Rod Marinelli Quotations

We're going to coach this guy real hard. Off of film, you can see all the upside to him -- tremendous upside.

I don't think you put a timetable on that. It could be done quick, or it could be done maybe a little bit later. I think it's a process. It'll always work itself out.

If we were out there today, he would take the first snap.

I was disappointed when it happened to me and I'm disappointed for Joe now. But he did sign a contract and he knew this could happen from the very beginning.

It is a similar position, and he's got traits like Derrick -- but Derrick has been to nine Pro Bowls, so that's where the comparison stops.

Right now you're using these camps as tools to teach and find what you want to teach. The biggest thing is progress and the tempo were trying to create.

I wish I had done a better job of that. But I got so focused on certain things - that I had to go get this guy, this guy - I didn't do as good a job. One thing I've done here, I've had a chance to see some of the coaches I didn't get back to, and I apologized.

That would be nice. He just kind of made his decision to move in a different direction. That's kind of how I left it. I wish him the very best. The thing I can tell you is, he's got terrific talent.

That was a full day for an hour of watching a man work, where I could have watched numerous films that day on other players -- and we're going to get film of that workout anyway.

We've been on the same page all the way. We're looking for the same guy.

Every schedule has its challenges, but the bottom line is for us to be ready to play each and every week. It's not about who we play, when we play or where we play. The issue is us -- what we do and how we do it.

At this moment, he's not with us. That's been my decision.

These 15-minute interviews are choreographed. They've already got certain things they're going to tell you. You want to get them off track.

A player can just be so disruptive there. Sometimes, it doesn't show on the stat sheet, but it's knocking down a pulling guard, it's drawing a double-team block, it's knocking a blocker out of the way. You create havoc. You create chaos.

You would think, at this level, that you shouldn't have to coach tackling. No, you do. The people that don't, don't tackle well. You watch games and say, 'Man, that's sloppy tackling.' Well, you have to work on tackles and angles. It's your fundamentals. It's like if you are playing golf, you work on your golf swing even if you played 20 years, right?

It's about how hard the man is willing to play. Then you look at how hard he's willing to be coached. So you've got to find the type of men for whom football is so important that I've got to lock them out of the facility. That's what I'm looking for and that's what I'm going to find.

It's been a very busy and enjoyable six days on the job. I've had a chance to talk to a lot of people so far.

It's just about how hard the man is willing to play. Sometimes you'll see these guys on tape not playing that hard all of the time, and now you have to go research why.

It seemed to go very well. You know how things go, you kind of get a feel for it. But you don't get too excited until you get your second invitation in the mail. I've got to kind of wait and see and hang in there.

It was my decision. I won't go into it because I won't ever disrespect someone.

I want to come in and have a chance to evaluate it all. I think that's important that the men that I hire (as coaches), we'll all sit together.

I want to be physical, that's my style. I want to run the ball with power, defend with power.

I'm going through this tunnel and I'm not looking. I've got these little bumps over the side I've got to take. But my tunnel is where I want to go.

I'm looking forward to it. ... I've talked again (to the Lions) and I'm just being patient.

I owe it to the Lions to get the best man I can get. It's not about me being comfortable.

I don't worry about other people. I worry about what we do.