Coordinator recap: Johnson and Glenn talk head coach interviews and Fipp raves about Commanders special teams

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Allen Park — Here are the most interesting items to come out of Wednesday’s media sessions with the Detroit Lions three coordinators.

Interview check-in

Detroit’s offensive and defensive coordinators interviewed for nine head coaching vacancies during the team’s bye last weekend. Both Aaron Glenn and Ben Johnson briefly touched on those experiences.

“I think you learn a number of things each year that you go through them and you try to improve on those each year,” defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said. “But I think the one thing that I get out of all these interviews 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.”

Johnson, always more reluctant to talk about those opportunities, was asked how he’s a better candidate now than he was the past two hiring cycles.

“Shoot, this go-around, I’ve just — I’ve been a lot more prepared for the types of questions that they’ve been asking,” Johnson said. “I’ve also changed my frame of mind a little bit. Instead of worrying solely about the offense and what we’re doing right here, I’ve been able to have offseasons and summers to think about the big-picture view, what a program would look like where I’m running it. I think that way, I’m a lot more prepared for the questions that come my way and I’m much more comfortable answering them.”

Special teams coordinator Dave Fipp, who long desired to be a head coach, is no longer chasing that dream. Still, he offered some poignant thoughts on what the franchises looking for new leadership should and shouldn't be chasing with their next hires.

“It happens in every profession, but it’s like, somebody does a good job and then it’s, ‘OK, well, what was that model? How did they do that?” Fipp said. “…The bottom line is the guys who do the best at the job, in my opinion, are dynamic leaders. They’re super smart in all phases. They know how to relate to a lot of different people and please a lot of different people. They know how to motivate a lot of different people.

“It really comes down to less about the guy can call this play or that play, (or) he’s good on this side of the ball or that side of the ball,” Fipp said. “I mean, these guys are dynamic leaders who know how to handle an NFL locker room. So, I think ultimately, it doesn’t matter where they come from. People need to just look for the best leaders possible and the problem is that they look for the same formula as the last team that did a good job and they don’t realize that the things that make that guy successful.”

Strategic considerations

The Commanders were the most efficient team in the NFL on fourth down this season, converting 20-of-23 tries. They then dialed up their aggressiveness in Sunday’s Wild Card win over Tampa Bay, going for it on fourth five times and converting on three of those tries.

Glenn said Washington's uptick in aggression has to be considered when game-planning this week.

“Yes, so now you look at what they’re going to do on third down,” Glenn said. “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. We have to be in tune to that, and that comes from film study. 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 third-and-medium — needing between 3-5 yards — the Commanders ran the ball just five times in the regular season, compared to dropping back to pass 50 times. Glenn is obviously suggesting the trend could shift if the Commanders come into this game intent on going for it more frequently on fourth down like they did against the Buccaneers.

We’ve seen that approach from the Lions. Consistently one of the league's most aggressive teams on fourth downs under Campbell, they ran it 18 times on third-and-medium this season vs. 43 dropbacks in those situations.

Rebalancing the backfield rotation

Regarding the pending return of David Montgomery to the lineup, Johnson said he's still getting a feel for how the rotation with Jahmyr Gibbs will take shape.

“It’s to be determined,” Johnson said. “Gibbs has certainly had a hot hand as of late and I expect David to come in and pick up where he left off. If the last two days are any indication, he’s of the right mindset right now. So we’ll see what it looks like today on the field and tomorrow as well, and we’ll finalize our plan after that.”

Through the first 14 games, before Montgomery’s knee injury, the duo were close to evenly splitting touches. Montgomery had 223 carries or targets, while Gibbs recorded 235 through that stretch.

During the three games Montgomery was sidelined, Gibbs racked up 487 yards from scrimmage and six touchdowns, earning the NFC’s Offensive Player of the Month.

What makes Terry scary?

Terry McLaurin has been a highly productive receiver in the NFL for years. He topped 1,000 yards for the fifth consecutive season in 2024 while setting a career-high with 13 touchdown grabs. That earned him second-team All-Pro honors for the first time in his career.

Glenn was asked what makes the former Ohio State standout so challenging to defend.

“He’s highly, highly competitive,” Glenn said. “He does a really good job on 50-50 balls, which you wouldn’t think that he would because of his stature (six-foot, 210 pounds), 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 (Amon-Ra St. Brown) Saint goes about (his business) because he will block, he’ll go across the middle, he’ll take hits, he’ll get back up, get back to the huddle,” Glenn said. “He’s a gamer, so it doesn’t surprise me, the success he’s having.”

A different look on special teams

Fipp has long rejected the various special teams rankings in favor of his constantly evolving personal hierarchy — which has never been publicly explained, by the way — but he noted he believes his group was the second-best in the NFL this season.

The best? Probably predictable considering Detroit's postseason docket: The Commanders.

"This team that we’re going against, not that I’m big in the metrics, but according to my metrics, they’re the best in the NFL,” Fipp said. “These guys are really good. They do a great job, really, in all phases — punt, punt return, kickoff, kickoff return. Their special teams coordinator is a guy that I respect a lot, both personally and professionally. Larry Izzo played in the league for a long time and was a heck of a player when I first got in the league in 2008.

The Commanders ranked top 10 in kickoff and punt return average, as well as net punting. If there is an obvious weakness, it’s been the team’s field goal kicking after cycling through multiple options this year. They’ve especially struggled from long distance, making just two-of-eight from 50 yards and beyond.

Where Washington is unique is how they’ve approached the NFL’s dynamic kickoff rule. Unlike most teams, which have embraced accepting the more punitive touchbacks, the Commanders have allowed, or more appropriately encouraged, 73 returns. That was the most in the league, by a wide margin.

The approach has led to the Commanders dominating the special teams tackles leaderboard, with safety Jeremy Reaves and linebacker Nick Bellore each topping 20, pacing six Washington players in double-digits.

Fipp hopes the opponent sticks to that strategy on Saturday.

“Yeah, it’s great,” Fipp said. “We’ll take them, for sure. We’re excited, let’s see what we can get.”

Making ‘em go left

Based on a reader-inspired question from the Detroit Football Network chat, I asked Glenn if there's ever an effort to force a mobile quarterback to scramble one direction based on the basketball concept of forcing a right-handed dribbler to his left.

“Absolutely, especially when you look at his rush pattern and the way he tries to escape from the pocket,” Glenn said. “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,” Glenn continued. “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. Man, we try our best to do that. Against (Cardinals quarterback) 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 Jayden (Daniels).”

Former Wolverine on the rise

Johnson offered some behind-the-scenes insight on Washington's impressive rookie cornerback Mike Sainristil, the former University of Michigan standout.

“The thing about him that stood out to me — and this goes back to the springtime — we had a number of Michigan players come into the building, whether it was top-30 visits or a local pro day. Every single one of those players said that they would bring him along. Every single player said he was the one guy from Michigan that they would want to bring along with them, and to me, that spoke volumes because it’s rare that you see all these same guys from the same school and they say the same person. It’s normally the cliques you hang out with.

“I see a guy on tape that fits their defense,” Johnson continued. “…They are flying around, reckless almost, borderline reckless, but calculated, and he fits that mold for them perfectly. He’s always around the ball, not afraid to tackle. It’s been a really impressive rookie year for him.”

A 16-game starter, Sainristil racked up 93 tackles while pacing the Commanders with 14 pass breakups and two interceptions.

A gesture not forgotten

It can be interesting learning about how opposing coaches intersected on their way up the ranks. Fipp explained where he first met Dan Quinn and how the impression the coach made in that meeting laid a foundation of respect Detroit’s special teams coordinator has for the Commanders coach.

“I love the guy,” Fipp said. “When I was at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo — this is way back, but I was coaching 1-AA, and just north of us is San Francisco 49ers — he was a quality control coach, coaching d-line there and we went up there," Fipp explained. "...I was coaching defense at the time and he spent all morning with us in a room. He was going over everything, d-line play, arm bar, arm over, swim moves, all of the different techniques that they use, and spent damn near a whole day with us and our defensive staff from Cal Poly.

"...A hell of a football coach, a football guy who gets the game, loves the players, very passionate, and these guys play like that."