third-year defensive lineman in a variety of roles from the nose to three technique to the big end in five technique. Sheppard loves that kind of versatility and has been impressed with Lacy's play the last two weeks. It's also allowed him to move Al-Quadin Muhammad around based on matchups. Sheppard just seems to be pushing all the right buttons defensively right now.
