DETROIT LIONS DAILY UPDATE FOR SUNDAY, AUGUST 27, 2006

TODAY'S NEWS The Lions held a brief full-squad workout today in helmets and shorts on the indoor field at the team's headquarters and practice facility in Allen

TODAY'S NEWS

• The Lions held a brief full-squad workout today in helmets and shorts on the indoor field at the team's headquarters and practice facility in Allen Park.
• The team announced today that they have released the following players: P Adam Anderson, TE Kori Dickerson, WR Brett Fischer, S Vernon Fox, WR Paris Hamilton, QB Joel Klatt, FB Will Matthews, DT Marcus Parker, K Matt Prater, CB Harrison Smith and TE Jed Weaver. The team now has 76 players on their active roster and must meet the roster limit of 75 players by 4 p.m. on Tuesday, August 29.
• LB Teddy Lehman and WR Scottie Vines remain on the PUP list and did not practice today.
• S Idrees Bashir, TE Casey FitzSimmons, DT Shaun Rogers, RT Rex Tucker, WR Roy Williams and RG Damien Woody also missed practice today.
• The Detroit Lions will finish their 2006 preseason slate at Ford Field Thursday when they play the Buffalo Bills at 7:30 p.m. This will be the fifth consecutive preseason the two teams have closed out each other's exhibition schedule since 2002. Detroit enters the game looking to end the preseason on a high note after a 21-3 loss at Oakland while Buffalo will look to rebound from a 20-17 loss to the Cleveland Browns.
• Tickets for Thursday's game vs. Buffalo are still available. Tickets can be purchased via detrotilions.com, TicketMaster.com, TicketMaster outlets and over the phone at 248.645.6666.
• Thursday's game will be televised live in Metro Detroit on WKBD-TV UPN Channel 50 with Frank Beckmann handling play-by-play, former Lions DT Kelvin Pritchett adding color commentary and local sportscaster Steve Courtney reporting from the sideline. The games can also be viewed throughout the state of Michigan and portions of northwest Ohio on: WFQX-TV FOX Ch. 33 (Cadillac/Traverse City); WJMN-TV CBS Ch. 3 (Escanaba); WXMI-TV FOX Ch. 17 (Grand Rapids); WSYM-TV FOX Ch. 47 (Lansing); WNEM-TV CBS Ch. 5 (Saginaw/Flint/Bay City) and WNWO NBC Ch. 24 (Toledo, Ohio).

LIONS HEAD COACH ROD MARINELLI
Opening Statement: "Here are some of the players that we've released today so far: Adam Anderson, Kori Dickerson, Brett Fischer, Vernon Fox, Paris Hamilton, Will Matthews, Marcus Parker, Matt Prater, Harrison Smith and Jed Weaver. I thought it was important [to release them early]. Some teams keep them a little bit longer; I don't believe in that. It gives these men a chance to go out and find work right now. I said everything about them the other day at the luncheon. That was important to me to express my feelings at that luncheon, and not so much in a team meeting, of how hard these men worked to earn a living. You've got to appreciate that. They're out there battling to find work and to earn a living and to follow a dream. They're working from March all the way till this point. I have the utmost respect for men that come out and do those types of things - it's impressive. They've all done a great job as Lions. I'd like to wish them all the very best, but that's the tough part of the job and we've got a few more still to go, but we'll clean up and get going."

On how difficult it was cutting 2005 Special Teams MVP Vernon Fox: "Brutal. The one thing I thought was good though, by making this move, it gives them an extra opportunity to go out and find work. He's just a special guy, special player. It was tough though."

On if K Matt Prater will have a future in the NFL on the right team: "Yeah, not even on the right team; any team out there. That's a heck of a football player. Those are some of those guys that it breaks your heart to see them go, especially with the work they've put in."

On some points he wants to share: "The foundation of this team, and what you've got to understand, is the toughness. That is what I'm looking for: the hardness and the toughness of this football team. A team that can go anywhere at anytime and win, and that's what you plan to do. You guys know that we play Arizona this year, right? Is that an away game? (11/19, before Thanksgiving game) Do you see any correlation? So, everything that you do as a coach, you prepare your team, and you can see that correlation. This league, in the NFL, it is a marathon; it's an endurance test; it's adversity; it's ups and downs. You play in hot weather one week, then cold weather (the next). Do you guys care? No, you expect us to go do our job. My job is to prepare men for elements. It may even rain, and we may have to play in the rain, and I know that shocks you. But we might have to do that. The footing might even be bad, and I know that shocks you. Some days we might even play in our pads, and I know that might surprise you too. Where I came from, it was very physical. We went on a journey, and I won't tell it all. In 1996, that was extremely tough on our players - a lot tougher than what we just did - that set the foundation for us, I believe, for a World Championship. The thing about World Championships is that (media) might cover a Super Bowl - you cover the event. But coaches, when you win it, you cover the struggles, the adversity, the ups and downs of the season. (The media are) covering just the final look. To get there is unbelievably tough. For an example, (in 2002) we went from a playoff game in Florida to a playoff game - we didn't know where we were going - in Philadelphia with cold conditions where we were told that we couldn't win up there. That's what everybody said. We won. Then we came back to Florida and the following Sunday we had to go to San Diego and play for a World Championship. (We) didn't blink. That is a learned skill. You have to teach men how to do that."

On why he didn't tell the media in the first place: "I think there's a lot of things, like I said, that when you work with the team, when you're talking to a team, if you're working with them and then you go out and tell the world what you're doing, I don't think that's necessarily right. That's why you talk to a team. That's why if I talk to you in private, I wouldn't turn around and talk to these men and tell them exactly what I just told you. This is a team meeting. That's at least how I work.

"Those things are critical, and the big part is who can handle it? Who can do it? You find out who can do these things, and we found out some can. That was the positive. That's the thing I tried to explain afterwards. I'm not 'Mr. Positive,' I'm 'Mr. Direct.' Some of the men played extremely well. They were on the same flight, does that make sense? 'I played well because I had an extra day.' Then you find out what men can do those things. That's what you're looking for. Those things: the ups and downs of the season, is what you work for. This league is about struggle. The way these schedules are set up, you have Monday night games, you have short weeks, you have hot games and you have cold games. It's the team that can do this (gestures with his hand): mow it down. Steady and straight, and that's the same I have to be. No ups, no downs. I have a plan and a reason for everything. I could share it with you a little bit more at times. I guess I could do that, but not if you don't understand my words and express your words in it. Then there's no meaning and there's no honor in those words."

On if he didn't worry as much about the outcome of the game Friday night: "Oh no. By far, everything you want to win is every snap. That's cut and dry. In your preseason, you have an opportunity to work in all different phases as a team. Sometimes you can put men under duress a little bit and see how they perform; because as soon as you get in a playoff game, you don't know where you're going. You don't know what you're doing."

On why he feels compelled to tell them this now: "Sometimes, as I see it, you don't get it. But then you have to understand also when I talk to a team, it's between myself and the team at that point. You don't put everything on the table for the team; you want them to experience this test to understand. And to me, you look at our schedule and you think, 'Oh my God, Arizona. Wow. I'm back in a short week to play Miami.' This team has not done well in those types of games. But you create it as a coach - that's all part of the preparation, for me. If you're going to have a team that's hardened with fundamentals -that's very tough and very physical - you've got to show up every week, no matter where you go. I've told you that before in the past, no matter where we go I expect a high level of consistency, despite how we get there or what we do."

On what he learned in Tampa in 1996: "I learned that when I first went through it in '96. That's where I learned a lot of it. I can still see the looks on (Warren) Sapp, and (Derrick) Brooks, and (John) Lynch and all those guys. That was brutal, but it was something that they learned together and you learn as a staff together. And now you learn you have to do these things. We're going to have a short week - that's all part of it - but you have to learn to prepare for that. You go out there and not have a good experience. What I would go out and look for, and what I find is about 13 men who really excelled that night that (the media) wouldn't even see. There will be some interior-line plays that you may notice - the sack - but you may not notice some of the other things that you're really looking for like the footwork, the steps, the tackle and you see all those things. Then there are seven or eight guys that really weren't challenged in the game, and didn't have an opportunity at times, but were vocal. Then there are other men that we've got to show them this is what you have to do. So there's a lot of learning."

On flying out the same day as the game: "I think it's the same thing going to Cleveland in 19 minutes. You can fly over there at night and you're there a day before the game. What's the difference? Two time zones, three hours - that's nothing. It's not a big deal for them, but what is a big deal is coming back. Coming back from Arizona, probably sometime way early in the morning, and it's chaos. I looked at it as it's a marathon, it's endurance, adversity and struggle. That's what it is, and you have to learn to prepare those men fully in those situations."

On why WR Mike Williams didn't play at Oakland: "I kind of said it after the game: so much is reflected sometimes off of practice."

On whether Mike Williams has done something wrong or has he broken any rules or anything: "No."

On whether Mike Williams hasn't practice well enough: "At times - right."

On when the decision for him not to play was made: "I think it was more of a situational feel at that time."

On whether Mike Williams not playing was determined before the game: "No."

On whether there will be more cuts made today: "Probably tomorrow."

On why WR Roy Williams didn't practice: "(Roy Williams) has a slight groin; Eddie has a little bit of a quad (injury); we think (Damien) Woody has a chance to do some practicing with us this week. (Idrees Bashir) has a broken hand; he's got a screw in his hand."

On why RT Barry Stokes came out of the game at Oakland: "That was precautionary. He went in and got some good work and we took him out of there early - just being smart."

On what all will go into the final cuts: "Sometimes it's not the best 53 that make your team; it's the 53 that help you win. It's position flexibility; guys who are bright that can play more than one spot maybe; the impact on special teams; all those things. You may see a future in some guys. You look hard and you try to look all the way through camp and you mark guys progress all the way through. You have to stay on top of those things and see who fits what we're trying to do. Hopefully part of it is the mentality too that we're looking for."

On whether draft level or salary factor into a final decision: "Well, yeah; top-level draft guys, some of those are slam dunks. The rest of it, you try to evaluate the impact they could have for this team and at the same time you're looking down the road at what these guys can do in their future."

On WR Charles Rogers: "He's just got to get healthy right now. We'll have to wait and see. It's tough; he's got a deep bone-bruise and it's been tough on him."
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On whether he would release a top-level player despite contract status: "For me, (yes) - in terms of if I don't think a guy can help us win. There's also the part of certain things financially too; there are just some that you can't, cap-wise and all those things. I've been very direct with our team; you hope you always get the very best players on your football team, that's obvious. That's been my background; that's been my experience coming from Tampa with Coach (Tony) Dungy and Coach (Jon) Gruden. To bring a bunch (of) players into camp and ask them to compete and then not pick the best guys - it's wrong. But you also have to say, which I did, some guys' situations are different and that's just the way it is. That's the way the business in this league is."

On whether there are other things that WR Charles Rogers can do to make an impression: "Other than what he's done here and all those things; all the practices and all the OTAs - you try to look at those things. It's difficult; it's part of life in the NFL. You've got to be able to show up everyday and go to work. It's tough because you have other guys in that situation too. Rex Tucker, he's been in that situation for a while. There are two or three guys that have been out of it for a while. Shaun Rogers has been out of it for a while."

Courtesy of the Lions