:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/18026319/20130815_pjc_aw3_094.0.jpg)
Below is a look at what Detroit Lions head coach Jim Schwartz had to say after Saturday's training camp practice. (Quotes provided by the Lions.)
On adding three defensive players: "We have been working with Justin Bannan for a while. We were finally able to get something done there. Rocky McIntosh was a guy we brought in for a workout a while ago. The opportunity came to add him. (Rashean) Mathis is a guy that we have had our eyes on for a while also. Three veteran players, you know guys that have played a lot football in the NFL. We have to get them up to speed pretty quickly, but all of them have a proven track record in the NFL."
On what message should the signings of the new players mean to the current players: "The only message sending is we're going to keep trying to add good football players. That wasn't a reaction to anyone's play or anything else. It was more the opportunity to get those guys. We're happy to have all of them. Like I said before, we have to get them up to speed pretty quickly to be able to get them on the field. All those guys have had experience. They have been through this before."
On CB Rashean Mathis playing: "He's multi-dimensional. He also played a little bit of nickel. He'll get reps at corner. We'll find what works best for us. He was in great shape. He had a really impressive workout. He had a bump a couple years ago when he got the knee injury. Unlike some guys that can bounce back with one year, it sort of still affected him last year. Now he's completely healthy. We think we can fit him in with a couple of different options. We always preach versatile guys and I think he's one of those guys. He's a smart player. He has great range. He's a heavy player and we like him."
On DT Justin Bannan's game performance: "His forte is running. Half the time in the NFL they're passing. We still need to be able to rush. He's played in a lot of different schemes. He's played in some 3-4 and some 4-3. It's a little bit like CJ Mosley. He's a veteran player and it was good to get him added to the depth here."
On why TE Tony Scheffler only got three reps last game: "It was first outing for Ryan Broyles. We didn't want to start Ryan then stop him then start him, sort of what we can do with a lot of other guys. It was one of the few times we sort of let that dictate rather than what personnel groups are. Certainly no reflection at all. Tony is in our plans. We're also going to try to get him a two-minute situation at tight end at the end of the first half. When we didn't get them stopped we had to take a knee. You get a couple more in there and all of a sudden no one is talking about that. It was just the way it went, and we didn't want to get him in to the game in the second half at that point. We didn't think we would get anything accomplished there. It was more just the way it worked out. Also us trying to get Ryan Broyles his first reps of the year in a very sensible manor and not do it like a normal play where he's in one play, out of play, in for three plays and stuff like that. I think just him coming back from the ACL that was out guiding principle in those."
On what makes DT Nick Fairley and DT Ndamukong Suh effective on rushing out on the edge: "Both of those have end athletic abilities. They are very strong guys, but they have enough speed that they can still close the distance. Something that we sort of have experimented around with in the past. Like you had mentioned, we did a little bit in this game. I think it is something that can be effective for us. A couple of our outside linemen also have inside rushing experience - like Israel Idonije and Jason Jones. So it gives us flexibility for us to mix and match. That's a position that we haven't always had in the past. We weren't able to do that because we would be a little weaker in the middle. It has chance to be a nice part of our rush package."
On further impressions after watching the film: "I was upset after the game. Probably rightfully so. We didn't play our best. It's been said a lot of time that preseason don't count, but they matter. What matters is how you play. I think there were in a bunch of situations that we didn't play well enough. Some of them might not have shown. Some might have been a three- yard run on our defense, but we were in a defense designed to be heavy against the run. I don't want to take away from a lot of the good things that happened because I think there were very bright spots in that. We need to execute better. We also derailed too many times with penalties. Particularly special teams. We negated two balls that we would have started offensive drives right around the 50-yard line with special teams' penalties. That's stuff we need to clean up. We need to play better. We still have a long way to go."
On DE Ziggy Ansah's performance over the past two preseason games: "I think, honestly, even though he didn't show up on the stat sheet the way he did in the first game, he played much better this game than he did the last. He had a couple flash plays in the first games, intercepted a ball and made a tackle for the lost. It was his first outing against the Jets and he wasn't as consistent as he needed to be. There were a lot of things that he didn't take a big jump from week one to week two, and I think he did. He didn't show up in the stat sheet, but he played a lot more consistent and was much more effective within our defense. I thought that was a bright spot."
On if Ansah has enough football experience with three seasons while at Brigham Young: "Everybody comes from a little different spot. It really doesn't matter. There are a lot of guys, I mean I probably started football when I was 7 and that didn't do me a whole lot of good. I didn't take to it the same way that Ziggy did. I don't know that there is such thing as being a natural, but he has natural aptitude. He applies things pretty quickly and figures things out pretty quickly. I think that just going back to a couple of plays he made in the previous week, even though he didn't play his best football, the plays he made were a draw and screen. Typically plays that an inexperienced player would have a little bit more difficult with. He's got a long way to go. As a football team we have a long way to go. As individuals there is still a lot more work and things that need to be accomplished. I think the bright spot about that is physically he has done well and that you have to say that the best is yet to come with a guy like Ziggy. He is not tapped out yet."
On what good plays stood out during the game: "I thought we rushed the passer very well. Lost contain one time and let him out when we had really good coverage. I thought Reggie Bush was a bright spot. Reggie was playing hard and he didn't start off real well. There was a little, I don't want to say miscommunication, grey area in some of the passing game. I thought he really came on after that. I think that there were spots; we weren't consistent enough. We need to do better with consistency particularly in our run game. There were some times that we made it very difficult for them to run the ball. Overall, it wasn't a good performance, but there are always some bright spots and I think that applies to this game."
On if an evaluation will work in favor of a player with a good return despite a penalty: "The thing that makes it difficult is what happened if that guy didn't get held or blocked in the back? Same thing with us. They returned one for a touchdown, but they were in a bad situation and probably wouldn't have gotten that thing started if they hadn't had the penalty to start with. It's hard to evaluate. You can only evaluate on what's in front of them. I thought Steve (Miller) in particular on that one made a nice return. He got a returnable ball, it was low line drive. He got north south in a hurry. You can only judge him on that. You can't judge him on the penalty. He had nothing to do with that."