Lions DC Sheppard on breaking through walls, keeping dams from breaking and skipping another round of lip service

Allen Park — Once the regular season begins, NFL coordinators are required to meet with the media once per week. Sometimes, everyone would be better off if we could skip the appointment.

There was nothing Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard could say when he stepped up to the podium Thursday morning that was going to sooth the fan base’s frustrations with his sputtering unit.

To be fair, Sheppard understood that.

“I (always) get up here and I recap the game before, and I'm going to do the same, but what I'm not going to do is get up here and read off the stat sheet, the stat column, tell you about how we've got to bridge communication, how we've got to do this and that, because at this point, all of it is lip service,” Sheppard said. “Until it starts to show on Sunday, until the evidence starts to show up at the game, it's lip service. What we do here, bridging it to the game, it sounds good, but it's lip service.”

However, since he was up there and reporters were in the room, we made use of the shared time. For 17 minutes, Sheppard fielded questions and fired off responses, often with the trademark edge and intensity he’s shown during interviews since he was a player.

Within his opening statement, Sheppard offered an optimistic visual of the situation, that he and the players were standing before a wall that is holding them back from reaching their potential, and they’re continuing to bang away at the roadblock.

“There's going to be a group of men that bust this MF'r down,'“ Sheppard proclaimed. “Some guys are probably going to be with us and some aren't. But the guys that are, that see the other side of this thing, I think we all are going to be proud.”

Of course, that too, is lip service. So far, we haven’t seen much to indicate they’re close to a breakthrough.

Sheppard pushed back on the idea that the coaching staff overestimated the roster’s capabilities when implementing schematic changes this offseason.

A significant component of coaching is putting guys in positions to do what they do best, but if they’re being put in those positions, they’re definitely drifting out of them between snap and whistle.

Earlier in the week, Dan Campbell said there are things the Lions can do defensively that they haven’t tried yet. Sheppard seemed more interested in doubling down on fixing what they’ve been trying to do up to this point.

“I’m standing firm in my beliefs,” Sheppard said. “I know my beliefs and so does this unit. That’s also what you can’t do. All due respect, that’s what you can’t do. That’s the comfort zone in adversity right there, is to start questioning, doubting. ‘Oh, it’s got to be this if it’s not working.’ Well, let’s try something else. Well, that didn’t work. And then next week let’s try something else. That doesn’t work. Let’s try something else. And now you’re just lost.

“No, we have a certain way we say we’re going to play,” Sheppard continued. “Now, do you tweak things here and there? All right, you’re seeing different concepts. They’re attacking you differently. Yeah, that’s football. But to just outright bring in a new playbook every week because the last one didn’t go right, that to me leads to ultimate dysfunction and the dam completely breaking.”

The analogies are getting mixed here. Just so we’re clear, the Lions want to break down the wall, but keep the dam intact. It’s OK, I think we get the picture.

Frankly, the dam probably needs to be resurrected. Opponents have drowned the nearby village with a flood of yards and points through four weeks.

At least there might be a foundation in place, the same one Campbell highlighted earlier this week; the team’s defensive line. Sheppard said he believes it’s the best front he’s had since joining Detroit’s coaching staff.

“I told the d-line, ‘It’s a disservice what we’ve been doing to you all.’ I truly feel like this is the best d-line we’ve had in my six-year tenure here, since I got here in 2021, and we haven’t been complementing it well enough on the back end to see the benefits of it,” Sheppard said.

Sheppard praised the pressure the front manufactured against Carolina.

“They assaulted the pocket all night,” Sheppard said. “They generated pressure all night on the quarterback. But, as you saw, the quarterback was able to get the ball out with the quick release and get it completed far too many times. So, there are things we've corrected, there are things we've talked about going into another tall task this week against Arizona and (Cardinals coach Mike) LaFleur.”

More lip service, but definitely the task at hand. Sheppard has to find a way to fix the coverage. And while he probably wouldn’t be comfortable framing it this way, a lot of that hope is being pinned on the pending return of safety Brian Branch.

“I don't even know the word for it,” Sheppard said when he was asked how good it was to see Branch back on the practice field. “I don't. I mean, how many positions can he play and how fast? He's a dynamic player. That is an elite player in this league, which we all know, guys. I'm not telling you anything you don't know. That is an elite player in this league.”

Is “job-saving” a word?

Sheppard said Branch looked like he hadn’t missed a day, let alone 10 months, in his first practice on Wednesday. If the coordinator was in charge of the decision, Branch would probably suit up Sunday against the Cardinals and play every snap. But Sheppard is also practical, knowing that the decision will, and should be, made by the medical staff.

In the meantime, Sheppard will continue to hammer home the primary message around the building this week: “Do your job.” The Lions continue to believe everyone doing what they’re supposed to do, every play, will cure many of their ills.

And what ills it doesn’t cure can be overcome with playing style.

“You’re going to hear me say the word violent (a lot),” Sheppard said. “Violence overcomes a lot of things. Violence overcomes deficiencies. Violence overcomes mistakes. Doing things urgently and violently.”

At this point, the one description that might make everyone most happy is adequate.