Coordinator recap: Sheppard talks LSU opening, Hutchinson's workload, while Morton acknowledges failing Jameson Williams

Allen Park — Detroit Lions coordinators Kelvin Sheppard, John Morton and Dave Fipp met with the media on Thursday. Here are highlights from those sessions.

Sheppard’s inner liger focused on present, not future

Whether it’s realistic or not, Lions fans are increasingly fretting the possibility of losing Sheppard to a head coaching opportunity. And with Brian Kelly getting axed at LSU — Sheppard’s alma mater and where he got his coaching start — concerns about a hypothetical departure have swelled.

For what it’s worth, Sheppard said he hasn’t been contacted about that or any vacancy, and he’s too focused on his current role to be thinking about what his future holds. Regardless, LSU is too important to him for him to ignore the situation completely.

“I keep up with them every year, every week,” Sheppard said. “You cut me open, I’m not going to lie to you and say I’m all Lion. No, I spent five years, well, six if you include the year of coaching down there. That place molded me into the man that I am today and still becoming. You cut me open, I’m a liger — I think that’s what they call it, half Lion, half Tiger.

“That school expects championships and they should,” Sheppard said. “We hoisted the trophy when I was there. They hoisted (another) one after I left. The standard down there, just like we’ve created the standard here, through hard work, through what you put out there, is championships. …That school deserves that, that fanbase deserves that, and I know the people down there in place will make sure that happens moving forward.”

That standard would be a strike against Sheppard, strictly based on his inexperience. If LSU hired him, he’d be the youngest coach in the SEC, four years younger than Mississippi State’s Jeff Lebby, who had five years of coordinating experience before ascending to the position.

Still, Sheppard does hear some of the outside noise regarding speculation about his future. However, he feels that if he lets his mind wander about what could be, he won’t be able to have success where he is.

“It’s kind of cliché, but (it’s about) being where your feet are,” Sheppard said. “I’m very blessed and fortunate to hold the position that I do here, as a defensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions — a winning, soon-to-be championship organization. I don’t take that lightly. This position comes with a lot. And whether you’re in this position or you’re a QC (quality control coach) or you’re a janitor, if you start to look out and stretch out looking for other things, you will lose the things that you do hold onto currently.”

So Sheppard is striving to stay focused on what’s directly in front of him, this week’s matchup with the Minnesota Vikings.

“I’m tasked with another (LSU) Tiger this week in (Vikings WR) Justin Jefferson, since we’re on a Tiger conversation,” Sheppard said. “That’s a tall one. He’s one of the LSU greats. So, that’s what I’m interested in. I’m interested in seeing us come off this bye week and stop cutting ourselves short of the potential I believe who we could be as a defense and as a team.”

Morton apologizes to Jamo

It’s unclear whether the conversation happened before the bye or after Morton broke down the team’s tape during the break, but the offensive coordinator said he apologized to wide receiver Jameson Williams for his lack of targets.

“I looked at everything and I’ve failed him,” Morton said. “That’s what I told him. I have to do a better job with that. But it’s a two-way street. We definitely looked at that.”

The two-way street is Detroit’s inability to execute the plays they have dialed up for Williams that haven’t come together, for different reasons.

“There has been opportunities where it just didn’t happen,” Morton said. “It’s not like we aren’t going to try to target him.”

Morton praised Williams’ attitude despite the lack of targets and production, including his reaction to the coach pointing the finger at himself.

“This guy, he’s awesome,” Morton said. “He doesn’t say anything, he just goes and plays. Like I said, ‘I wouldn’t fault you if you were pissed at me, because I’ve coached that position. I’ve played that position.’ I know he works too hard. But we’ve got to make sure that we’re going out and doing the right thing, the right techniques and this and that.”

Hunting for fakes

Part of Detroit’s identity under head coach Dave Campbell and Fipp has been the propensity to bust out a fake punt here and there. This year, they haven’t been able to get one off, but not from a lack of effort.

“I wouldn’t say we haven’t called them, but they haven’t come up or we haven’t (been able to) run them,” Fipp said. “Usually, when you least expect it, is when it comes. We definitely work on it and we’ve spent a lot of time on it. We always have something available, but it just hasn’t come up, whether it be situation of the game or (getting) the look we wanted.”

Part of the problem, according to Fipp, is that opponents are constantly on high alert for those trick plays when facing the Lions.

“It’s definitely gotten harder,” Fipp said. “You definitely see a lot more people around the box, and some guys playing off, with eyes inside. Just a lot of different things. I would say it’s definitely gotten harder, but, theoretically, that should help us punt the ball better too.”

More rest? Not a chance

Aidan Hutchinson is built different. Not only is the edge rusher’s production elite, particularly his ability to affect the quarterback, but no defensive lineman can match his stamina.

Through seven games, Hutchinson has played more than 92% of the team’s defensive snaps. Only two other defensive linemen in the NFL, Maxx Crosby and Jonathan Greenard, are topping 85%. Additionally, Kansas City’s Chris Jones and George Karlaftis are the only other two above 80% through this stage of the season.

Some people noticed Hutchinson hitting a wall in the late stages of the team’s pre-bye win over Tampa Bay, specifically during an 18-play drive in the second half. It begs the question, do the Lions need to do a better job getting Hutchinson breathers, if only to get the most out of him through the remainder of the season and into the playoffs?

Sheppard’s response to the question: Good luck.

“I want you to come down there and try to tell Hutch to leave the field,” Sheppard said. “I want you to see how those interactions take place. No, but seriously, I mean we just gave him half the building, so he needs to play 95 percent.”

Sheppard’s quip, fully made in jest, was referencing the four-year, $180 million extension Hutchinson signed a day earlier.

“He’s a tremendous athlete, a superior athlete,” Sheppard said. “And not by God-gifted talent. I’m talking about by hard work and dedication. He’s conditioned his mind, his body to do that. Again, you try to pull Hutch off the field …It’s not disrespectful. He’s never saying, ‘Why are y’all taking me out?’ It’s, ‘I want to be out there,’ because that may be the one play that changes the outcome of the game.”

Eventually, Sheppard did acknowledge the important of load management, even if it’s only a snap here and there. Well, kind of.

“It’s a long season,” Sheppard said. “We plan on playing 20, 21 games this year — however that shakes out — so we do have to be kind of conscious of that. At the same time, I mean, if he can handle it, why take anything off of him if he’s handling it well?”

Never going to force it

Morton spent of good amount of time during training camp dialing up deep shots and evaluating the receiving corps’ ability to contribute to the vertical component of the passing game. However, that hasn’t carried over to the regular season.

Quarterback Jared Goff has been highly efficient through seven games, but he’s attempted among the fewest deep passes in the NFL among qualified passers.

Morton said it’s a symptom of the way defenses are playing the Lions.

“Yeah, if the defense stopped playing shell all the time,” Morton said about the key to throwing deep more frequently. “I mean, that’s really the biggest thing. Look at our personnel. Teams are playing us differently because of who we have out there.

“Don’t get me wrong, we have plays for shots, and it’s just not there sometimes,” Morton said. “That’s just the way it goes. First and second down, we’re taking a shot. If it’s not there, we check it down. We’re not going to force anything. …Defenses are not dumb. We always have plays where we’re trying to take shots. If it’s not there, we’re going to be smart. There’s no question.”

Morton noted that the Lions have made up for the lack of a long ball with their ability to gain yards after the catch. The team ranks third in the NFL, averaging 6.0 yards after receptions, helping fuel 23 gains of 20 or more yards in the pass game this season.

Getting up and running (if needed)

The NFL’s trade deadline is next Tuesday at 4 p.m. Sheppard was asked how much time it would take to get a new piece acclimated if general manager Brad Holmes is able to swing a deal.

The defensive coordinator said it would depend on the person and the position they play.

“Obviously some positions are more complex than others,” Sheppard said. “You try to plug-and-play a middle linebacker, that’s impossible to do in this system where we’re at in the year and where we’re at schematically. …You get a D-lineman, you could plug-and-play (them), and tell them to get off the ball and go.”

Sheppard also made a point to say he didn’t see a pressing need to make a move.

“I don’t see a need or necessity to go and reach for anything or anyone,” Sheppard said. “I think that’s very disrespectful to talk about that with the guys that we have, and I feel like the respect that they’ve garnered by the work they’ve put in through seven weeks.

“But I leave all that up to Brad,” Sheppard said. “They do a tremendous job.”

A key return

Detroit is on track to get Sione Vaki back in the fold this week after the second-year running back missed a month with a groin injury.

What the Lions have missed with Vaki sidelined is his contributions on special teams, where he’s one of the team’s top performers. Fipp compared Vaki’s impact to a team having two good receivers.

“If you’re the offensive coordinator and you just have one receiver, that’s hard, because he gets doubled, he gets all the attention, they’re putting everything on him,” Fipp said. “The more talent you have across the board, the more (attention) it takes off of everybody else also.

“So, it’s not only like, ‘Oh yeah, we get this guy back and he can make a lot of plays.’ He also takes some of the stress off of Grant Stuard or these other guys,” Fipp continued. “Now it’s like they’ve got more guys they have to worry about, you only have so many resources, you can’t double everybody.”

Another revolving door of issues

There’s been a lot of talk among Detroit’s coaches this week about the need to improve on converting third downs. A deeper dive into the numbers shows Detroit has particularly struggled to convert on third-and-long, going 0-for-20 when needing 10 or more yards.

Like Detroit’s other issues offensively, including getting the ball to Williams more frequently, it isn’t an isolated problem that’s holding the unit back.

“Listen, I looked at all the third downs. And, OK, why did it happen? It’s a collective,” Morton said. “What it boils down to is just execution. I know everybody says that, but really that’s what it is. Because there might be a guy open, and, oh, we didn’t pick it up right, or somebody got beat, or we dropped the ball. It’s all these things, it’s all collectively, or it was a bad call on my part.”

Morton said on top of watching all of Detroit’s third downs this year, he also watched all of those situations from last season, when the team ranked third in conversion rate.

“It’s the same type of concepts,” Morton said. “In my mind, that’s kind of the stuff I’ve been doing. I want to run the same type of concepts, and I’ve got to dress it up with formations here and there and find ways to get guys (open). But we have to do it collectively as a group. It’s not just one individual, it’s collectively where we’re breaking down. And sometimes we’re getting beat at critical times.”

As usual, Detroit worked on its third-down package of plays on Thursday, with Morton expressing optimism about the calls he’s got on the sheet for the Vikings matchup.

Kicking with what works

A heat map was posted on social media last week, showing how the league’s 32 teams were handling kickoff placement. Detroit, more than almost every other team, had its kicks concentrated to a specific area: Right side, just shy of the goal line.

Fipp was asked why he was committed to the seemingly singular strategy. First and foremost, he noted it’s kicker Jake Bates’ best kick. Additionally, he feels it fits Detroit’s personnel on the coverage unit.

“You’ve got to build it around the players that you have,” Fipp said. “We don’t have as much speed as some teams have. We’ve got a lot of size. And so, we’ve got guys like (Tyrus) Wheat, ( Pat) O’Connor. …You don’t really want to put those guys out in space.

“Then, in terms of the kick to the right-hand side, I’ve always felt like anytime you talk about special teams, or certainly your coverage units, you’re talking about building it around your punter or your kicker,” Fipp continued. “So, you want those guys to do what they’re best at, and then that gives the rest of the group a chance to play around them.”