On if he has slept at all this week:
"I have. I have gotten great sleep. I get great sleep during this time of the year. You get home late, but you get great sleep."
On the opportunity being named offensive coordinator:
"I am very excited about the opportunity. I have always wanted the opportunity, but not under these circumstances. I am here to do a job and I am going to do the job."
On if he was as surprised by the coaching changes:
"I did not see anything at all like this coming."
On if he was impacted by or notice any 'internal discord':
"This is a very emotional game – coaches and players. From time to time, there are things that happen. I do not really know what all happened. I just know what the end result was, and I know that we have to deal with it at this point."
On areas of the offense that need to be immediately addressed in a significant manner:
"No, we are running the same system as we ran before. We are not changing systems. (Former offensive coordinator) Todd (Haley) and I have the same system. He brought me up in this system. Nothing is going to change from that standpoint. What I hope we are able to do and hope to accomplish is that we are able to execute better and do the things the way that we are supposed to do them, how we are supposed to do them and when we are supposed to do them. If we do all of those things and have good communication in doing that, we will be successful. When we are successful, that is what has happened. When we are not successful, that is not what has happened. It is a pretty simple game if you go from the standpoint of communicate it, know what you are doing, know when you are doing it and know how you are doing it, and then you will be successful."
On prioritization of QB Baker Mayfield's development this season:
"I think that is of the utmost importance. We want all of our players to see growth from everything from the line, to the receivers, to the backs, and of course, the quarterback. The quarterback's learning curve and the pictures in his head have to increase. I think Baker has done a very good job. People are going to make adjustments to him, and he is making adjustments, also. It is a big deal to play quarterback in the National Football League. You can't just roll somebody out there and do it. He is going to have some learning curves, too, that he has to get through. He is doing a good job of working. All we want out of Baker and out of everybody around him is to keep their head down, work continually every day and try to get a little better every day. That has been our mantra since we have been here, and it is going to continue to be out mantra. Just get a little bit better every day and then look up in three, four, five, six weeks and see where you are."
On if he will script the opening offensive plays:
"Yes, I think everybody in the National Football League does. That is just basically a format of, hey, you want to get the game started. We will continue to do that."
On RB Duke Johnson Jr. saying he enjoyed watching him call offensive plays in the final preseason game at Detroit:
"Duke probably got a kick out of it because I put him in charge of substitutions because he did not play that game (laughter). Duke likes to think that he is a coach sometimes. Those guys are good in that room. The running backs are a good group of guys. We have good guys here on this team that want to work hard and want to compete every day. We as coaches, have to continue to want to put them in the right situations and continue to build their growth, execution and understanding of what we are trying to get done."
On if he will spend most of the week thinking about how he is will call plays on Sunday:
"I will definitely put thought into it. My mind as I script during the course of the week is continually focuses on situations and things like that. I have always viewed plays as do your work during the week – it is a lot like a player – then it becomes easier on game day. You have to somehow take all of the emotion out of it and then just call the plays and know what you have worked on. Know what looks good, know what the players' comfort level is. Calling plays, they could make a play caller look great if they execute. I fully expect them to make me look great. It is not the other way around. I do not know where we get this preconceived notion that it is the other way around. The players play the game. Coaches coach. Coaches coach during the course of the week to get them better and to prepare them for what is going to show up on Sunday. Then, it is time for them to go play the game. I think everybody is excited about going to play the game. Sometimes, our execution has not been where it is supposed to be. Sometimes, the execution is eliminated and we do not even get that far because of mental errors and things like that. Everybody just needs to continue to get better every week, every play, every rep, every practice, every game and then see where we are at the end of the year."
On if the Lions game was the first time he called offensive plays:
"It was the very first time."
On if he was pleased with the Detroit preseason game:
"At that point, I was just happy that we did not have any delay of game penalties, we did not have to use any timeouts and things like that. Of course, it is the regular season now, but I tried to mentally put myself into the situation that it was a real game. That is the preparation. I will prepare during the course of the week and have been preparing during the course of the week so hopefully it makes it easier on Sundays. Everybody in the National Football League, in college football and everything else, I think that is why they prepare to call plays. I have been around some good play callers so I have a bunch of things to pull from. Todd is a great play caller. I have things to pull from, experiences and things like that, but there are no two games that are ever going to be called the same. Everybody is an individual and everybody has different philosophies and different mindsets on how they want to approach the game. I am sure that it going to be different. We will see how it goes."
On his typical contributions to the offensive gameplan as a running backs coach:
"The same as everybody. Everybody on our staff was always involved in the gameplan. We have a base core of beliefs, and if it fit into what we were trying to do and you had input and you wanted input, you certainly had input. You would throw it out there, and sometimes it would get shot down and sometimes it would not. Sometimes the coordinator's ideas would get shot down. It was kind of like a majority rule kind of thing – 'You like it? You like it? You like it? You like it? Yeah, I like it. Let's put it in.' Everybody had input. I do not think that anything has really changed from that nature."
On addressing protection issues:
"Definitely first and foremost, we need to get better technically up front. (Offensive line coach) Bob Wylie and Hut (offensive line assistant coach Mark Hutson) have done a good job of trying to increase our left tackle's (OL Desmond Harrison) upward motion, but he is a young guy now. You are talking about a quarterback that is young in the National Football League. This is a left tackle that is young in the National Football League that is going to be a very good player one day. We just need to continue to get him better and better with his technique and stuff like that and help him when we can. If they do not want you to help him, they can eliminate that. We are cognizant of that, also. Nothing beats getting better, and that is what we are trying to get done across the board. At the left guard, the left tackle, the right guard, the right tackle, the center and the running back, everybody is trying to get better. More importantly, everybody is trying to keep their head down and worry about what they have to do to get better."
On what he learned from former NFL coach Bruce Arians:
"How to make a cocktail (laughter)? I played for Bruce and kept in touch with Bruce for however many years after I finished playing for him. We always kind of wanted to coach together. Whenever it went down in Arizona and he was able to get to Arizona, it was just great being around him from a personal standpoint more than anything else."
On Arians being on the broadcast for this week's game:
"Oh is he? Well good. I think he owes me some money the last time we played golf so that is good (laughter)."
On if he wants the offense's tempo to match the Lions preseason game:
"I do not know. I think every game is different. Some of it has to do with who you are playing. Some of that to do with… I think a lot of times people forget that you have offense, defense and special teams. Everything has to come together with those three groups. Sometimes how you play the game because of the running back you have, the receivers you have, the offensive line that you have and the quarterback that you have dictate how you play that game. Now, you have it factored in again the fact that what is your defense playing against. Now, you have to factor in how is their special teams versus your special teams. There are a lot of factors that factor into that. I would certainly say in the fourth preseason game you are not factoring any of those things in so we will see how the game is played on Sunday."
On how he can impact the offense:
"The No. 1 thing I would like to bring is a win, and one more point than them. That is all. I do not care about any stat other than the win. That is just how it has always been. I am a hell of a lot happier after we win than after we lose."
On Johnson getting multiple touches on the opening series last week and not receiving many more and if Johnson will be used more this week:
"I think we are trying to get the ball to Duke 45 times this game – I am just kidding. Duke has a lot of plays specifically for him in that last game against Pittsburgh. If you noticed, he was kind of banged on those first two plays. We will see where it goes. He certainly is involved in the gameplan. He has been involved in the gameplan and sometimes situations dictates that he does not get the ball. Of course, we are always trying to get the ball in our playmakers' hands, and he is certainly one of the playmakers. I think we have a significant number of guys that can make plays, but he is definitely one of them."
On running backs coach Ryan Lindley joining the staff:
"I am very familiar with Ryan. I know what kind of person he is. I know what kind of coach he is. I know what his beliefs are. They align with mine. In the middle of the season, you can't really go to the grocery store. Ryan and I are aligned in a lot of areas, in our thoughts and the way we interact and treat players, talk to player and things like that. I know he will work his tail off. Other than that, he was available."
