TRANSCRIPTS OF HONDO'S INTERVIEW AT THE LIONS OTA WITH MIKE FURREY
Hondo: Calvin Johnson, what’s your impression of him?Â
Mike: He’s going to be phenomenal. He’s got to come in like everybody else and learn what goes on in the NFL, the difference between the NFL and college, the speed of the game, and at this level the ball is going everywhere and he’s just got to pick up the offense now and get him going. But he’s well on his way and we’re working with him real well and we’re hoping to be a trio that no one can stop.Â
Hondo: How does he make you better? Martz said the day he was drafted that he makes Mike Furrey better, he makes Roy Williams better. How does he do that?Â
Mike: Well, if you look last year at the last 6 or 8 games of the season, all teams were doing was playing inside with a safety and corner outside and just kind of bracketing Roy and I, and we really didn’t have that number three to step up all year to take some pressure off of us, and the only time we really could do anything was when Roy and I were on the same side and we had two other wide outs on the other side. But now we’ve got the opportunity to spread this thing out all over the place and they’re going to have to worry about 3 or 4 other weapons now and they’re not really going to be able to key in on anything and it’s going to take another guy out of the box and open up our running game and its looks great on paper right now as long as we can keep working here in mini-camps and OTAs and polish it up in training camp and it’ll look great off paper too.Â
Hondo: The team looks tougher and it looks visibly faster. Could you talk about, in your opinion, how different is this from a year ago at this time?Â
Mike: Oh, I think that just comes with the understanding of that’s what coach Marinelli wants and that’s why he was brought in last year and he was kind of instilling us with last year, going through the season and putting us through the challenge and a lot guys were uncomfortable with the situation because they’ve never been in something like that before, in an organization where the coach expects your best every single day and that’s what it takes to be a championship team. The teams that I’ve been around in the playoffs and that’s how you practice every single day and right now these first three practices and even the first couple of OTAs we’ve had were completely different. It’s almost what it was like in the last two weeks of the season when we played Chicago and Dallas.Â
Hondo: You and I have talked about your running game and how critical it is to the receiving core, to get a T.J. Duckett, 250 pounds, he can bench press over 500 pounds and runs a 4.4, what’s your impressions of him?Â
Mike: Well, I tell you what, T.J.’s going to be a truck coming through that hole, I tell you what, Tatum Bell looks unbelievable and right now he looks like he’s in great shape, running the ball hard and like you said you give the ball to Duckett because he’s guaranteed about 3 or 4 yards before anybody can bring him down. then Aveion Cason is looking really good back there with his speed and quickness and him understanding the offense and exactly what’s going on and like coach said the other day we have stable full running backs right now and that’s what we need, our depth was what hurt us last year with our injuries and we have quite a bit right now so as long as we get it together we’ll be alright.
We apologize to the great Lions fans that can't watch this as a video which would be much better for the fans. The new recent stupid NFL rules prohibit that. So even though you can't see it anywhere else since Hondo was the only reporter to do it, here is at least the transcript. Thanks Goodell.
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