NFC Notes: Bears, Lions, Packers

Bears

• Tom Pelissero reports that the NFL is fining LB Cassius Marsh $5,972 for unsportsmanlike conduct after a controversial taunting call.

Lions

New Lions WR Josh Reynolds said he was excited to be claimed by Detroit given the “grit they display every week.” 

“I was more than excited hearing about Detroit,” Reynolds said, via Justin Rogers of The Detroit News. “Just seeing how close games have been for them, and seeing the grit they display every week, it’s easy for me, man.”

Reynolds said he was content requesting to leave the Titans and wanted to join a “great culture.” 

“I didn’t leave to go to a winning team, otherwise I would have stayed in Tennessee,” Reynolds said. “I came to compete and come to a great culture and that’s what I’m feeling. I’ve been here not even 24 hours yet and I can just feel the love that everybody has for each other and just the connection everybody has got.”

Reynolds said he is eager to join Jared Goff in Detroit after spending 2017-2020 together in Los Angeles, while also getting time as a starter. 

“Oh man, it’s what I came for,” Reynolds said. “I’ve been preparing my whole career for it, preparing like I was a starter regardless of whether I wasn’t or not, and hoping it’s time to have it pay off. That’s what I’m excited for.”

Packers

Packers ST coordinator Maurice Drayton said they must improve their kicking game after K Mason Crosby had another missed field goal and one blocked in Week 9. 

“Mason Crosby deserves better. OK? I owe him. We owe him,” Drayton said, via Bill Huber of SI.com.

Drayton added that they must be consistent with LS Steven Wirtel and holder P Corey Bojorquez.

“You’re looking for your long-snapper to snap the ball with accuracy, location, and velocity,” Drayton said. “That’s going to take the same revolutions to get to the holder at the same catch point every time he snaps the ball. And then, it’s the holder’s job to put that ball down on a spot roughly the size of a dime and then lean the ball in the manner in which your kicker needs it so that the kicker can hit the proper paneling on the ball to put it through the H.”

Drayton said his top priority on special teams is to correct their field goal execution. 

“That is where we’re working towards every day,” Drayton said. “Every special teams coach across America, that’s what they’re looking for, and you’ve got to do all of that in 1.25 to 1.28 (seconds). I say all that to say it takes time to get that rhythm, and we’re working to get that rhythm. At the end of the day, it falls on me. I have to come up with new, innovative ways to make this rhythm happen now, because we don’t have that luxury. And I promise you, that is what we’re working on, that’s priority No. 1 in the special teams, to get that operation down pat.”