Teryl Austin Quotes Following Detroit Lions’ Practice Today

Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Teryl Austin met with the media following today’s OTA practice. Here are some quotes from the media session, as provided by the Lions.

On how different the Lions defense might look compared to previous seasons: “It’s just kind of what I said in the introductory press conference in that we’re going to try to give the offenses as many looks as we can. Bring people from different angles, try to make them adjust to us instead of us always adjusting to them, so that’s kind of what we’ve been working on. It’s not always clean. Today, I thought we were a little sloppy in some things, but that’s kind of the price you pay to try to get it right.”

On if the defense’s formations will depend on each situation: “Absolutely. I’m not going to be married to anything. What we’re going to try to be married to is what’s best for our guys that week and that game. That’s what we’re going to try to do.”

On what he has seen from the cornerbacks so far: “I think we have some nice, young talent, but it’s young. It doesn’t have game experience, so it’s really, right now it’s kind of hard to tell how they’ll react when we get into game-like situations. So, that’s what we are doing here by putting the pressure on them, the tempo, all those things trying to get them into as many game-like situations as we can so we see how they respond. So far, you know, some of the young guys are doing some good things, but they’re still young.”

On DT Nick Fairley: “He looks good. He’s lost a lot of weight. I think the key will be when he leaves here and then when he comes back in camp if he’s still in that great shape with his weight down. It’s going to be great for us.”

On how well he has gotten to know Fairley so far: “I think it will take time to get to know him. Like anything right now, we talk as much as we can. The one thing I don’t do is I don’t bother guys outside of here. I’m not a big guy like that mothering them because I think we’re all professionals. They’re grown men, we’re grown men, but he’s been good when he’s been in the building. He’s got a great personality. We’re just hoping that we get a big year out of him. I think he wants to have a big year as well.”

On how S Don Carey fits into his defensive system: “I don’t think his role changes at all. I think Don gives you great flexibility. Having been around the league, guys like Don are hard to come by. He is smart of enough to play a bunch of different positions, but also having the physical ability to do it. So, he’s a pretty valuable piece for us and I know he does a great job on special teams. Guys like that, you have to have your starters, but you’ve got to have a lot of guys like Don Carey on your team if you want to win.”

On LB Kyle Van Noy: “He’s going to be fine. It’s hard to tell right now with no pads and all this stuff, but he learns well, he can run. He has all the things that we thought when we drafted him.”

On DE Kalonji Kashama: “We saw that he had a nice little burst off the edge and he can run and possibly do some pass rush. Anytime you have a guy that can possibly be a type of pass-rusher in this league, you’re going to make sure you further examine him and see if he can really do it.”

On being receptive to players’ input: “As far as player input, I think that’s the important thing because we don’t play the game. We put the schemes together and we have a structure of how we see our defense. A lot of times, a player will come to you after he’s been in it, studied it and say, ‘Hey, is there a way we can do this because this is a little better for all of us out here?’ We look at it and if it is, we make the decision and do what they say. I mean, Jim (Caldwell) always talks about intellectual property, they have intellectual property too because they’re on the field playing. They’re going to come back with some really good feedback sometimes for you and you have to listen to it because if not, then what happens is a lot of times they’ll turn you off because they don’t want to listen. They’ll be like, ‘He doesn’t listen to me, why should I listen to him?’”

On DE Ezekiel Ansah’s role this season: “He’ll do what we’re asking our rush ends to do. He’s going to rush, he’s going to drop, he’s going to move to different positions. He’s going to do some different things. He’s going to be required to do just what we’re asking all the other guys to do right now, so he’s going to have some catching up to do. But I believe he’s a bright guy. He’s been here the whole time, so he’s getting it. He’s just not getting the actual reps.”