Chatting With Dan Miller Live At Lions Practice
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00:00Dan Miller play-by-play voice of the Lions joining us here and of course from Fox to Doug that's Jack Campbell
00:10Doug is looking longingly at 46 running that drill. Did you see the way he hit that?
00:17Security is wanted over
00:19To play the middleman to make sure to fend off, but you know what it's a great pick for a guy to take a huge
00:25Step this year. I mean, you know, we've kind of talked about that like who are the guys?
00:30That if they take a step beyond what we've seen so far and kind of become who we think they are can really move this
00:36Team up like it's Campbell and I think it's JMO
00:38I mean guys that you know
00:40Campbell just seemed like he was kind of figuring it out last year and got better towards the end of the year
00:44But you know, there's so much more there and then JMO. Look he's as good as
00:50The next step for him is 60 to 85 catches
00:53Route tree all over the field and just being the ad explosive player
00:59So it's like those are the guys to me that I look at and I say wow if they if they figure it out
01:04That's really where this team goes. So you've been out here a heck of a lot more than this is our that we have
01:09This is our first look at it really so when it comes to
01:12Jameson Williams
01:14Everybody talks about how he is a different different player this year in camp
01:17Is it that he runs crisper routes is that he's catching everything is thrown to him
01:22It's no longer the look over my left shoulder right shoulder. He knows exactly where he's supposed to be
01:27Yeah, I would say this Gator
01:28I would say you go back to last year and I think he just
01:32figured some things out and I had to talk but with him about this a couple weeks ago and he credited Teddy Bridgewater and
01:38If you were you were here last year and watched after practice
01:40You would have seen him running routes with Teddy pretty much every day after practice and he said Teddy taught me how to be a pro
01:46I was in some headspace that I wasn't supposed to be in and Teddy kind of helped me figure things out
01:52So I think last year I started seeing JMO smile
01:55I started seeing JMO put in the extra work and I think you started seeing some of those results now
02:00I think the next I love where he is mentally. I love where he is physically. He's not hurt. He's got no impediments
02:07He's not suspended. There's nothing happening. Yeah, knock on wood. There's nothing happening right now
02:11So it's full football for him and I think we have seen with his
02:17Athleticism and speed which is unmatched by pretty much anybody in this league
02:21Maybe there's one or two guys that can run with him, but not many
02:24If he can figure it out and start catching the ball all over the field
02:28Which to me is the next step and I think this offense can really explode
02:32But look you're talking about a guy who hasn't caught 25 passes in the NFL yet. He's got to prove he can do it
02:38I just love where he is on that on that Ascension right now
02:42We saw it late later in the season in the second half of the season where the routes he was running were no longer
02:47Hey, he's just gonna run a streak or run it down and out
02:49He started dragging players across the field and that's where you really see the separation because you can't keep up with it
02:55And then it becomes a game of okay
02:58Our Jared Goff and Jameson Williams in sync enough
03:01Do they have enough timing together where that's gonna work and it started to at the end of the season
03:04That's what has me excited because it's it's that explosive. That's that gets him in the in that second level
03:10Yeah
03:10And I don't think any of us have the definitive answer as to whether or not that's there and ready to take off now
03:16From the timing to the route precision to the consistently catching the ball all that stuff all that has to come together
03:23and if it does like I said
03:25Look, we've seen enough to understand that if you put this guy in that
03:29Okay in terms of opportunities, let's say wide receiver to behind Dom and raw 60 to 85 catches
03:35How many of those catches do you think he's gonna have a step on somebody and turn into a big play that that's what he's capable
03:41Of doing that's what's exciting about him. So
03:44Look man, I want to see it
03:46I want to see it out there because I think it can change this offense
03:49It would change any offense if that guy's operating, you know, you know full capacity
03:55So the offense was elite last year the defense
04:00really made some
04:02improvements in terms of who's on the roster and
04:04Then there's guys and I want to get to the guy that's caught so many people's attention Levi on Zurich
04:10Yeah, the fact that he hasn't played in the preseason
04:13They're treating him like a player that they can't afford to get hurt and I'm like doesn't he need reps?
04:19That's a great. It's a great point. And I
04:21Asked Dan Campbell that exact thing
04:23We were in a production meeting before the first preseason game and he was running through all the guys that weren't playing and he named
04:27Levi and I was like really and I said
04:30Should we take this as this is a byproduct of what he has shown you and he said absolutely
04:37He goes we've seen enough from him in practice and in the joint workouts that we are comfortable with where he's at and we want
04:44To we're treating him like one of those guys. We don't want to put out there right now
04:48And I I had the same question you did. I'm kind of jaw on the floor that well that kind of place
04:54I
04:55understand that and I think it's been one of the
04:57And I don't know how it translates to the regular season in terms of numbers in terms of production
05:02That's something we're all gonna have to figure out together
05:04But it's been one of the best stories in camp and I asked Aleem about it a couple weeks ago
05:08And he said look man. He's just healthy
05:10He said he hasn't been healthy since he's been a league and that he one of my favorite lines
05:14Which I will be using consistently if he's if he's who we hope he is he said
05:19Levi's gonna be an issue
05:22Levi's gonna be an issue and I said, I love that and so we'll see I mean look
05:27They drafted him in the second round for a reason
05:30He has had injuries and inability to stay on the field and inconsistent play
05:34But he said himself and he hasn't talked a lot during training camp
05:37I think he's only talked once but he said you know
05:39I just feel like I'm myself and I think it's been a while but look he's down to
05:44You know you're down to your last chance. You're in here for now
05:47He's got to make it happen, or maybe it's not going to happen so Gator said early in the show
05:51he thinks the defensive tackle spot has gone from being a weakness to a strength and
05:55I'm watching project Martin in this last game and Kansas City's not running the ball up the middle at all
06:00Yeah
06:01And is he really emerged is he gonna be a run stuff around this team with Dan Campbell said after game one was he he?
06:07And I haven't talked to him since they played Kansas City
06:11But he said look there were some plays where he did exactly what we wanted him to do
06:14And then there were some plays where it looked like he was playing and he was 6-9
06:17Which means he's playing too high and that's been the problem with him is not staying low not being able to utilize that big body
06:23To play consistently, so I think the answer Doug is that it's coming
06:28But it's got to be there more consistently and you know Campbell said before practice today
06:32They're hoping to get he said we're gonna get reader up
06:35Which means in my mind off PUP which means he won't have to miss that first month of the season they said they're gonna get
06:41Him in some individual drills next week
06:43Which hopefully means that he's tracking towards if not the Rams than the first couple weeks, but man you start talking about
06:50You know
06:53Martin Aleem
06:54Reader you can play owns a Rike inside or outside those guys and all of a sudden that rotation looks a lot better than it
07:01Did a year ago?
07:01This is without Kaminsky too, and you know it's it's a credit to Brad Holmes for compiling this roster because when they have to make cuts
07:10They're gonna be tough cuts to be made a lot of tough cuts to be made
07:13But you're still gonna see those guys playing in the NFL
07:16It just won't be with the Lions because that's the kind of roster that they built in training camp
07:20Yeah, and that's that's a whole lot different than we've seen around here a lot of years
07:24Yeah, you know guys kind of left here, and then you didn't hear from him again, but yeah
07:28I do agree
07:29there's gonna be some some tough guys that are cut and the nice thing is not all of them to get picked up and he
07:34Got a large practice squad now where some of these guys will be sitting but to your point
07:39Yeah, I think there are gonna be some tough decisions and some you know guys like who come up and all of a sudden
07:45They're fighting for a roster spot, so what does that do does that put James Houston on the bubble are they fighting for one spot?
07:52How does that work so?
07:55It's it's a meritocracy and guys are earning it and guys are catching the the the eyes of the coaches
08:01Which I think is huge and you can't sneak
08:04Isaiah Williams to the practice squad the wide receiver you can't sneak Brandon Joseph the practice squad because you guys are making too many plays
08:10Yeah, I it's it's that's an interesting thing Doug and and sometimes
08:14I think that and then sometimes I do see guys get through yeah, and I think you do see around the league
08:18You'll see a guy that leads a team in receptions, and then doesn't get picked up right um. I don't know the answer to that I think
08:26Receiver is because of the duplication between him and
08:31Khalif and
08:32Aman Ra I think he's still in a tough spot
08:35But man he's making it hard on these coaches to do something and Brandon Joseph to your point
08:40It's just been making plays on the ball
08:42I mean an interception interception in the first game came out the next weekend had two in practice
08:47He's starting to figure things out
08:49You can see it which is huge in and you know they don't want to let go of good football players
08:53And they're gonna do their best they can to keep all these guys
08:56But I think the one interesting thing that Dan Campbell say because I know that wide receiver three or three B
09:01However, you want to look at it. It's getting a lot of talk
09:03He said number one that receiver might not be in our receiver room it could be in the running back room
09:08That's one thing. He said you start thinking about Gibbs you start thinking about Vaki
09:13And he also said that receiver might not be here
09:17so it could be somebody that's on another team right now either by trade or waiver as you guys talked about and
09:23we'll see how that thing plays out, but
09:26They've made it clear. They want some size and DPJ look like he was kind of trending up going into last week
09:33I don't know if he kind of stalled out in that game a little bit well
09:35You talk about this game this week means a lot for a lot of guys
09:38I think DJ is one of them where else do you see that the players that are really kind of on this on?
09:43The edge of being on the roster or not. I think there's probably a back-end defensive line
09:49You got a couple guys that are fighting for spots. You know we mentioned who we've mentioned Houston
09:53I mean you know look to us. I think
09:56Houston has that skill that we remember from his rookie year, but he's got a shy look
10:01I hope he's well enough to play this way your availability is huge
10:05Yeah, and if he could he he wasn't able to play this past week
10:08So if he can play this week my guess is he's gonna get a heavy dose of snaps
10:12And they want to see can you show us that same ability to get to the passer that you showed us?
10:17You know in your rookie season, then I think you know maybe back into the secondary
10:22They're looking at something and you know how many running backs are you gonna keep how many wide receivers?
10:28What's your offensive line depth look like are they happy with the offensive line depth might they pick up an offensive lineman from somewhere else I?
10:35Mean he said it today
10:37He said look what we do at one position is gonna impact another position so
10:41Saying that there might be a back-end battle at one spot just means a guy at another spot might not make it so they say
10:47five or six
10:48But that might mean that there's multiple
10:51Positions involved in those five or six places that are still out there for one of these guys to grab
10:57For you I mean having been around and cover the Lions and been the play-by-play voice I have gone
11:02I want to know if you're in the same place
11:04I've gone from being skeptical of everything they say to a hundred hundred percent believing absolutely everything
11:11They say like if they have something good to say if there's hype out of practice or about the coaches
11:15Yeah, yeah, I believe it now and my whole life. I was like yeah wait till we'll wait till Sunday's in the fall
11:21Yeah, I mean
11:23Dan Campbell doesn't hide things no you know he doesn't he's got no problem answering questions, and if somebody's not playing well
11:30He'll tell you he needs to show us more, and if somebody's caught their eyes. He'll say he's got our eye
11:34I mean you you pretty much know where guys stand based on the way that Dan Campbell answers questions
11:40He's not not a lot of coaches are like that like we were up in New York
11:43And I was watching table answer questions, and it was like okay. He's like Matt Patricia
11:48He just didn't want to answer anything
11:49I don't mean that in any kind of negative way other than he just hides things and doesn't want to give you any information
11:55Dan Campbell will just tell you exactly what he's thinking and there's there's something pretty cool about that for what we do
12:01And it it doesn't leave a lot of guesswork. You know what else it doesn't leave for the players
12:06You know they're gonna understand exactly where they stand. I think he's very open with them anyway
12:11But there's just there's something refreshing about the way that he answers questions, and you know what it's not like it hurts him
12:17It's not it's not like anything negative has happened because of that. There's excitement all over the field, but for me. It's the kind of
12:25Retooling of the secondary you draft a couple guys who look like they're gonna play right away with rake straw and Arnold
12:31You bring in Carlton Davis. You've got a McRobertson and and all of a sudden you've turned over almost your entire
12:38Secondary unit I've maintained it because of that
12:42That's why this defense can be even better than average probably when all is said and done
12:47That takes this team to a whole different level well
12:50I think there were 27th last year and that's saying something when I believe they were second against the run right so I mean
12:55It's like that tells you and if you go back to the end of last season
12:59Receiver after receiver after receiver was getting 150 180 200 against them, and I think they lived kind of a charmed existence
13:07It's hard to win when you give it up that kind of yardage to a player
13:10They were able to do it, but man you don't want to try to make that
13:13You know a normal way of going out there and operating, but I think it's two prong Gator one
13:18You're right
13:19They turned that thing over and and Carlton Davis is a proven cornerback in this league and assuming he's healthy
13:24I think he's fine
13:25And then you know they believe Arnold is cornerback too, and he's gonna be out there ready to go
13:29And you know you look at these guys, but I just man they got to get more of a pass rush and to me
13:35That's what you got guys back there now with ball skills
13:38So if you can get that ball out a little quicker get that ball out before the quarterback is comfortable these guys get opportunities to make
13:45Plays, but it's got to start with more than just Hutch and Aleem
13:48Getting after the quarterback and that that to me is the probably one of the things that I'm watching because I agree that
13:54Secondary is clearly better, but if the quarterback has time to go back there and Pat Pat Pat and just look
14:00It's still it's still hard to play in the secondary in this league final thing for me
14:03You traveled around you went to New York with him you went to Kansas City with him because of last year because of what people
14:09Think of this organization
14:10Do you find that you're treated differently like do people want to talk and actually as opposed to when the Lions came to town it
14:17Was like yeah, whatever are you because everything's new to us. Yeah, I think for three
14:20Yeah
14:21I think for three years Doug all I got and I know you get all the calls to do the sports talk radio shows around
14:27The country and people want to talk about Michigan football, and I would go on show after show after showing for three years
14:33Everybody brought up biting kneecaps. Well. Thank God. Nobody brings that up anymore
14:37I had to explain every time somebody brought that up that was literally 30 seconds out of a 90-minute press conference
14:43And it was like that's all anybody picked up on but yeah, there's no doubt
14:47There's a respect for this organization now that that hasn't been there. I've been covering this team for 27 years
14:52I've this will be my 20th do a play-by-play
14:54There's a respect for them now that wasn't there in the past and and now the conversation
14:59What did they do how did they do it and the answer is they hired the right people and empowered the right people
15:05But you know to me the biggest thing that's happening here
15:08And it's kind of what we've all talked about is man you look out at that that field
15:13These coaches develop players and for a long time guys didn't come here and get better
15:17it's the only way you get good in this league is to draft and develop and
15:23We're seeing that now where guys just become NFL players in front of our eyes and contributing members in front of our eyes
15:29And that's where I give them so much
15:32That's what has changed here. That's to me the difference. That's where they've gotten better and and people see that
15:38That's where Holmes gets respect. That's where Dan Campbell and his staff get respect and and that's man
15:44That's the secret sauce if you can coach your players and make them better. That's when you really start doing something
15:50I'm