Q. When you looked at the film, what was the most significant issue you saw in the second half on Sunday?
SHANE WALDRON: In the second half just being able to execute at a high level through four quarters. We talked about that. We know we want to be a consistent offense, and that wasn't our best showing obviously in the second half, and having those three-and-outs happen the way they did, the effectiveness of us as an offense on 3rd down we know is imperative to playing good complementary football, and we've moved forward, looked at those corrections.
It's always all 11 starting with the coaches and then moving on to the players of how we execute, how we handle some of that adversity that we did face in the second half, so we're feeling confident we're able to get those corrections done, move forward, get into a Wednesday practice, now on to Thursday and move forward and go against a really good Detroit Lions team.
Q. (Indiscernible).
SHANE WALDRON: I think when you get into the situations that we did in the second half, go through a first half where we don't punt the football, we have a couple chances there maybe to finish with touchdowns instead of field goals, I know that, but first game, and then I think in the second half starting with me, when things aren't perfect in the first part of that first series where we go out there with the three-and-out, coming back with that mindset, we don't need to press, we don't need to try harder or do anything different, we really need to go back to our fundamentals and execute at a high level.
Without getting into specifics of all 11 and play calls and all that stuff, it's just going back to fundamentals and really trusting training, trusting all this practice work and executing at the highest level like we do out here every single day, like we did throughout training camp and feeling confident about doing it that way moving forward.
Q. (Indiscernible) how much easier for that to happen this week?
SHANE WALDRON: Yeah, I think both those guys for us we have all the confidence in the world in both Stone and Jake. Jake did a great job in 2021 against the Lions starting against those guys. Stone has had his chance to be in there.
I know it's not always the easiest thing in the world to get thrown in the mix in the middle of a game like that, especially towards the latter half where we really need to get things done there, but we know execution, the things that they can do, the offense that they've been a part of now for the last several years makes us feel comfortable with them going in there and executing.
Like everything else in football, it's not always going to be about one guy or two guys, it's about all 11 of us coming together on the field and executing at a high level so we can play that good complementary football. We can have a good balanced attack on offense and playing consistently through four quarters.
Q. What's the biggest challenge of the blitz packages that the Lions will show you?
SHANE WALDRON: I think starting up front with the great rusher in Hutchinson there, and then just like last week when we faced Aaron Donald, you face an elite pass rusher like he has transitioned to in this league, he's going to garner a lot of attention right there, but making sure that that doesn't take away from the other guys.
We know the Lions historically, they've brought -- Coach Glenn does a great job with the multitude of blitz packages they've varied every single season, every single week, so being ready to be prepared to adjust and adapt on the fly in the course of the game to anything that we see newness but also just again going back to fundamentals, going back to our roles and really trusting for the guys to trust themselves and everyone around them to do the right thing.
Q. (Indiscernible) style as a pass rusher?
SHANE WALDRON: I think it starts like any great defensive lineman, with high effort. He's nonstop. His motor is excellent. Then he has a good mix of complementary moves, whether it's speed to power, whether it's using some of the pick stunts, or whether it's just going straight with speed around the edge there. He's got a good mix, got a good repertoire.
They move him around. He played over at the guard some in that first game there, and he was able to generate pressures in a multitude of ways.
Q. When you're pressing, is it due to something that you see that they're just not executing?
SHANE WALDRON: Yeah, and I think anytime that we're out here as a coaching staff and the players and we're talking about it, we're always really battling that mindset of having to go outside of the framework or to do too much in a certain scenario, and I think when you get into a spot on offense where, hey, the goal or the expectation is to score every time you touch the ball, right, that should never waver no matter where you're at on a football team, and when some of the things don't go perfectly, how do you go ahead and play the next play, play the next game, and like for us, the mindset right now on offense is not letting one bad half of football really trickle into the season or trickle past what it was, which was one half where we know we can do a better job, and I think that's where it comes back to we don't need to go outside the framework of what we've been practicing, what we've been putting on tape as far as training camp, OTAs, all the off-season work that the guys have done. Just staying within ourselves and trusting that we do have good players on this offense and we have a good group of players that really play hard for each other moving forward.
Q. What did you think of Charbonnet and Jackson and what they did on Sunday?
SHANE WALDRON: Yeah, I think one thing is obviously wish they had more ops, but that's going to come, like anything, with more opportunities as far as total number of plays within a game, but in terms of an opening game for those guys, going out there, the moment is not too big for either of those guys. They were able to go out there and execute their assignments and what they were asked to do in the game, and looking forward to their roles growing as the season continues to go on.
Q. (On the stadium noise.)
SHANE WALDRON: No, this environment, we know it's going to be as loud as it gets. The roles are reversed. We go from having some of the loudest fans in the world where we get to enjoy that as an offense where we're on the home side of it, but now we're going on the road knowing that they're going to be loud, and that's where execution and the understanding of what our tempo and what our cadence is when we're on the road when we have that toolbox to utilize when we go on the road environment, making sure we're all on the same page and knowing that -- getting off on the snap count, all 11 firing off the ball at the same time is so imperative in these noisy environments, but we also look at the same way the positive side for us is then the defense has to deal with all of those same structural issues while they're on the silent communication for everything they've got to do.
I feel like throughout the course of different home games and road games, there's going to be noise, and you want those type of environments. They amp everyone up, get everyone going, but we can't, again, let that make us do anything outside of the framework of what we want to do and execute.
Q. You haven't had Evan Brown do the silent count on the road? Obviously you have two new tackles. How curious are you about Evan Brown (indiscernible)?
SHANE WALDRON: I think the one thing for us when it comes to the silent counts or the verbal cadence, we really start that in OTAs, and we rotate that. We know that at least half the games, especially with the odd number of games now - we've got more on the road than at home this year - so we really space that out and plan for that and had every other -- whether it's been every other week or every other practice, and really worked hard to get the music cranking out here and work on the silent count throughout the course of the last several months right there. So feel comfortable with it, and it's just part of the way that we operate. It's not something that comes about with the first or second week of the season as we are in right now.
Q. How has Jason Peters looked the last couple days?
SHANE WALDRON: Yeah, it's pretty special to see a guy walk in and look like he's ready to play right now and knowing that he's going into his 20th season in the NFL. Came out here and was able to move around with great foot speed, great quickness, and just his football knowledge and his understanding, like in my mind to see him come out here yesterday before really getting into meetings and knowing all our calls but just have a football understanding where he can just get in and fit in and see pressure coming and pick it up and know what's going on. It's been special to see. He'll be a great addition, not only for him as a player but the person where some of these younger linemen can talk to and gain some great knowledge from him.
Q. What right away shows up as a 19-year veteran? What does he do that Cross and Lucas don't do?
SHANE WALDRON: I would say showing up in that type of position. For both Charles and Abe, they took time in an off-season program, had to get used to a system, had to know what's going on.
But for Jason, with a guy with that many snaps accumulated at a high level throughout his career, he has that ability to just walk out onto an NFL practice field and maybe not need all the details or the knowledge because he's got it somewhere in his archives that he can resource and reference and able to come out here and function at a high level, with limited exposure to a totally new system.
Q. Given how much you guys emphasized 3rd down in the off-season, is it frustrating to see how things played out on Sunday?
SHANE WALDRON: Yeah, I think there's no doubt our expectations and what our goals are on 3rd down didn't play out how we saw them or how we felt like they would go there, and so I think that goes back to one example, one game of it right there, like let's not let that bleed into the next game or let us try to say, hey, we need to change the whole thing how we're approaching it or change how we want to execute a certain play.
We just need to do better in those pressure situations that come up throughout the course of the game and continue to have that positive mindset moving forward.
Q. What role do the coaches specifically play in correcting everything that happened on Sunday?
SHANE WALDRON: I think it's like any part of the game where you're able to get a good honest evaluation as a coaching staff on that Monday where you go through everything and that after-action report where you go through it honestly and then you go through it with the players, and for us as an offense, the ability -- we've got some great players, we've got great people on the offensive side of the ball that are totally open to that clear, open and honest communication following a loss when we know it's a little easier to correct after a win if something goes wrong, you're feeling a little bit better. But everyone still wants to win. Everyone is competitive. So when you come in after a loss and those guys are able to listen and then also provide their own feedback in some stuff because I think like everything else, it's a collaborative effort in the NFL and everyone is always learning and looking for a way to improve or provide more clarity in those scenarios.
Q. As much as you emphasized the 3rd down play, how much of the coaching and teaching is going on about 1st down?
SHANE WALDRON: Yeah, so talking about the 3rd downs and then what precedes that, I think that's really one of our key points that we make, and we talked about throughout the course of the off-season is the 1st and 2nd down efficiency is always going to lead to better production on 3rd down.
The more times that we can get into those 3rd and 6 or less situations throughout the course of the game, just percentage-wise in football the better chances that you're going to have, and I know on our scoring drive there for example I don't believe we had a 3rd down. There's always a good way to execute high on 3rd down is not to have any of those. That's always a nice way to do it, too.
You know they're going to come up. You know they're critical situations, but that 1st and 2nd down execution, getting into 3rd and manageables and providing better offensive opportunities than being in a 3rd and long, especially against in a road environment against elite pass rushers or an elite pressure plan like we're about to see right here, trying to stay 3rd and manageable is a big part of it, which all starts on our 1st and 2nd down execution.
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