Bob Quinn: 'There's No Playbook for This Year'
Football players and NFL team personnel are very much creatures of habit.
After spending several seasons crafting and organizing offseason schedules -- teams and their coaches, upper management will attempt to establish a structured routine for all members of the organization to follow.
There is really no playbook for how to successfully navigate through a global pandemic.
When Lions general manager Bob Quinn recognized there was a threat of an abbreviated offseason, he decided to add players to Detroit's roster with familiarity of the defensive scheme.
Safety Duron Harmon, linebacker Jamie Collins and nose tackle Danny Shelton were all acquired with the hope that their knowledge of head coach Matt Patricia's defense would quickly translate into production on the field.
"There's no playbook for this year," Quinn said on Monday via a Zoom video conference during the annual Detroit Economic Club luncheon.
"There's no playbook that you can refer back to. Something that happened in years past or something that's happened in previous seasons since I have been here in Detroit about how you handle a situation with a player or with an injury -- all the things that we do on a day-by-day basis is different," he said. "No. 1 will be the health and safety of the players and the staff. No. 2 is we are going to go out there and compete and win as many games as possible. Those are my two goals."
Update regarding fans attending games at Ford Field
Team president Rod Wood also spoke and addressed whether he still holds out hope of Lions supporters attending games at Ford Field this season.
“Very hopeful that Weeks 8 and on for the rest of the season, we can have fans,” Wood said.
He added, "We want to continue to work with the governor’s office and her advisors to get them comfortable that we can host fans when it’s safe, which I’m very comfortable and confident that we can. And I do think at the end of the day, if we do it well -- and I think we’ll see it with those games that are going to have fans -- it could be a great example to the whole country as to how you’re supposed to behave with this virus."
For now, Detroit fans will have to just wait and see if they will be allowed at Ford Field as the season progresses.
Presently, fans are not permitted to attend the Lions' first two home games of the season -- Week 1 vs. the Bears and Week 4 vs. the Saints.
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