LIONS DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR AARON GLENN QUOTE SHEET

January 15, 2025

Opening Statement: “Listen, since OTAs, going into training camp, this is what coaches and the players were fighting for, and we expected to be in this situation. We were going to fight to have home field, we wanted to have a chance to be in front of our fans, we know exactly what our fans do for us, the best fans in the NFL, so we’re excited to be able to play at home with them. During the bye week we did a lot of self-scout to see exactly what we can improve on, which was good to look at, to be able to step back from afar and say, ‘These are some things the we need to work on, these are some things that we’re doing really well at.’ And we’re excited about some of the things that we’re going to have going into this game. Quality opponent, obviously the quarterback, man, he has taken this League by storm by some of the things he can do, the way he operates, his calm demeanor, his accuracy, his ability to exactly know where the matchup’s at and get the ball to that player. And then, they have a receiver who I think is one of the top receivers in this League, he is highly, highly competitive – played against this player before, so we have to do a good job on him. We have to do a good job in general because this offense gives you a lot of eye candy to make sure you’re not on your Ps and Qs, and then they just run simple concepts, which, offensively, you like because it’s really easy for your players. So, looking forward to the challenge, it will be a good game, and our guys will be ready to play.”

On if he lost his voice from all of his Zoom calls last weekend: “No, they had nothing to do with it. It’s just – I guess just what happens at this time of year when it gets cold outside. Detroit did that.”

On how much better prepared he felt for this round of head coaching interviews and if he gets questions in those interviews that change the way he looks at coaching or leadership: “I think you learn a number of things from each year that you go through them and you try to improve on those each year, but I think the one thing that I get out of all these interview is, man, I’m going to be myself, either you’ll like it or you don’t, if you don’t, all good. I keep telling you guys, I have a great job here, and if you like it, if it’s an opportunity I think that’s best for me and my family, then we’ll take a look at it. But I had a really good time over the bye week looking at those, but now, man, we’re all locked in, ready to go and play this game against Washington.”

On how much time he allows himself to put a staff together for a head coaching job or anything else that may come with that: “I think those are things you always look at during the offseason, guys that you think that mesh well with you, that are compatible with how you think and how you want to operate. I think during the season you really don’t even mess with it at all because you’re so locked in to what you’re doing, and then once the interviews start, you start to come back to some of those things, some of those people that you talked to. You start to think about, ‘Is this a guy that I feel like I can win a Super Bowl with?’ And I always look at it that way.”

On if he turned down a head coaching interview with the New England Patriots and if he still harbors feelings against them from when he played for the New York Jets: “I’ve never felt anything against that organization, it just wasn’t the best situation for me.”

On how this season prepared him better to be a head coach: “Man, that’s a good question. Well, you know what, I’m going to go back to ’21 and going into this year because we started, as we all know, 3-13-1 and then the following year we go 1-6, but the thing that I could remember that sticks to me is, our head coach, our coordinators, our coaches, we never wavered from the things that we believed in, and I think that’s a strong statement when you stand in front of a group of men and say, ‘This is how you have to win, and we believe that you’ll win this way.’ And those guys believed it too. And then, once our owner had an interview and she backed everybody, all the coaches, that we have a formula to win and it's this close, and from then on I think we went 8-2, and to now – so here’s what it taught me, we know, as a staff, how to build a winner, and now we know, as a staff, how to sustain winning, so we want to continue to do that as long as we’re all here. So, to answer your question, building it from the beginning, and sustaining it from here on out.”

On why it seems that offensive coaches tend to go on to be Super Bowl winning coaches as opposed to defensive coaches: “Well, I don’t know if that’s truly accurate. I can just go off the top of my head with (former Steelers Head Coach) Bill Cowher, (Steelers Head Coach) Mike Tomlin, (former Patriots Head Coach) Bill Belichick, that have won a ton of Super Bowls as a defensive coach, and here’s the one thing that I will say about myself, I’m a coach, I just happen to be on defense. I understand the offense just as well as a number of people, so if you want to hire me, you’re going to hire a coach, you’re not going to hire a defensive coach. I’m going to talk to the offense just as much as I’m going to talk to the defense.”

On if they ever try to force mobile quarterbacks to a certain direction and play to their weaknesses in their games: “Absolutely, especially when you look at his rush pattern and the way he tries to escape from the pocket. If there’s a guy that really wants to escape to his right or to his left, you try not to let him escape that way for the most part, but as you see, this League is trending toward all these quarterbacks that are just so athletic that it’s hard for your defensive linemen to try to contain these guys, so you have to do a lot as far as being disciplined in your rush, obviously sending more people at him so you can make sure you close up as many lanes as you can, and man, we try our best to do that. Against (Cardinals QB) Kyler (Murray) I think we did a really good job, obviously Buffalo we didn’t do as good of a job, we expect to do a really good job this week against (Commanders QB) Jayden (Daniels).”

On how the team’s aggressiveness on fourth down affects him in the moment and his game planning in a game: “Listen, this is what I teach our guys from OTAs and training camp, that any time we have a sudden change – say, if we don’t make a fourth down, say, if our offense throws an interception, they have a fumble or whatnot, man, it’s more TV time for us, alright, so we look forward to going on the field. So, every time you see something like that happens, our guys immediately run on the field because that’s the mindset. So, listen, we’re behind our head coach 100 percent, I actually believe in that – actually believe in it. So, I’m not surprised, I know everybody else is surprised, but I’m not surprised, the players are not surprised, the coaches are not surprised, we’re just ready to play. Whatever happens, we’re behind him.”

On how playing against a team like Washington that uses all four downs on offense affects how they play on defense: “Yes, so now you look at what they’re going to do on third down, alright? They might tend – it really opens up their offense because they might tend to run the ball more on third-and-5, third-and-6, because they know they’re going for it on fourth down, so we have to be in-tune to that, and that comes from film study. So, we’ve done a good job of understanding who this head coach is, how they try to operate, to try to make sure we’re prepared for all those things.”

On how impressed he is with Commanders QB Jayden Daniels’ mental game and if there are things that he does that you do not often see from rookie quarterbacks: “Absolutely, his demeanor and how calm he is, I mean, it pops out all over the TV copy when you watch the TV copy, and another thing that pops out is, he’s having fun playing this game, which we all should, but you can tell that he’s having fun, and there’s no better way to play this game than when you’re in a situation where you’re having fun. I mean, obviously winning has a lot to do with that, but his ability to go make plays, even when he doesn’t make plays, he’s having fun playing the game, and I think that’s one of the reasons why he’s so successful. He’s not taking this for more than what it is, he understands what his skillset is, and he’s utilizing everybody on that offense to make him better. It’s almost like he’s trying to be a point guard, and he’s just delivering and leading.”

On what Lions LB Alex Anzalone brought to the team in his return against Minnesota and how he thought he played: “Listen, he’s our captain. Any time your captain’s gone, you lose a little something, and obviously when he comes back you gain something. He understands me to a T, he understands how I’m going to call the game, he studies the game plan just as well as anybody, and if something goes down with my mic, he knows exactly what AG’s going to call, and he does a good job with that, and we have so much conversation on, ‘How do I see it?’ That he understands how I’m going to call the game.”

On how critical it was for Lions Director of Pro Scouting Rob Lohman to bring in players for the defense in the midst of so many injuries: “I think everybody will attest to the first thing I would always say, is how good our personnel department has done a good job of bringing guys in that fit us, not just bringing guys in, but guys that fit us, because at some point, when you start to bring so many guys in and they have to play the following week, it’s not about the playbook, it’s the playstyle, and these guys fit our style. So, I’m going to always praise those men and women that are over there, they do a really good job of getting us the types of players we need.”

On what makes Commanders WR Terry McLaurin so good and why his touchdown production has increased: “Well, (Commanders QB) Jayden Daniels had a lot to do with that, but he’s highly, highly competitive, he does a really good job on 50-50 balls, which you wouldn’t think that he would because of his stature, but he does a really good job of that. He’s always been a good player, we went against this player several times, but that’s the one thing that really stands out, is his competitive nature. He kind of reminds me of how (Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown) Saint goes about, because he will block, he’ll go across the middle, he’ll take hits, he’ll get back up, get back to the huddle, so he’s a gamer. He’s a gamer, so it doesn’t surprise me, the success he’s having.”

On his leadership and having players like Lions LB Alex Anzalone vouch for him and his leadership: “Listen, here’s how I sum up leadership. It’s really one word, it’s influence, and everybody that I come into contact with, I want to influence them in some positive way, and I don’t take that for granted when it comes to players, because that’s my responsibility, it’s almost the same as my children. I want to make sure that everybody that I come into contact with, that when they leave AG that they have something positive to say, and it’s not always going to be like that because I do get pissed off at people too, but to me, that’s what I want to impart on every player that I come across with, even the players that end up leaving here, I want to impart something positive into them, so as they go about their way, that I’ve taught them something that can make them a better person and a better player.”