Glover Quin, Former NFL Safety

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My name is Bart Winkler and for Zach Gelb, tonight. With no offense to our next guest, Glover Quinn, former Lion, former Texan, former Second Team All-Pro in 2014. Now, on the Believe Network for Believe in Lions, I had a buddy who is a Lions fan tell me that week one against the Chiefs was the biggest Lions win of his lifetime.

He's like 30 something and then last week, I mean he said it every week, the Lions, what they are doing right now, the last time I did a show a guy called in who was a Lions fan said, I don't know how to act. Glover Quinn joining us, again Believe in Lions, I would say act happy. This is a pretty fun season and I think that's a pretty good team that the Lions have.

No question. A very good team and a very fun season. I would just say, you know, I can't say act like you've been there because they've been, you know, few and far between.

I can't remember the last time there was five and one. But I would always say just be humble about it. We already know what it feels like to be on the other end. So let's just be proud of our team and support our team. But, you know, just be humble about it.

That's it. Well, I think they're in a good spot too. The thing that I was saying the other day was because the Lions, so the NFC North as a whole is bad. And so that's good for Detroit because they are good and, you know, the other teams can fight for scraps. But you still have to the Niners and the Eagles. And the Niners and the Eagles are going to get a lot of attention. So if I'm the Lions, like from a pressure standpoint, I just kind of draft off of them. They lost to the Seahawks, the Lions did, which maybe took some pressure off because if they were the lone undefeated team right now, it just seems like the division is going to be in the Lions hand. You don't have to fight with being undefeated.

You're still going to lose headlines from the Niners and the Eagles just because of how dominant they've been. So I think, Glover, they're in a really good spot where they can just kind of play football and do it without all the pressure. Right.

And I think that's what you really want. You know, we used to love, I mean, everybody wants to play national TV games. We all know that. But we definitely used to love the situations and the times where you just had a bunch of 12 o'clock or 1 o'clock games and you just kind of get to go and play. You don't have to worry about the hoopla that comes with all the other stuff. You just kind of slide under the radar and just play football. And I know the Lions aren't sliding under the radar because they are one of the top teams. But like you said, 49ers, the Eagles, they're going to get out of those headlines. People, especially in the national media, they're going to still not believe truly in the Lions until the end of it.

You know what I'm saying? So yeah, they're going to show them a little bit right now, but they're not going to get all the hoopla that those other teams are going to get. So like you said, it keeps the pressure down and they really just got to go out there and play. Has there been an area of the team where, you know, when you look at them, the Detroit Lions at the beginning of the season, where what you thought of at the beginning of the year with all the different position groups or whatever, where you're the most impressed with how far they've come through six weeks? I probably would say the secondary, just being honest with you. You know, they did sign, you know, Cam Sutton from Pittsburgh and they signed C.J. Gardner-Johnson. They signed Emmanuel Moseley from San Francisco who got hurt in his first game back. But I'm really surprised at how those guys have been able to play after losing Chauncey Gardner-Johnson. Brian Branch has been a great draft pick for those guys. I know he's missed the last two weeks, but he's playing phenomenal before that.

You know, they have debt with Tracy Walker, who was able to step in right after C.J. Gardner-Johnson went down. Kirby Joseph has still been there and Jared Jacobs has played really well for them at the other corner. I was kind of concerned about the other corner position after, you know, Cam Sutton, but Jared Jacobs has stepped up. He's played well. He has three interceptions right now. Brian Branch has been out the last two weeks and Will Harris has stepped up, how the interception last week has been making plays as well. So I've really been impressed with the secondary of this Lions defense because when the secondary can hold up, it obviously gives those pass rushers time to get there and harass the quarterback. You know, how about like, because you played in the secondary, of course, how much did the, how much do you think your freedom and your ability to defend change from the beginning of your career to the end as the rules continue to favor the passing game?

Did you feel like it was harder, much harder, a little harder, not much harder your final year than in your first year? Nah, I didn't really think it was that. I didn't really, I mean, I think... Because some of the stuff these guys get called for, it's like, you blow on a guy and you get 15 yards. Yeah, I mean, the hits are definitely different, you know, and they were emphasizing hits to defensive receivers back then and hits to the shoulder and head and neck area back then.

But now, I think, I think they're doing more just based off of what it looks like, honestly. Because there's plenty of times that guys get flags thrown on them and when you look at the replays, like, bro, that wasn't a hit where it deserved opportunity. So I don't know if they need to go to what they do in college, you know, it might slow the game down some, but, you know, in college they call a targeting call or whatever and then they go and review it just to make sure that it was a targeting call. Because, you know, when you throw a person a flag on those guys, whether it's really a flag or not, they still gonna get fined by the NFL. And if it's not a flag, a play that was warranted in the flag, you're just, you know, kind of taking money out of these guys' pockets for no reason.

So I do think that's changed a little bit, but, I mean, you know, the hands, you know, the double chucking and all that stuff, pressing, yards up to five, the hands up to five and, you know, illegal contact, all that stuff is pretty much the same. He's got to be good at how to do it, I guess, as you were, Glover Quinn, joining us here, the Believe on Lions podcast, and again, 10-year NFL Pro. How much of the Lions' success do you think is given to their coach? I mean, Dan Campbell, obviously he's somebody that, with the interim job in Miami, people liked him and is well regarded around the league. But it does seem like if you're gonna try to change a culture or bring a different attitude, Dan Campbell seems to be the perfect guy to do that, and so far that's what he's done. Yeah, I mean, I think the one thing about Dan Campbell's personality is it matches with the personality of the city, and it's easy to build the team one-on-two, easy. But to get the team to buy into that mentality, because that's the mentality of the city, hard-working, blue-collar guys, and that's what Dan Campbell has brought to the team. You know, the grit, the attitude, the effort, just loving to play the game of football.

And when you look at the Lions fans, you know, they love the game of football. Even when the Lions don't have great years, the fans are still there, and that's just the city, that's the culture out there, and Dan Campbell does a great job of mixing in and blending in with the culture, and he's done an excellent job of getting the team to buy in as well. Yeah, and I think another guy that is getting a lot of accolades and should is the guy under center in Jared Goff. You know, there's so many of these quarterbacks where they have a few good games, and we think one thing, and then they have some bad games, we think another, but I think Jared Goff has really proven that he's a great fit for this offense, and the Lions, I think, are very happy to have him. Yeah, I think he's been excellent for the offense, and you know, been excellent for the team.

You know, he fits his personality. I think he's done a great job with his leadership on the field, off the field, and I really feel like Detroit fits his personality. I think L.A. might have been a little bit, maybe too much for him, but I think he came to Detroit with that chip on his shoulder, and he's been excellent.

He's been excellent in his time there. I think he runs the offense at an incredible rate. He throws the ball well, so I think they're happy with Jared Goff, and I think they're going to look to lock him up at the end of the year. They got a big game this week, the Lions do, in Baltimore, at Baltimore. This is, you know, historically we'd probably look at this and say, okay Ravens, you know, they're at home, but Lions aren't that kind of team anymore. What are some keys they need to do against that Baltimore defense, and maybe stopping Lamar Jackson this Sunday? Well, I think, you know, obviously offensively, the one thing you can't do is turn the ball over. The Ravens have been known to have historically a good defense, very physical, opportunistic type of defense, and so they got to go out there and just kind of stick to their game plan. I think a lot of it depends on how well the offense plays, the offense, I mean the defense plays. If the defense plays well, then stop Lamar Jackson, keep those guys under wraps, and, you know, be able to stay with their run game.

I think that right there alone helps you because now you can stick to your run game, you can stick to your play action pass, you can stick to the things that you want to do. If the game get out of hand quickly, now you kind of have to go away from that and you get into more of a passing game, and that allows the Ravens defense to, you know, tee off on the quarterback and look to make plays in the secondary. So I think the defense has to do a great job of preparing Lamar early in the game and not letting him get some big plays over the top, and they've been doing a great job with that. They have struggled a little bit with scrambling quarterbacks, we struggled a little bit with Geno, who was not really a scrambling quarterback, but I think the Lions defense has gotten a lot better. They've been playing great the last few weeks, so I look for them to continue that this week, and they can do that, and the offense can stay within what they want to do. I think over the course of a game, they have began to wear their Ravens defense down. It could look a lot like the Tampa Bay game last week where you're looking at 20 to 24 points, but the Lions defense having to step up and stop the Ravens. You got the big one this week with the Eagles hosting the Dolphins, but this is, I mean, this is right there up there on the menu, the Lions going to Baltimore on Sunday afternoon. Glover, thanks for some time, good to talk with you, keep up the good work on the Believe podcast, and enjoy the rest of the year, man. All right, man, appreciate you guys.