DETROIT LIONS DAILY UPDATE FOR TUESDAY. Transcript of Rod Marinelli and DC Joe Barry after practice!

TODAY'S NEWS The Lions completed their sixth day of two-a-day practice sessions today at the team's practice facility with morning and afternoon workouts. The

TODAY'S NEWS

• The Lions completed their sixth day of two-a-day practice sessions today at the team's practice facility with morning and afternoon workouts. The morning session was a full-squad practice in full pads and in the afternoon, the team held a special teams practice in shells (helmets and shoulder pads).
• WR Devale Ellis, RB Kevin Jones and DT Shaun Rogers remain on the PUP list and did not practice today. 
• The Detroit Lions will hold an open practice at Ford Field on Saturday, August 4, 2007. Doors will open at 4:30 p.m. The Lions practice is free to the public - no ticket is necessary for entry. Fans can enter Ford Field at Gate A or Gate G. Practice will begin at 5 p.m. and will last until approximately 6:30 p.m. Immediately following practice, Ford Field will broadcast former Lions TE Charlie Sanders' 2007 Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on the video boards. Parking will be available in the Ford Field Parking Deck on St. Antoine St. for $6.00 until 6 p.m. or until the deck is full. Autographs will not be available at the public practice.

LIONS HEAD COACH ROD MARINELLI
Opening statement: "We had a good practice. The emphasis, again, is trying to finish that last period, really having a great up-tempo in that last period. It's something I'm emphasizing; I think they're working very hard at it. I'm trying to execute, some of those things are coming along pretty well for us. Very physical, and we've just got to keep being smart as we practice. We can practice at a great pace if we have great etiquette. We've just got to keep doing that part of it.

"Teddy (Lehman) got a shoulder today; we're just looking at it right now, so I'll find out a little bit later (with) how he's doing. (Damien) Woody got banged up a little bit, so we kept him out of the drills a little bit today."

On if G Damien Woody's injury was his shoulder: "Yes, but it wasn't as bad. I mean, he came in and did some other things for us at the end. But that's why he didn't participate all the way through."

On if QB Drew Stanton had surgery this morning: "Yes."

On if he had any further info on Stanton: "I have nothing. I haven't even talked to the doctors yet."

On how the heat comes into play: "It's just one snap at the time. It's just one snap, I don't care- we've just got to go do our job, one snap. The elements can't be an issue. Going to the west coast, it can't be an issue. I'm not going to talk about it, we've just got to go do our job and just work at it."

On how the team takes precautions against the heat: "We water them down, trainers are on it. My background, coming out of Tampa, it was hot. So you just have to drink, drink water, drink water. The trainers, everybody in this league is on it, really smart about it. It doesn't even seem that hot, maybe to them, it hasn't got hot yet. But I know it is: we're on it."

On if he has started to prepare for Oakland: "No. Right now, Oakland is really out of it. The picture is us. It's what we do. I was talking the other day: it's about what we do and how we do things. It's our tempo, it's our plays, it's our defense; we have to execute those things and we'll be a very, very good team when we execute at the end of the game; consistency. That's what you're trying to be. I'm not interested in Oakland right now. I'm interested in building the Lions. I'm interested in the competition. I'm interested to see who's going to emerge right now as some of the key guys, some depth that we're looking for. I'm interested in teaching our systems. As soon as you start focusing on an opponent, you forget about yourself. So I just want to make sure we do what we do."

On Special Teams Coordinator Stan Kwan: "The transition's been good, because he's been there so long with (former Lions special teams coach) Chuck (Priefer). Now he's got his own kind of handprint on it. Certain things, he'll do a little bit different here and there. But the base foundation, the philosophy, is the same, and the organization is the same. We brought Sam Gash in with us, a high energy guy who was a heck of a special teams' player in this league. I really like the direction we're going right now."

On the defense under Defensive Coordinator Joe Barry: "I think they really like it. (There's) a lot of energy and the guys are flying around right now. But the thing is: they really understand this system right now and we're fast, but now we're really playing fast, because they understand exactly what they've got to do. That's what you want on defense. It's not how much you do, we're not trying to confuse everybody, but we want to make sure we can disguise. But, boy, when we get our feet in the ground, play bone on bone defense and start flying to the football and tackling, and getting turnovers. You can see the energy out there. You can feel the energy. So I think they'll get better and better."

On the importance of finishing: "You've got to finish every play. We put tapes on: you see guys that will just finish plays- you never know when the fumble is coming out. You never know; some guys go downfield and strip a ball and if the guys aren't hustling, you'll get the ball. It's about just taking every play, one snap at a time, play that play as hard and as raw, finish, and then- good play, bad play, doesn't matter- put it over here and then go play the next down. That's what you're trying to teach every day. It's just how you live your life. You have a bad start to the day and some guys carry it the whole day and have a miserable day. Let it go, move on, get the rest of the day done. It's the same in football. But I just break it down to that snap, and then, when you're doing that, the scoreboard won't influence you. Like I said the other day, the scoreboard can influence how you do things: 'Oh, we're way ahead,' guys start cruising, or 'We're way behind, this thing is over.' No, just go play, after play, after play, then look up at the scoreboard and you'll probably be pretty happy."

On the energy of the coaches: "We had a couple pulls, too. One of them was in the training room last night. He's taped up, too. I just think they're excited, they see it, the energy. Good teaching and good coaching is with energy, with enthusiasm, and details and knowledge. Energy without knowledge is no good. But you get them both together, and the excitement, I think on defense, you can sometimes be limited a little bit on defense in certain areas, but if you play together with high energy, and really disciplined, and willing to tackle, believe in concepts of the defense, and everybody is trying to finish a play together and play team, you can do some good things on defense. Now, you keep adding more talent to it, the better it gets. But right now, I want the concepts done, and they're doing a good job of that."

On the effort to reconnect with the fans during camp: "One thing, I think, as we talked as a team, one, is the purpose of playing this way. Once we all understand that it is a privilege to be in this league. These people, they come here and make this league special. They're the ones who make it special. For us to have jobs, you, me, it's them. I think the respect - these people come out a long ways drive here, sit out in the hot sun and have the time of their lives. It's just part of respecting the people in this community and thanking them, being very grateful that they show up and watch what we do."

On being on Bill Walsh's coaching tree: "Well, Coach (Tony) Dungy is the one who played for him at one time, but I've gotten to know Coach Walsh over the years - he came to Tampa, through coach (Jon) Gruden. Obviously, he's a legendary coach. Just, people always talk about the genius that he was, but, boy, he could coach fundamentals, and all positions. Very demanding; he was a great coach."

On LB Ernie Sims flying around in practice: "You're watching practice very well (laughter). He is flying - but that's a stamp he had. That's what brought me to this guy. We've been watching him since he's been a freshman and sophomore at Florida State, so we always knew what he was. It fits this package to a tee. He knows things right now; he's just on it right now. He's just a heck-of-a player, a heck-of-a person and a heck-of-a leader. We couldn't be more happy with him."

On whether there is ever a time in training camp when you have to tell guys to slow down a little bit: "It's the etiquette - we talk about that every night. I'm like a parakeet up there talking about: we've got to go fast but we have to take care of each other. We had an incident out there today and you can't do that, you've got to be smart. You cannot get out of control; you can not lose your temper; you've got to have poise. That's why I want to practice as this pace and understand what poise is. You have to have poise in a game. You can't just do your own thing; you can't be a vigilante and say: 'I'm going to do what I want to do.' You can't do it."

On whether it's tough to practice at this pace and stay poised: "Yeah, that's what we did in Tampa. We were able to play that way - you can't play that fast on gameday if you don't practice that fast. You have to have intelligence and make intelligent decisions under full speed; duress and speed, that's what this game is about and the coaches who can coach it and the players that listen go play and will play well with that."

On what he's looking for with RB T.J. Duckett lining up at fullback: "One, we also have to make sure we have enough guys that can run drills and stuff like that. When we lost (Eric) Beverly, we had another guy in the backfield that we had to move to the line of scrimmage. You've got to make sure you have enough bodies to get (to all of your) packages or in a big physical period, you just can't keep the same two guys back there pounding. We just added some bodies and then you're looking for position flexibility and try to help guys to try and make this team; learn one to two or three spots if you can."

On Martz's comments that this team is so different from a year ago: "I have a list; every night (at team meetings) I go through a list of fines - that's the best way I can explain it to you: fines. It was a lot last year; I'm not going to tell you how many or how much, but we haven't had a fine yet in this camp. There's not been one guy late for anything. Everybody has been on time; in the training (room) on time; strength. All those little things I'm talking about, if you don't do those things, it will matter. Every little thing matters. They're just on top of it; they're on the details and in the details, we'll hopefully carry out (onto the field). Because everything is important on how you do things."

On rookie G Manuel Ramirez: "He's just a young guy that's learning; there's stuff coming at him. He's physical, we know that. He's a pretty doggone good pass-blocker - he's just got to learn. It's a learning process. He's got the skill and toughness; now we've got to develop him."

On why he thinks there are no fines so far this year: "When you change the view; the things you're looking for - you have to explain why (these things) are important. This is important to be on time; it's important to be where you're supposed to be and you explain what you want. Then you find guys who say: 'okay, we've got that.' Then the leadership, the pressure, nobody wants to be the first guy (to be fined) right now. It's impressive right now. I put it up every night; this guy is doing things right. Then hopefully, the more things you do right, the little things there, it carries over to how we perform."

On some players being gone and some who stayed have changed: "Yeah, and just trying to get things on the right way. That's part of us as teachers, we've got to stay on top of it and show them."

On whether G Damien Woody, who missed practice, has a serious injury: "No, no - he came back in and got some pass-pulling and then went some one-on-ones."

On whether he has an update on QB Drew Stanton: "I haven't. I'll have something probably this afternoon for you."

On how he feels about RB Tatum Bell: "He's fast; he's really fast. We put some zone schemes in, which he's run before. He's explosive; boy, if he gets past that front seven it's scary. He's really got some juice and he's working - he is working."

On how DT Shaun Rogers is coming along in his recovery: "He's really working hard; I'm excited. My goal right now is to get him recovered and I want to get him in condition; condition, condition, condition. I'm going to do that and do that. All the sudden if you put him in football, then it's too much right now and you back off on him a little bit because you wouldn't want to get him hurt. So right now, he's drilling, doing drills and running and conditioning. I'm going to stay on him and I'm going to get him in. He's going to get in good shape."

On when he expects Rogers back in practice: "I'm just going to try and play it day-by-day; I'll watch him very closely. I just want to make sure his body is recovering; he's feeling strong and that the balance is there. I think sometimes when you're a big man and you're not in great condition, you have a tendency to tip and that's when guys fall on the ground and hurt a shoulder and things like that. He's doing a great job, he really is. We'll just keep him working right now."

On whether Rogers is 'one of his guys:' "Yes he is; he's important. He's a heck-of-a player. I want to get him in shape and get this guy for 16 games and get him on the field for the Detroit Lions - we owe that to the fans now. We've got to get this guy playing good ball; he's going to play good ball."

On if the team is thinking about Cincinnati and what the mindset of the team is right now in practice: "Finishing that practice (laughter). Survival of that practice, one snap at a time, let's get this one done. I don't want to think about anything else other than getting better."

LIONS DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR JOE BARRY
On where the Lions defense currently stands: "I like where we're at. I don't know how long we've been in camp, but it feels like about 3 months. But where we're at, I think today was our eighth or ninth practice, but I like where we're at. We still have a million miles to travel, but where we're at right now in this particular time we're good. Guys are coming around, they're flying; they've really bought into everything that we've talked about back since March 19th when we started this thing. Where we're at right now, I'm really happy."

On CB Keith Smith: "Right now at this point, we really haven't ranked anybody. We have nine corners that are in camp and as a corner, you're judged on making plays. You obviously have to do your job, you have to play man coverage, you have to play zone coverage but a corner is out on an island and he has to make plays. No. 23 (Smith) every single day is making plays. I'm really happy with where Keith Smith is at."

On giving Smith a shoulder bump after making a play in practice: "If anyone made a play, Nick (Cotsonika) if you came out and made a play I'd come over and give you a shoulder bump. Anybody that makes a play, that's just the way I coach. If you do something bad I'm going to let you know, but if you do something good I'm going to let you know no matter who you are. But to answer your original question, Keith Smith is doing a good job."

On simplifying the defense for Smith: "Yeah, again I'm not really sure what has happened here in the past, but I think he had played some multiple positions in the back end. Right now he's playing right corner. He might get a few reps at left corner, but we try to keep his plate pretty thin and not really overload him with a bunch of stuff. Just let him fall into one spot and it's proven to do pretty well, because he is making plays."

On LB Ernie Sims: "I've never really hid my feelings about Ernie Sims, even when I was where I used to be. When he was coming out of college I thought he was one of the best linebackers that I've ever evaluated since I've been in the NFL. I think he's got a chance to be not a really good player, but a great player. Again, he's only a second year guy; 12 short months ago he was a rookie. He's improving everyday. I think the thing that's going to make Ernie great is not only his God given ability, but his work ethic. He works as hard as anybody I've ever been around, so he's got a chance to be a star."

On the goals he has set for his defense: "I don't make a bunch of statements and have a bunch of goals. We're going to play hard, play fast and we need to finish. So that's something that we talk about everyday. It doesn't matter what position you play; those three things are what we're preaching to our defense."

On LB Teddy Lehman leaving practice with an injury: "I don't know, I haven't talked to the trainers. I didn't see it, but I guess I heard he walked off the field. He walked off, so that's a good sign. We usually get an injury report when we go back in."

On whether the hype surrounding the offense motivates the defense: "I hope so, but if you need something like that to motivate you we have a problem. We do what we do, we take care of our side of the ball and the offense is going to take care of their side of the ball. The offense and defense all have to participate on special teams. We don't get hung up on that, we do have a great offense. We have a great offensive coordinator, great offensive coaching staff, so I'm happy."

On DE Kalimba Edwards: "Kalimba looks (good). I've never coached Kalimba Edwards before, I've never been around him but I think he's special. He's fortunate in the sense that he doesn't have one great defensive line coach, he has two in Joe Cullen and Rod Marinelli. I've seen first hand what Rod is able to do with defensive linemen, so I'm excited about Kalimba."

On why they haven't shown heavy interest in DE Simeon Rice: "I think it's a lot of things. I think it's where we're at number wise with our whole team; it's a number of things that fall in. But yeah, Kalimba Edwards is our starting right end right now and he's doing a great job."

On the importance of his defense creating turnovers: "I think turnovers for any defense in the National Football League (are important). You look at the stats at the end of the game and usually the team that wins the turnover battle wins the game. That's something that I told you we emphasize; play hard, play fast and finish. Another thing we emphasize is to get the ball back. Whether it be causing fumbles, getting interceptions, whatever. We need to up our turnover number from last year and that's going to pay dividends for us. If we can get the ball back for our offense, then we are doing a good job."

On LB Boss Bailey overcoming his previous injuries: "Yeah, and again kind of like Keith Smith; I'm a firm believer, if you can let a player play one position and just fall in love with that position and learn the nuances of that position and know exactly every detail that goes into that position, he's going to be a good football player. I know Boss has been duel trained here before; he's played multiple linebacker positions - we're not doing that. He's playing SAM linebacker and when a player knows what to do he can play really fast."

On where he expects to play CB Travis Fisher: "All of our guys that play nickel corner play other positions when we're not in nickel. We might have some guys that play safety that might also play nickel corner. Travis is playing left corner with Fernando over there and then when we go nickel he's our starting nickel. So he's playing left corner in our base package and he's also playing nickel corner. For example, in our preseason games you'll see Travis playing outside on a number one receiver, not always in the nickel corner position; he's going to play two spots."

On evaluating whether guys can play faster when they know what they're doing: "I think that's No. 1 - you have to look and see. If you know a guy is running 4.3 (40 yards) and he's not playing up to a 4.3, it's because he's thinking and reading stuff. I think it goes the same on the offensive side of the ball. When you can really play fast, you react. The ball is snapped and whatever your cues, whatever the offense does you react to it. You're not sitting there looking at it, reading it, diagnosing it; you're reacting to it. That's the No. 1 way that we read to see if a guy can do it. If a guy is 4.3 and he looks like he's 4.8 out there, it's because he doesn't know what he's doing and can't pick it up, so that's what you need to look at. If you know a guy is fast and he's not playing fast it's because he is reading and not reacting. I think generally if a guy is flying to the ball and he's always in the right spot, it's because he's wired into his assignment and he knows exactly what he's supposed to do. He can use that speed and that size and that God-given athleticism. That's ultimately what we're trying to get. We don't want to bog down players with a bunch of rules and a bunch of stuff that limits them from playing fast. That's the name of the game; if you can get eleven guys to the ball at a million miles an hour then you've got something great."

On protecting the corners when the system is executed correctly: "I think any system when you're more zone coverage than you are man coverage, especially cover two zone, because the corners are just out there re-routing and playing the flat area - opposed to in man, when the corner has his man wherever he goes all over the field. You can get exposed in that, but its a little bit more corner friendly when you play zone. Especially cover two zone, because you're asking him to play an area rather than a man all over the field. That's what we are, we're a zone coverage team and we also play man. We do play cover two, so it is a corner friendly defense in that aspect."

On the point during preseason that they play their starters to prepare for the regular season: "Usually the third preseason game is the one where the starters play the most. That's the one where during the week and preparation for the game you kind of treat it like a normal game week. To answer you're question, probably the third preseason game we'd like to have an idea."

On getting his starters prepared in the third preseason game against the Colts: "Peyton Manning? Who's he play for? Oh, the Colts. There are a lot of good quarterbacks in this league, but Peyton's very good so we'll be excited for Peyton. We got Carson Palmer in the first game, so it doesn't get any easier."

On whether or not anyone else in his defense has stuck out during camp: "No, I think the guys that really bought into what we're doing (have). That's all you can ask for as a coordinator. They're eager, they want to get better, they want to be the best. When you have that type of attitude you have a chance. We have great veteran leadership. Having DT Cory Redding in camp and back around this team is great. I think CB Fernando Bryant and S Kenoy Kennedy are providing great leadership; they want to win. They're standing up and saying: 'hey, if you don't know how to practice or how to work watch me and follow me.' That's what we need."

On whether DT Cory Redding was a little rusty: "You know a little bit I'm sure. The last time that he'd even put a helmet on was at the Dallas game (last year). So yeah, there was maybe a little bit of rust, but he's good now."

On when they will need DT Shaun Rogers: "We need Shaun when Shaun is ready. Right now, that's why he is on PUP, because he's physically unable to do it. One thing he is doing, I'll tell you I've been impressed, he's working his tail off. For a guy that I heard had a little bit of a work ethic problem, I've not seen that at all. He's done everything we asked of him in the off season as far as working out and being involved with us. He's doing everything now; I know he's not practicing but you look over and he's working his tail off. He's in every meeting, he's wired in, he's taking notes and his attitude is great. Obviously I plan on him being ready by opening day of course, but you know if he gets ready before then we're going to take him off (PUP) and practice him. But that's not my job, that's the trainers and the strength coach to do that."

On whether Rogers needs to lose weight: "Oh of course, but also people need to understand that Shaun Rogers is a big man. He's a huge man. He's never going to be 305 pounds, but of course he needs to lose some weight. That's why he's busting his ass and he's working. I don't know what the exact numbers are, but he was 20 pounds lighter when we reported on the 25th (of July) than he was when we left back in June. In my mind that's great, and he's shaving it off right now because he's working. It's hard to work out and stay in shape when you have a knee and shoulder injury. You guys be the judge, just watch what he does when he's over there working in the afternoon and in the morning. He's got a lot better to get, but where he's at I'm excited.