DETROIT LIONS DAILY UPDATE

The team met today to review film from yesterday's game against Atlanta at their headquarters and training facility in Allen Park. The players will return to

The team met today to review film from yesterday's game against Atlanta at their headquarters and training facility in Allen Park. The players will return to the practice field Wednesday to begin preparing for this week's game against the 49ers at Ford Field.

• Detroit's offense is the only one in the NFL featuring three players with 40-or-more receptions (WR Roy Williams, 44; WR Mike Furrey, 41 and RB Kevin Jones, 41).
• Roy Williams is the only receiver in the NFL who has had 130 or more receiving yards in four games. In fact, no other NFL receiver has more than one game with 130 or more yards. He is one of two receivers to finish with four 100-yard receiving games along with Texans WR André Johnson.
• In the Lions 30-14 victory over the Atlanta Falcons, the Lions offense accumulated 435 total net yards, which is the highest single-game tally on the season and the second game of over 400 yards in 2006. 
• The Lions offense completed the statistical trifecta for outstanding performances in Sunday's 30-14 win over the Atlanta Falcons. QB Jon Kitna threw for a 300 yard game (321 yards), RB Kevin Jones garnered a 100-yard rushing game (110 yards) and WR Roy Williams recorded a 100-yard receiving game (138 yards). The last time the Lions had a 300-yard passer, 100-yard rusher and a 100-yard receiver was October 14, 2001 at Minnesota with QB Charlie Batch (345 yards), RB James Stewart (108 yards) and WR Germane Crowell (145 yards). The trio came close to achieving the feat twice this season, once against Green Bay and again against Buffalo. Kitna threw for 342 yards against Green Bay and Roy Williams turned in over 100 yards but Jones couldn't crack the century mark. Jones and Williams both surpassed 100 yards against the Bills but Kitna came up just short with 278 yards.
• The Lions play their second consecutive home game this week as they host the 49ers for the first time in Detroit since 1995. The previous four games before this match-up have all been in San Francisco. The Lions (2-6) are looking to build off a 30-14 victory last week over Atlanta, while the 49ers (3-5) also enter this week's game off a 9-6 victory after Minnesota, 9-6. 
• This week's game will be televised live in Metro Detroit on WJBK-TV FOX Channel 2 with Ron Pitts handling play-by-play and Bill Maas adding color commentary. The game will also be broadcast on the Lions Radio Network (WKRK 97.1 FM) with announcer Dan Miller handling play-by-play, Jim Brandstatter adding color commentary and Tony Ortiz reporting from the sideline.

LIONS HEAD COACH ROD MARINELLI WEEKLY PRESS CONFERENCE
Opening statement: "First off, I'd like to thank the fan support (it) was tremendous. It was special, it was awesome and we must continue as a team to play extremely well at home and then we'll deserve that type of support. Believe me, it was really appreciated. It was loud, it was strong and we've got to make this place something special at Ford Field when we come in and play. Obviously we have another home game here soon and we've got to go out and create the same emotion and try to get three straight at home right now. So, that was good.

"On defense I was very pleased with just a couple of things that we've tried to do and we did. In terms of execution, I thought we really leveraged the run game well. Going back on film, Warrick (Dunn) got out, 28 got outside once on us. We should have been leveraged for about a 5-yard run; but, the leverage part of the run game was good; knowing where we fit and how we fit and then the containment on No. 7 was very good and they did a heck of a job. Those six guys played and they were tired and we rotated them enough, but they did a very solid job. That was impressive to me. We kept everything in the shoot. We tried to condense the field on them and that was our plan and they went out and executed and just the fundamental part of it. Turnovers were big for us. We came up with some good turnovers. I talked about Cory Redding last night and I thought he was very disruptive. Big play by Dré (Bly) - it was big for points in terms of turnovers. Our linebacking corps was very good in terms - very active and they tackled very well as a group.

"Offensively we felt going into the game - our skill - offensive skill positions really had to perform at a high level because their offensive skill positions were very good. We knew that going into the game and I think we really did a heck of a job from our quarterback position to both of our receiver positions and the running back. They took it to a heck of a level (and) made big plays when they had to and I was very pleased with that.

"What we must do though is (limit) the penalties - still too many. Mental errors are too many. We've got to - we have a tendency to beat ourselves - so we've got to continue to work on us. It's not the opponent. Again, this week will be: we've got to zero back in on who we are and keep identifying the things we've got to improve at.

"Another very positive thing that I was pleased with and that I harp on it every week is our field position. Our average drive that started for our offense this week was the 38-yard line and theirs was the 25-yard line, it added up to about a 150 yards total in the game - which is big. Then Jason Hanson with the three field goals and those are points for us. So, all of those things kind of work together if you play sound defense and you explode offensively, but it's about the field position.

"So, we've got to clean up the penalties, the mental errors (and) play smarter football. The effort, we overcame some things because of our effort and our intensity and our hitting; but you've got to be on it all the time."

On WR Roy Williams looking ahead to the next '500 snaps' while Marinelli emphasizes playing each snap: "I love how positive he is and how good he feels about those things, that's a positive. I keep kind of re-focusing back in on practice. My thing today was: watch this film, accept the criticism of the film; how do you improve off of the film? Let it go, let it go. We've got to become a team, a franchise that's consistent and expect to win. We've got to learn to accept it, not celebrate for two weeks here - just move on, learn from it and we've got a tremendous football game coming up this week and to get our day off it should be in our mind as we leave the building and what we've got to do to improve. We've got to keep improving, it's about us improving."

On how important it was to get some of the injured starters back, specifically on the offensive line and the linebackers position: "Oh, you get good players (that are) a little rusty, you know, you've got to knock off the rust on them. That's the only way you knock off the rust - line up and play them. Good, strong, solid veterans that have done it for years and they love football. Not just 'Tuck' (Rex Tucker) and (Ross) Verba, but you're getting Alex (Lewis) back and Teddy (Lehman). Like I was saying earlier, it gives you depth that you can play with, but it also impacts your special teams. Getting Kenoy (Kennedy) was big. We've just got to keep working those guys in and it was important, that's a good part of our team."

On if WR Eddie Drummond is doing something differently as he is picking up in the return game: "Execution. The blocks are better, maybe we're blocking better, (the) timing of it - it all works together. It's usually nothing you do overly scheme was different, it's just the execution is better."

On the officials calls on the false starts on the offensive line, and the quarterback sneak that was called back for a false start: "Yeah, it was a false start. Yeah - yeah, (it was) the left guard, a little bit quick. When you start slowing things down you can see it. It was close both sides - they had a few too - moving, called either way. We've just got to eliminate those things."

On why it is that when the quarterback gets involved in something it picks the team up (referring to the illegal hit on QB Jon Kitna): "It's not always the quarterback, it's the quarterback (and) what he represents. I think Kitna - he is a battler - and our team knows that. That guy and you've seen him before even in the preseason diving head first for first downs - how he plays. He's tough and I think our team really respects how tough he is, his leadership and they have his back. They're going to fight for this guy. How tough he is and how competitive he is. I think what shows everything about him is he didn't start off real fast in this game - but his toughness - he just keeps getting better, he keeps getting better. Nothing seems to affect him, he's just going to get better and he's such a great competitor and I think that rallies your team.

"When you got your leader as maybe one of your best competitors - your quarterback - one of your best competitors on your football team, that's what you want because that's in your leadership position. He rallies those guys around him, he's our Joe Kapp. He's that type of guy. I worked for Joe Kapp, so I know what Joe Kapp was about. He's got some of that same fiber, that same intensity, he's just got a better touch - I hate to say it, Joe (laughing) - but, no, he's got that same fiber that I've seen (in) Joe Kapp and I coached with him and he's got some of that stuff. That leadership for a team is special and he brings that to the table. You're willing to fight for that. If you're willing to follow that, you're willing to fight for it."

On if he the number of snaps played by DE Cory Redding, DE Jared DeVries and LB Teddy Lehman: "A lot - yeah, they're high. They were up in the 50s - high 50s I think. I want to say Teddy was in around 14 or so, in that vicinity, but another 15 in the special teams - something like that. I'm not exact, but it's in that vicinity."

On if Lehman's number and LB Alex Lewis' number will go up next week: "I'll see as they keep practicing, the rust knocks off the speed of it - just a great rotation - man, we were really fortunate to have that."

On what was behind sitting out FB Cory Schlesinger for FB Sean McHugh: "He was tight at the end of the week, we felt that the (hamstring) - we didn't put him on the injured, we felt he was doing well, but he seemed to tighten up a little bit at the end of the week."

On how important turnovers are: "Oh, we talk about it all the time. It's so critical that you get those things. It really helped to set the tempo early in the game; getting the ball early; getting it back. We shortened the field for (the) team - that's something you've got to do. Good defenses in this league get turnovers."

On how deflating it is on the other side in scoring territory: "It can deflate you if you allow it to. It happens, that's the thing about playing one snap at a time. It happens here, now you've got to go play. We talk about it all the time; if something bad happens you let it go and you go play. Let it play, keep playing, keep playing. So, that's how you coach against that because it's going to happen, turnovers are going to happen. You're going to turn the ball over, but it's about how quickly you can respond, let it go and play. That's all you can control."

On the yards that RB Kevin Jones and Williams rack up and if he understands those numbers going into the game: "You want balance and it's what the defense is giving you too. That's where Mike is really good. I mean, to try to hammer a ball into an eight man front sometimes and you got a free hitter hit him in the side of the ear or you can have the chance to throw the ball to Roy - he'll take what that defense is going to give and that's why the balance is so good and so important if you're running the ball. You're going to create some eight-man fronts and the extra guy in the box which opens your passing game up. If you can't run the ball, you're going to get seven-man fronts and now they can play Cover 2, they can bracket (and) they can do other things with it. Balance is key - (Mike) Furrey is a heck of a receiver, you got Roy (Williams) and you've got Kevin (Jones) and (Jon) Kitna. I mean, that's a three-headed monster starting to form for us and it starts with the up-front guys on the offensive line."

On how important it is to the players to know how much Kitna believes in Offensive Coordinator Mike Martz and that he'll always put the team in the right direction: "That's a great question and that's the truth. If you believe what you're being taught, you believe in your system and it's a proven system - it all works together and you know if you execute, good things are going to happen for you and that's where the trust and the belief comes in. Mike brings that trust and belief within that system."

On who the leaders are on defense: "I think we've got some real key guys all the way across to start from Dré (Bly), I think he's a playmaker for us in the back row. I think guys that are surfacing - James Hall - it starts up front for us on defense and you've got a guy like James Hall who was really putting tremendous pressure on the passer. Guys like Shaun Rogers are going to bring those things to the forefront and now Cory Redding's got to bring it to the forefront because it starts up front, the disruption, the chaos (and) the havoc, if that's going for you. I think we got a nice veteran group of linebackers. I see it pretty well spread through that defensive core, but again it all relies on the fundamentals."

On how important it was for the defense to see that the scheme works and they can make it work: "I think we've done that inconsistently through the year. Seattle we did it, then we did it against Buffalo, then we didn't - it's about the consistency part of it and then when you just hit the consistency and do what you're supposed to do and go as fast as you can, the fundamentals will work for you."

On if he's settling on the idea of making DT Shaun Rogers his nose tackle and keeping Redding at tackle: "You know, that's how we kind of finished the Buffalo game, Shaun was playing some nose and Cory was the three (technique). We're waiting to see how those things, you know, each week everything seems to change right now. I think Shaun could play a devastating one (technique); Cory is showing us he could play three as well as Shaun Cody."

On if he could have different starters every week based on practice: "Yeah, sometimes it is, or by the last game performance. You see some guys really playing well and deserving that chance, those opportunities. So, but the one thing they're seeing as a full team is that when you start to develop depth and nobody cares who gets the credit - which is hard to do in this league - nobody cares about who gets the credit and you rotate guys in and you play and you start to win like a team and it's about winning and then it becomes pretty special."

Whether he feels like he's on a roll right now: "I think we're starting to sense the energy that I want, the fundamentals, but right now my biggest concern is the consistency. We'll come back and practice this week really fast, really hard and then take it into the next week, next Sunday, and play with the consistency we want. Then I'll say we're starting to understand this. Week-by-week we're playing at the same level. We don't have ups, we don't have downs. You can have penalties, you can have mental errors, you can have those things. But the fundamentals - if they're right all the time - the energy, the execution, the tackling; just the hustle every snap then I think we'll start to get a feel that we can be on a roll every time we go out there. If we can count on tremendous 100-percent effort and fundamentals every week it's going to keep us in every game. If you have a penalty and a mental error sometimes that overcomes it because the energy and the toughness."

Whether he has a rewards system after a victory or it is business as usual: "I let them vote for the gameballs - offense, defense and special teams. They see that they vote for the gameballs - who they think should be the game winners. Other than that it's move on to the next game."

On who got them: "I don't know, they're still watching the tape."

Whether, after a win, he shortens practice or gives the team a day off: "Same."

On why he does things that way: "I want to improve. I want us to improve. I want us to improve. Because, if I went by that, if we lost I should double their work. I don't. I do the same thing. And I just want to be in a routine of fundamentals and developing this team so they know what's expected each and every week the consistency of it. I like the routine where we just get in and we keep doing the basic things and keep understanding what we're trying to accomplish."

On how important putting pads back on last week was: "For me, very. Because I think it's all about shoulder pad level in this league. I just think it's so important. It's not something where you're punishing players and I talk about it all the time. It's not punishment. It can look like that but it's not. It's the development of skill and it's your footwork and your pad level and playing low and maybe we'll get into a run drill with them and then maybe I'll get (the pads) off after that. Or make sure I get some live one-on-one pass rush because it just doesn't feel … now, in the passing game you can still improve running routes 7-on-7 (with) no pads and some of those things, the timing. But for the down guys, the linebackers, the offensive linemen and stuff; just the blocking and tackling part of it and the one-on-one pass rush part of it. You need pads but you've got to be smart. It's late in the year but I still think we have to hit it both Wednesday and Thursday."

On how some people looking at the next three games - San Francisco, Arizona and Miami - as a "break" in the schedule and how he looks at it: "I look at it as the NFL - everybody's getting paid in this league. Each man gets paid. They're professional football players and they're good. As soon as you look at a break you're gonna get broke. I just believe you line up and you play one snap at a time. My goal is to play at our level. I don't care who we're playing. The issue is us and what we do every day. I want us to improve. Then we're going to continue to make progress. If we start looking who's this, who's that - no. What do we have to do to get better. What are we doing, okay? Our pad level, our tempo, our route progression, our blitz pickup - are we getting better. So you don't measure it against somebody else. You measure your own self."

On what happened yesterday because it's being dubbed "upset Sunday": "I just come back here, grade the film. I saw some mental errors, I saw penalties I didn't like, we lost leverage a few times, and then I'll move on and get ready for our next game."

On Vince Lombardi being harder on his team after a win than a loss and whether he is the same way: "I don't know. I just point out what's on the tape - that's all I try to do. The penalties I didn't like - we won this game, it was a great win for us. But I point out the penalties, point out the mental errors - these are the things we've got to correct. So I'm constantly on the detail part of it. Then I'm going to point out the things they did well; some things they did very well. But leverage and execution and jumping offsides, you can't do those things and be a real good team. So you just keep emphasizing it's a process. You keep emphasizing these things."

On the 2004 draft picks of WR Roy Williams and RB Kevin Jones and whether those picks have validated themselves: "You know, to this point in our season right now, no question in my mind. I think Kevin Jones is - and Roy both are just on track to have Pro Bowl years. What they're putting up number-wise … just forget about the numbers. Just watch them. That's what I like. They're both making plays at critical times. The plays that Roy made in that game, late in the game, that's what champions do. You know, you can have all the talent, but eventually it's got to be: when everybody's tired and everything's on the line it's about production; who can produce. And what he did with that long touchdown and then that third-down catch he made was special. Then we've seen Kevin time after time breaking tackles, making big plays in the running game. Those are two great picks."

Courtesy of the Lions