Lions DC Aaron Glenn called LB Alex Anzalone a “field general” and his a great understanding of their system.
“He’s the field general,” Glenn said, via Colton Pouncey of The Athletic. “He knows this defense like the back of his hand. … I would say that’s his strong point.”
Lions HC Dan Campbell said Anzalone is one of their team-captains and a “bell cow” for their defense.
“Alex is one of our captains,” Campbell said. “He’s been a guy going on three years around here that those guys look up to and we rely on. He’s one of our guys. He’s a bell cow on defense.”
Lions QB Jared Goff thinks Anzalone is playing the “best I’ve ever seen” from him and is the “igniter” of their defense.
“I’ve been lucky to play with him now for three years and seeing him grow, seeing him play as well as he is right now — I said it a few weeks ago — it’s the best I’ve ever seen him play,” Goff said. “I’ve played against him and with him now and he’s certainly the igniter over there on defense and he’s a hell of a leader, he’s a hell of a dude. (He) practices hard every day, comes to work with a smile on every day, no matter what. I think back to some of the hard times and he was always the guy with a good attitude, putting things on his shoulders and (he) deserves a lot a credit for how they’re playing right now.”
Saints HC Dennis Allen said it was a staff decision to not use TE Jimmy Graham in the redzone.
“Look, it’s a staff decision in terms of what we do,” Allen said, via PFT. “So I think any time you’re not successful down there, you know, everybody’s gonna want to know why you didn’t do something else. And, look, valid question. We had a plan going in, and that was the plan.”
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