Kevin Byard III, Hunter Henry, Robert Spillane, and Mack Hollins | Player Media Availability 11/11

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

Robert was telling us a bit about the importance of this week. That's the case every week, but specifically going into the bye record-wise, how are you looking at those things?

Kevin Byard III (0:08)

I mean, I think our margin for error is getting smaller, obviously. You definitely want to go into this bye week, six and four, to be able to get a reset, obviously get some guys back, get some guys healthy, and be able to go on the stretch run. So this game is highly important, just like every other game, but this game is for sure definitely important.

SPEAKER_3 (0:26)

I don't think we're just lost right now, and that seems to be a trend in the league now, it's becoming more and more popular. How does that challenge your defense?

Kevin Byard III (0:33)

I think especially when you look at our defense, how much disguise and the stuff that we do, I think teams try to go quick counts, especially on third and longers, because they know that's when they get a lot more exotic fronts, exotic coverages. So instead of having the quarterback trying to read and motion man idea and all that stuff, they just hear me snap the ball and try to get guys into their routes and stuff like that. So I think as a defense, we have to be better at suggesting, understanding what we might get and just getting lined up sometimes. Sometimes we kind of want to, you know, in practice, it's kind of hard to simulate it sometimes, which we do. But I think we just got to be as far as sometimes you got to go and get lined up, get set, get these guys to go play football, get your feet set and go, you know, read and do what you need to do.

SPEAKER_4 (1:13)

Say it again.

Kevin Byard III (1:15)

We have something to prove every week, but obviously after giving up 45 points, that's not nowhere near who we are. We have to get back to who we are, and we're very eager to prove that this week.

SPEAKER_5 (1:26)

How difficult is Detroit's game play importance and how balanced they are?

Kevin Byard III (1:31)

Well, I mean, Gibbs is, I think, probably the best runner back in the league right now as far as his target share, the amount of yards that he is, you know, in terms of how much offense that he's producing by itself. So he's the number one target as far as who we have to stop for sure. And then they're trying to, you know, rattle golf as much as we can. He's a really good, I'm going to say good, he's a great quarterback. He does a great job when he's able to stand in the middle of the pocket. He can fire across the middle field deep, but obviously the weapons that he had with Jamie Saweem is a guy who can stretch the field. And obviously Amaran Saint Brown is a guy who's going to work the middle of the field, work the intermediates and things like that. And San La Porta is a really good tight end. So, I mean, it sounds like a broken record, but it's the same thing with last week. They had really good players, really good skilled players. So we have to be, we have to put, we have to be better than what we put on tape last week, for sure.

Yeah, I mean, I think, like you said, when you get 45 points, you're trying to turn every stone and try to figure out how, from the week of preparation, so I feel like how good of a preparation we had and the performance that we did, you're just trying to figure out exactly what went wrong. And I think that's what we've been doing these past couple of days, from film study, talking about different coverages. You know, I think that's the main important thing. I don't think it's necessarily like trying to talk to people in like therapy sessions or anything like that, you know what I mean? We got to get back to doing what we do and just playing really good defense.

SPEAKER_6 (2:55)

How much of a change of effect in playing man-to-man coverage on the outside? Is he for us to ask for more in kind of playing the court? Are there things that defensive do sometimes to switch more man-to-man coverage in your experience, and maybe why haven't you played more defense or something?

Kevin Byard III (3:07)

Well, I mean, I think when you look at it early in the season, we were obviously highly successful at man. We were running a lot of man, but it's a professional football league. When you go against really good teams, really good coordinators, they scout, they know what we do. So what are they going to do? Run man-beaters. They're going to do a lot of different things. It's going to make it tough. So we can't just major in just playing man, regardless of how good of the DBS we have. To play man, you can't just do it at every snap. So you have to be able to be multiple in what you do to keep an offense off balance. I think that we've been trying to do that. We just haven't been successful in these past few games. Like you said, when you're going to get some really good coaches on their end, those guys get paid. Matt LaFleur is a very good player. Carl Everett was benched out. Everybody, you know what I mean? So I just think we have to, as a team as well, we have to make sure we're counteracting and understand how teams are going to try to attack us, whether we're in man or in zone, and just be better with our execution.