Lombardi Weighs In On Whether He'll Be Carried Off The Field If Lions Beat Saints
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
ALLEN PARK (CBS DETROIT) - Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi spent seven years with the New Orleans Saints, the first two years as an offensive assistant and the next five years as quarterbacks coach to heralded Saints passer Drew Brees.
The Lions and Saints meet Sunday, and Lombardi has talked and will continue to talk with defensive coordinator Teryl Austin to provide insight on the tendencies of his old team.
Surely, any tips Lombardi can provide would be helpful. If the Lions do win against the coordinator's former team, however, do not expect the players to carry Lombardi off the field on their shoulders as the Buffalo Bills did to former Lions head coach Jim Schwartz earlier this season.
"I wouldn't allow that," Lombardi said with a smile.
Despite his familiarity with the New Orleans system, Lombardi does not believe his input will make much of a difference for the Detroit defense.
"Our pro scouting staff does an unbelievable job in their advance report, and as I was kind of looking over what they wrote about the offensive players, I was like, 'Man, that's dead-on,'" Lombardi said Thursday. "They really hit every one of those guys' strengths and weaknesses. Certainly they ask some questions ... but there's really not all that big of an advantage I can give our defense.
"I think some people think that you have secrets, and you do know some things, but when that team breaks the huddle, you don't know what play's coming, so you have to play it out," Lombardi added. "I'm not sure we're getting a whole lot of secrets given to the defense that is going to be of significant help to them ... They're so busy that it's not like we sit down and do a debrief of what to expect."
Austin expressed a similar sentiment; he does not know whether Lombardi's perspective as a former insider will truly give the Lions defense an edge.
"For a guy that's been there that long, you always ask him," defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said. "You've got to anticipate that they'll change some signals, change some things, but like we talk about, a lot of guys' DNA is the same. There's a way they want to attack you. They're not going to change the way they attack us, and so that's really more of what I've asked Joe. 'Hey, how do you think they'll come at us, after looking at us, if you had to look at us and you were there?'
"You don't spend a ton of time because he's got to get our offense ready to play," Austin added later, "so what we'll do is we'll take, if we have a few minutes here and there we'll maybe ask him certain situations, 'Hey, what do you think here? What's been the plan of attack? How have you done things before?' And it really – how much it really helps, I don't know. You don't know because he's not there anymore. We just try to get an idea."
The Detroit defense turned in a phenomenal performance last week, sacking Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater eight times on the way to a two-touchdown win. The Lions should have more of a challenge in Brees, who is regarded as an elite quarterback.
Brees, who has completed 68.8 percent of his passes this season for 1,574 yards, has only been sacked four times, less frequently than even Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning.
"What [Brees is] able to do is he understands when the play's dead," Austin said. "Don't try to make too much of it and throw the ball away. Sometimes a throwaway's a great play, and I think he understands the value of the ball, protecting the ball, and not taking sacks, so I don't know if we'll be able to do anything different than anybody else has because the bottom line is he knows it's time to get rid of the ball, and the ball's out of there."
With the Lions offense recently missing several prominent pieces between wide receiver Calvin Johnson, running back Reggie Bush and tight end Joe Fauria, the Detroit defense has carried the team. The unit ranks first in the NFL in yards per game allowed and points allowed, and the Saints offense ranks second in the league with 442.8 yards per game.