A day after former All-Pro WR Steve Smith ripped Lions defensive backs coach Aubrey Pleasant for 'dog cussing' Jeff Okudah on the sideline during Detroit's season-opening loss to the 49ers, cornerbacks Amani Oruwariye and Ifeatu Melifownu came to Pleasant's defense.
"I’m gonna make it real clear," Oruwariye said after Wednesday's practice. "Everyone has particular relationships with Coach Pleasant. He’s come here and really challenged everyone because he sees the potential in everyone. He really wants to light that flare under every single guy, and he has different relationships and different ways of going about that with everyone. But at the end of the day, it’s just two guys wanting to be great.
After Okudah missed an assignment on a long touchdown run for the 49ers, TV cameras caught Pleasant sticking his finger in Okudah's face and screaming at the 22-year-old to "Do your job!" The moment quickly went viral on Twitter. Smith, now an analyst for NFL Network, railed against Pleasant for exploiting a double standard in player-coach relationships and said Pleasant's behavior is a sign of "a train wreck waiting to happen" in Detroit.
Couldn't be further from the truth, says Oruwariye.
"We have great relationships with Coach Pleasant and of course social media can portray things in a different away, but that’s really what it is. Everyone has a great relationship, everyone’s just trying to win and that’s what it comes down to," Oruwariye said.
Pleasant joined the Lions in the offseason after spending the last four years as cornerbacks coach for the Rams. The defensive backs in Detroit have raved about his tutelage; Okudah said in training camp that "me and coach Pleasant are a match made in heaven." He's fiery on the practice field -- and, apparently, on the sidelines -- with an eye toward getting the most out of his players.
"Coach Pleasant is a really good coach, probably one of the best coaches I’ve ever had," said the rookie Melifonwu. "It’s tough love sometimes, but you know it’s coming from a good place. It’s not ego or anything. He just wants us to be great."
Melifonwu confirmed that Pleasant addressed his exchange with Okudah during a meeting with the defensive backs this group, but said, "I think that’s something we just gotta keep in house."
Oruwariye said nothing gets misconstrued between Pleasant and the players, no matter how it might appear from the outside, because both sides "know the relationship."
"You guys have had those conversations, you guys have had those individual meetings and you know what it is. You know it doesn’t mean disrespect or anything like that," he said. "Everything’s all love. As long as the player and the coach have that relationship, it’s always good."
Smith will have to agree to disagree.
"We need to stop upping our standards for players and lowering our standards for coaches," he said Tuesday. "We need to have them on the same playing field. We need to start revoking some of these dumb-ass coaches’ opportunities because that sh*t show they got in Detroit, it’s a train wreck waiting to happen and I’m sitting there, got my popcorn waiting for it."