LIONS HEAD COACH ROD MARINELLI AFTER THE THURSDAY PRACTICE!
Opening Comments: "Two things: first of all, it was an important practice for the Detroit Lions today. Like I told you the other day I just wanted to see how they responded; and how you respond with adversity is just as important as how you respond to success, they earned some success yesterday and I was pretty pleased. I mean it was good, they came out, they had a good tempo about them, they had a good pace and they had some situations - so that was good.
"Injury front, Rex Tucker will be week-to-week, it's a knee sprain type of thing so it's good there and so it will be week-to-week to get him back. Shaun Rogers is having his tonsils out right now, so he can get that while he's got one thing he can get the other thing, and that's why he wasn't here. Cannon had a little pinky, did something to his little finger so he should be back in a day or so. I think that's about it."
On getting good news about RT Rex Tucker: "Oh yeah, at first you never know, and he's such a tough man so I feel good. If we can get him back, it will be exciting."
On when he expects Sims and Bullocks to be starting: "Well, we'll see. I want them to earn it. And that's important after everything I've said, let's just let them come in and see how well they do and earn the spots because the guy in front of him might be playing better, who knows. We want to play the best Lions, or they may have a great opportunity to get into the rotation. It might be that we have a chance to rotate a guy in (for) a series to be fresh. Once these guys go in - sometimes when you have a first round pick, you just hand it to them and he never understands what it takes to earn a job."
On keeping them out in the rain: "Did it rain? I didn't notice that. Well you know, for one I just didn't think it was that big of a deal honestly. I think the time you get in there and it takes 20 minutes just to reload, so I just line them up and go. If we came out and it was a heavy rain I'd go inside, but I thought at that point it wasn't too bad and you just go to work. One thing it does do is it allows you to understand your footing a little bit; they get their feet under them with the footing. If it was sloppy then I wouldn't want to do it, but I didn't sense any sloppiness when moving around on the field. I'm going to be smart with them; that's No. 1. Player safety is No.1 with me - it's very important. But, I mean we had a little water out here."
On getting them used to the weather conditions: "That's big, big, big - very important to me. How you just create different adverse situations and ask them to respond correctly because the whole season is based on adversity - win, loss, up down, injuries, no injuries, ahead, behind. We just have to learn to go out and just do our job."
On having anyone unexpectedly emerge/jump out: "I'll tell you, I think Cory Redding had a very good camp, and Marcus Bell has really had a good camp, a very good camp. They're working hard and they kind of jumped out. I felt pretty good about the o-line coming in, but those guys have made some jumps so it's been good."
On WR Charles Rogers not being involved in the two-minute drill: "We're just working some of the other guys in. Don't read too much into it. He's in it, he's getting some work, and he'll continue to get some work."
On overall thoughts of the defense: "Especially when we have our two big guys inside, we have a chance to be a really physical and dominant front with (Shaun) Cody and Shaun (Rogers). I just like the way they're working; the effort and the speed I really like. You just have to pay attention to detail right now."
On Donnie Henderson's personality fitting the defense: "Oh yeah. He suits any defense. If you like aggressive, physical, hitting, and sprinting to the football, then you like Donnie."
On the Lions' game-winning touchdown against Tampa Bay being reversed last season by the officials who are visiting training camp: "I saw it just like they did - I mean those officials are good. Hey, they called it a touchdown. But what I'm saying is, they have a tough job and I understand this is very serious. I always talk about respecting our game and they're a big part of our game and I want our players to understand that too. We have no excuses. We just have to learn to lineup and play. It is what it is."
On whether he's talked to Matt Millen about the game: "Oh, it's just so far behind me. Believe me, that's the last thing I'm thinking of - I mean that's the last thing I'm thinking of. You can make a hard point, but after a point it's not going to change. There are certain things that you can nag and all, but I think you have to stick up for your team, it's important. I don't want that to be our focus; oh we lost because of this, oh we lost because of that. We lost because we might of not blocked, or caught, or tackled, or those things. That's the point I'm trying to make to the team as hard as I can. Respect their job - it's a hard job."
courtesy of the Detroit Lions