Notes: Jack Fox on becoming a great punter and (not) taking flops

On their 100th show, the “3 & Out” podcast hosted by 538’s Ty Schalter, NBC Sports’ Samantha Bunten, and Pickwatch’s Michael Schottey had Lions field position optimization specialist Jack Fox on the show. While the Tweets all link to Apple podcasts, the entire episode is actually available online to listen to from within a web player at iHeart’s Spreaker site. The Jack Fox segment starts at around 24:30 in the full show recording.

The level of engagement in the podcast from these folks who cover the broader NFL is better than what you would expect from national media because Schalter legitimately comes from a Lions coverage background. So, unlike the national guys who don’t really know much about the Lions, this crew came to the interview with solid background.

Schottey led the interview with questions about what it takes to be a great punter and what kids should keep in mind when starting out, but then the discussion turned to the culture change around Detroit and leadership from the new coaching and front office staffs. That’s where the embedded quote from the tweet above comes from, where Fox emphasizes the importance of the coach being genuine. This is something that appears to resonate with the fans as well, so it’s interesting to hear about it (again) straight from the players.

A play Schalter brought up was the fourth quarter penalty that Fox drew against punt block artist Miles Killebrew to extend a drive in last week’s tie against the Steelers. Fox kind of laughs off the suggestion that he might have played it up after he felt the contact, saying “I’m not really trying to fall down. I’m not really trying to milk it - any of that stuff. Like, I think that when you punt the ball and you’re like in mid-air like that, you’re super vulnerable. . . I appreciate everyone telling me I should get an Oscar award, but I didn’t really try too hard to fall down.”

The twist on it? According to Fox, they didn’t say anything about it afterwards, but before the game Killebrew told Fox he was going to block a punt that day. The former teammates still have a great relationship and Fox joked to Schottey that “he didn’t block it, he got a penalty, and I don’t know I hope he gets fined or something.” The entire run of the Jack Fox segment runs from about 24:30 to the 31:00 mark if you want to check it out.

Now, on to the rest of today’s Notes:

• Well, this table seems less than ideal. Further down in the replies, Tej Seth also explains why he uses those three numeric scores, which provides nice documentation for the table:

• Dave Birkett at the Detroit Free Press had five questions for Lions wide receiver KhaDarel Hodge, who turns out to be related to Steve McNair!

• Speaking of questions for players, Fox 2’s Dan Miller had a quick exclusive interview with safety-turned-running-back Godwin Igwebuike.

• Then speaking of Godwin Igwebuike, here is your weekly Jamaal Williams nugget of joy:

• Everyone knows the Lions have a lot of important players on the shelf due to injury, but looking a bit ahead to Thanksgiving so do the Bears. We found out this week that the Lions’ turkey day opponent will be without all-universe pass rusher Khalil Mack and remain very beat up as a team. Since it will be a short week heading into next week’s Thursday game, this will be something to watch.

• ESPN’s Eric Woodyard has a fantastic profile piece on the Lions’ manager of player and alumni relations Maurice “Moe” Pearson.

• Good stuff going on here:

• Dannie Rogers from the official team site was joined by Mike O’Hara and Will Harris for this week’s One Pridecast. You can watch it on the team’s YouTube channel.

• Uniform update: