Aaron Glenn Defends Will Harris, Working to Overcome Black Eye" from Last Drive
The sign of a solid leader is to take blame for the mistakes of others.
For third-year safety Will Harris, the situation of the Lions' game with the Chicago Bears in Week 13 should have dictated that he play up and cover his assignment much closer than he did.
Instead, the Bears' offense was easily able to execute a third-down conversion late in the fourth quarter that all but iced the game.
Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn accepted blame for the late-game miscommunication and errors that occurred on the last defensive series of the game.
"It's up to us to teach and I get it," Glenn said. "Every player's failure is my fault. I'm just built like that. Because I have to teach that, in that situation. I would say this, Will (Harris) won't make that mistake again, right? Because I'm going to make sure that I teach, as far as that situation is concerned. Because other than that, man, I thought he did a pretty good job at playing the position that we have to make him play."
With defensive back AJ Parker missing the game against the Bears, Harris saw many more snaps in the slot, rather than at his normal safety position.
The last defensive series was a disappointment for the Lions' coaching staff for more than just the failed execution on third down.
There were multiple opportunities for Glenn's defense to get off the field earlier in the series, but Chicago quarterback Andy Dalton was able to avoid sacks and lead his team on a long drive that took up more than half of the final quarter.
© Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports
"I'll look at that last drive as -- as good as we played all through the game -- I look at that last drive as a black eye for us," Glenn explained. "Man, when we look at it together as a defensive staff, there were like three plays where we could have got off the field. Where we had the quarterback sacked. We had a chance to get the ball, right. We didn't make those plays. And that comes from just youth and experience and understanding, how do you finish?"
Glenn commented further, "It's going to take us time. I mean, not just because we're a new regime. I mean, because we have a lot of young guys. I don't know for a fact, but I think we're one of the youngest teams in this league. We have a lot of guys, they just came out of college. They played a certain way in college, right? So now, they have to understand how the league works. We have to make sure we continue to teach. As coaches, continue to teach and keep learning ourselves: How do we win these games?"
