It was another news-heavy day from Allen Park, with all three coordinators meeting with the media prior to the Detroit Lions’ Week 4 game against the Carolina Panthers.
Here are my biggest takeaways from those press conferences.
Offensive coordinator Drew Petzing
Derrick Brown is a problem
Panthers defensive tackle Derrick Brown is unquestionably the most talented player on Carolina’s defense. Last year, he produced 5.0 sacks, 11 QB hits, and 39 pressures.
Petzing faced the Panthers twice in the last two years, one game without Brown,
one with him in the lineup. The difference was staggering.
“He’s a force. I think back, I believe when we played them in ’24, he was not out there. And then we played him again in ’25, and it was like night and day because of one guy,” Petzing said. “I mean, he’s a great player, plays hard, plays physical, takes up a lot of space in the run game. Still is dynamic as a pass rusher, which is not always the case for some of the bigger players inside. So, it’s a force that we’ve got to be ready to handle.”
Juice Scruggs is growing
Petzing wouldn’t speculate on what the Lions will do with Scruggs when starting center Cade Mays returns from injury around the bye week, but he did talk glowingly of Scruggs’ growth at center.
“He works his tail off to make sure he’s on top of it because the communication upfront is going to start with him. In terms of making sure that everything is on the same page, we’re snapping the ball, we’re going in the right direction, we’re in the right play. He’s done a really nice job of that,” Petzing said. “And I think the other piece that we talked about probably is when I first got here was the violence and the attitude that he plays with. He’s a physical player. He plays fast, he plays free.”
When it comes to his communication, the early emphasis was on getting Scruggs to communicate loudly and confidently. When asked how that was going, Petzing made a great reference to the movie Anchorman.
“I think it comes with confidence of knowing what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. So, it’s not the Ron Burgundy question mark at the end,” Petzing said. “It’s more like, ‘No, I am Ron Burgundy, and this is what we’re doing. Like, let’s go.’ And I think you’ve seen that kind of develop here over his time in the position now and in the role.”
Defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard
Improvements in the Jets game good, but not enough
Sheppard typically begins his weekly press conferences with a recap of the previous game, and Thursday was no different. He was quick to point out some areas of improvement, notably the strides made in the run game (58 rushing yards, 3.1 YPC), and the decrease in explosive plays allowed (seven, after allowing 11.5 per game in Weeks 1-2). But the goal can no longer be just to improve from the week before. Seven explosive plays allowed is still too many.
“I stood in front of the room, and I told them, there’s no moral victories in this thing. And what I mean by that, we won the game, but on our side of the ball, let’s not start to measure this off of what we did last week and what we did,” Sheppard said. “No, we have a certain standard for the way we want to play here, a certain output that we want to put out there defensively each week. So, let’s try to get more closer to that bar this week versus chasing what we did in the first two weeks.”
Why the increase in zone defense
The Lions were one of the heaviest man-coverage defenses in 2025, but that has shifted dramatically through three weeks into the 2026 season. After averaging man coverage on 36% of snaps last year, that number has plummeted to just 19.4% per Fantasy Points.
Sheppard gave a thorough answer on why they made the change, pointing to three things: fitting the scheme to the personnel, limited explosive plays, and creating more turnovers.
Here’s him speaking on each:
- Fitting personnel:
- “What’s best for us? I know what I might want to do, but what’s best for us? And then how does that blend with the way we want to play, the style of defense that we want to put on tape?”
- Limiting explosives:
- “That’s kind of a philosophical thing about what’s important to you and what’s important to us coming out of self-scout is trying to dim down some of these explosive plays primarily in the past game. So, we feel like having more of a shell feel to our defense will kind of talk the quarterbacks into more underneath passing games where we can rally and hit versus the ball just chunking 40 yards down the field.”
- Forcing turnovers:
- “ It’s hard to have kind of interceptions, plays on the football and man cover with your back turned, kind of in phase, running, chasing all the time versus seeing it. Being able to break and drive on throws and things like that. So, absolutely it has a lot to do with trying to bring the ball back as a defense.”
Special teams coordinator Dave Fipp
On kickoff loophole
This year, the NFL quietly changed a rule that a holder can come onto the field to hold the kickoff at any time, rather than just when the ball falls off the tee twice. A couple of teams have already exploited that rule by bringing a holder out there (without a tee), angling the football in an advantageous way to affect the trajectory of the kickoff. Fipp acknowledged it can give the kicker an advantage.
“Yeah, it definitely helps. I think some guys more than others,” Fipp said. “It’s something that we played around with a little bit, but yeah.”
The league has talked about closing this loophole, but it remains legal to do so right now, and Fipp teased that Detroit may consider taking advantage.
“Never know.”
Jake Bates’ power an advantage in weather games?
Sunday night’s game against the Panthers is forecasted to have some weather elements, mainly a good chance of rain. Fipp said they’ll practice in the elements this week, but he also agreed with a reporter’s assessment that Bates’ low-but-powerful trajectory on his kicks could be an extra advantage this week.
“Anytime you drive the ball a little bit, it’s much more conducive to kicking in wind and weather and all that kind of stuff,” Fipp said. “So that really helps him, doesn’t hurt him. But yeah, so that helps. So, there’s different strengths and weaknesses, pluses, minuses for everything you do.”
