LIONS HEAD COACH MATT PATRICIA QUOTE SHEET

Opening statement: “Well, look obviously, just recapping yesterday, (I’m) disappointed with the results of the game. I would say, like I said yesterday, I thought that team yesterday played hard for each other. I thought they wanted to win. I thought they fought really as hard as they could. I think this team cares. I think they care for each other. They work hard, I think it’s genuine. I think that’s a big thing is that it’s definitely a genuine care that they want to see each other succeed. They want to try to win, they want to try to do everything they can to do to better each other. I think you can see that in the game. You know, the excitement – you watch Danny (Amendola) throw a touchdown pass to (David) Blough and you watch the excitement that creates. I would say when they missed the field goal – our field goal block unit is something that we’ve really tried to work on every single week and put a lot of pride into. When they missed that, I think you definitely see guys – Austin Bryant, (Dan) Skipper – I mean, guys that aren’t normally on that unit that are trying to do the best they can, that you see the genuine care in their reaction from that standpoint. Even just, there are things that you guys don’t see, like the reaction of the team in squad (meeting) when I announce that (Anthony) Pittman is going to be active for the game and up for the roster, and the happiness that they have for each other to see a guy that’s just worked really hard through the course of the season have that chance, have that opportunity. I think that’s the great part about this team. That’s what’s been the great part about this team – something that we can build on and continue to grow. The game itself was really a tale of two halves. Obviously, (we) tried to start fast and get out to a big lead, which we know we’re going to need to do against Green Bay. But (we) just couldn’t be consistent enough all the way through the game to win in the end. I thought they fought through – there was some adversity during the game that we had to overcome, and they tried to fight through the best they could, but it just wasn’t enough. In the end, I think that’s really been the way the season has been all year. It’s kind of been a microcosm of what the season’s been. They try and they work as hard as they can, but in the end it just hasn’t been enough. I think at its core, I think I like what this team is at its core – the foundation that is set, but we obviously know we have a lot of work to do going forward.
“I would say as far as just the overall season – 2019 – I would say we’re all disappointed. It’s definitely not how we wanted it to go. I would say that we have high expectations, those will never change. We’ll always keep high expectations. I think this team knows that and learned through the course of this year that they can compete with the best of what the NFL has to offer every single week. They’ll show up and they can compete. I think the thing that we need to improve on and the thing that we need to get done is that we have to find a way to win. We have to find a way to win some of those games against the better teams, against the other teams and just be consistent with that as we go forward. It’s hard to win any game in this league. That’s the truth. There’s a fine line between winning and losing. I think unfortunately we saw a lot of those fine lines this year, but the teams that win, they do it with consistency. They do it with improving as the season goes on. They do it with smart football, and they have that edge in certain situations where they find a way to win no matter what. I would say the teams that don’t win in this league don’t have that consistency. They beat themselves, and certain situations where just things come up where they can’t find a way to win. I think that’s really what our season was. I think that’s what our season – just kind of each game has been the same from that aspect of it. That’s why the season looked that way and that it’s been that inconsistency between good football and bad football. We’ve seen definitely good football on the field, but the bad football through the course of each game outweighed it. I think that as we go back through and evaluate everything from the season, we’ll look for ways to improve in all those areas. Certainly, there are some areas that we already know that we have to go back and do a better job of improving on, things that affect the game immediately, like turnovers, making sure that we take care of the ball in all aspects of it and making sure that we turn the ball over when we have that opportunity to do that. Eliminating the penalties – those are things that got us throughout the course of the season. I think playing through adversity and being able to finish, regardless of the situation in all three phases of just going out and playing strong all the way through the game for 60 minutes. I definitely think there are details that we have to clean up overall. Some things that we put a point of emphasis on week by week. We may get them fixed for a couple of weeks, but they show back up a couple of weeks later, and we can’t have that. Those are things that once we improve, once we fix them, they have to stay fixed in order to continually get better. I would say one of the things that this team is that we had a lot of young guys playing for us at certain points that we have to learn and get better at is that don’t make any one moment bigger than what it is. I think we got it to the point where it was definitely some games and some plays and some situations where we can’t press, we just have to play that play. We have to stay within that moment, not make it bigger than what it is and just execute. Execute that one play, and then get to the next play and execute that next play. That’s something that comes with experience. It comes with confidence and those are things that we need to build upon from that standpoint. We have to find ways to get everybody on the field, and we have to keep them on the field. When that doesn’t happen – it’s why it’s so important for us to continue to grow and develop the younger players or the new players on our team. When those situations come up, which they will, we have to step in and have that next person up ready to go. Certainly, having that consistency on the field week in (and) week out helps from that standpoint.
“I think that we tried to lay a foundation this year. We tried to build a culture that we can improve upon. I think that I’m excited from the standpoint of 2020, of being able to continue kind of what we started. I think that we all understand that we have a lot of work to do next year, but the one thing that I do know is that every team starts from scratch. For us, that time has come where we have to start over, and we’re going to get back to work, and we’re going to try to do everything we can to improve from that standpoint. For us, we know change happens every year in the NFL. There are five new teams in the playoffs this year, so everybody will start over from that aspect of it. But we’re going to start right now. My commitment is to this organization, to the fans, to the football team, to do everything we can do to evaluate all aspects of our organization, of our process of what we do in the next upcoming months here and try to make them better for next year, and try to improve all of those things that we think will give us a slight edge here or there or that one percent improvement across the board that will help us grow collectively as a team. I think it’ll always start with me. I’ll always make sure I evaluate what I do, how I work, how I evaluate, how I run the team, the meetings, schedules – all of those things. I’ll go back and look at all of those, but I know that as a team in order to improve it has to start with me. I have to get better, which I will. I’ll make whatever decision that we have to make based on what’s best for the team. I’ll never accept losing. I’ll never accept complacency. We’ll always find ways to get better. I can promise you I will work tirelessly to get our team to the point where we’re improving and where we’re getting better. I appreciate the Ford family. I appreciate the fans. I’m committed to this team. I’m committed to continuing to build, improve and grow the vision of this team for next year. 2019 – there are no excuses. We all know we need to get better. We need to execute better. Like I said, it’s going to start with me, I promise you that. But in 2020, we’ll keep our standards high. That’ll never be compromised. Really in the NFL, we all know that there is only one team happy at the end of the year. Everybody else – we have to go back to work and we have to get better. And we have to go back to work and get better. That’s going to start right away. I think that’s kind of where we are right now.”
On the offseason process of identifying the things that were poor during the season and how to improve them: “Yeah, the process for us is pretty consistent from a standpoint of there are different areas of things that we do that we’ll go back, and we’ll collect all the information from. Whether it’s the coaching staff, the support staff, players – we kind of get feedback loops on everything that we do. Whether it is scheduling, practice, meetings, game plan, just the order of how we handle things through the course of the week, and (we will) make sure we take all of the feedback that we get, put it together and see where there are areas where we can easily improve. (We can) see where there are areas where we are going to have to go outside and try to find out different ways or better ways or new ways to look at things to try to get those improvements in place also. We’ll do that through the next several weeks and then in to February as we’re also kind of trying to build towards everything else that we have to do in the offseason. For us, that’ll be priority number one is just that whole self-scout, evaluation, feedback loop. We have to get going on that.”
On how important it is to add a dynamic pass-rusher or play-maker to the defense: “I mean, I think we’re obviously going to try to add as many players as we can that can impact the game in all of those situations. Whether it is a single stat, like sacks or it’s completions, it’s catches, it’s pass-breakups, it’s interceptions – I think anybody that can help us in that manor or players that can develop to help us in that way are certainly impactful. We want to try to get as many of those types of players on our team as possible. I think that’s always important no matter what state you’re in.”
On the reason why they lost so many close games: “I would say, for me as we go back and look at all of it what you don’t want to do – and we try to evaluate that week-by-week and see what we’re missing from one week to the next. Certainly, there is a lot of moving parts that had taken place this past season to evaluate from there. We can look at it from a holistic point or kind of point all of those different situations that occur in the game together to see if there are common themes, see if there is something from a standpoint of schematics, personnel, all of that stuff and evaluate it from there. We’ll try to take a look at it from a fresh point of view and see what we come up with. I think again, there can be a lot of different factors or I would say that it hasn’t been just one glaring same thing over and over or otherwise that would’ve been pretty evident from that standpoint just through the season itself. For us, I just want to take a good fresh look at all of that to see what it is that we have to do to break through that situation where we can’t finish those types of games.”
On what got them here right now: “I don’t know if I can really answer that in a good way right now without really taking a good evaluation of all of it.”
On if they will make staff changes: “Again, right now – today is a really important day for the team to make sure that as a team we understand where we are, where we need to go going forward. We’ll go back and evaluate everything just like we always do every year, from that standpoint. Tomorrow and through the course of the week, and we’ll see whatever we think is good or not good or changes that we need to make – we’ll evaluate that as we go through the process. Certainly, well always do what’s best for the team.”
On if he plans to have a defensive coordinator or if the position is even necessary if he were to call the defense: “I don’t know – that’s a pretty general question. I think again – we’ll evaluate everything as we go forward.”
On the defensive struggles this season: “I think what I want to make sure that I do is go back and look at the complementary football game and see why we’re in some of those situations. I think there’s a lot of things that go in to those. Certainly, you want to look at one phase – that’s not good enough from that aspect of it. Yardage is not the one I look at more so than points – I think that’s the one that’s most important from that situation, and obviously critical drives. Let’s look at those and see what those look like. What’s happening in those situations, where we call ‘gotta-have-its,’ where we have to make a play and got to be in that situations where we’re going to have to come up with a stop or keep them out of field goal range or not let them score a touchdown. Those are all areas that defensively, you can look at specifically and say, ‘All right, how do we improve this?’”
On if he has been contacted about the Senior Bowl: “No.”
On the expectation from ownership to make staff changes, and how their oversight of coaching hires affects his decision-making: “I think just really in general, changes are part of the NFL every year, whether it’s staff or players or whatever it is. I think that’s all part of the evaluation process that we go through. I think we’re still dealing with the immediate end of the season yesterday. So from that standpoint, we’d like to make sure that we’re doing everything not based on an emotional standpoint, but a very well thought-out process – no matter what it is in those areas. Certainly with all changes that we make, whether it’s player, coaching, support staff, whatever it is from that standpoint throughout the organization, we do try to do that – especially Bob (Quinn, Executive Vice President and General Manager) and I will try to do that from a collaborative point of view. We’re always going to try to look at it and evaluate it and work together from that standpoint.”
On how quickly he has to make staff decisions to ensure they’re filled with the best available candidates: “The staff conversations always an interesting one from a theoretical conversation of – we understand roster, we understand how long it takes to change roster and develop roster. I feel the same way about the staff, any aspect of the staff. I think there’s certainly – whether it’s coaching or support staff or different areas or departments of the organization that support the players – we’re always going to want the best for the players at all times, and obviously always be in a situation where we can try to improve that after we analyze it and we’re going to try to improve it, from that aspect of it. There is some timing here to the League and when all of that process takes place, even though there might be change currently, there is some procedural stuff that goes on through the League so that there is more of a level playing field with some of those situations too. So we’ll follow all of those processes.”
On to what extent he feels further away from success with the current talent on the roster: “I don’t know. That’s a good question right there, as far as that’s concerned. I don’t know if you can put any timeline as how far or how close or whatever it is. I just think from us, obviously we got a lot of work to do. We have a lot of building to do. We certainly know we need to try to improve our team because it’s not good enough right now where it’s at – that would be all aspects of it. That’ll be part of the process here in the next couple months to really dive in to that and see how we could upgrade, where we could upgrade in all avenues to get us to be more competitive. That’ll be part of the process here in the next couple months.”
On if there is more urgency to get the roster changed: “I don’t think the standards changed. I think the standard for every team in the NFL is the same, and we’re no different, and we’re going to keep to a high standard, and we’re going to try to improve. Absolutely.”
On how NFL teams make the jump from not competing for the playoffs to making them: “There traditionally are those teams, and like I said, I think there are five new teams in the playoffs this year. I think it was eight last year or whatever it was. Those numbers change, and you look at those teams that have had that growth. Maybe it’s the situation where it’s a couple years into the development of whatever that team or that organization is going to be. And they have an opportunity to develop and work from there. I think each organization is different, so you can look into some of it and look at roster, look at coaching, look at schedule, kind of all that stuff and see what affected them. But certainly for us, we’ll just try to analyze what’s best for us going forward to help us improve for next year.”
On if he sensed that the season has taken a toll on the team and his final message to the team: “Yeah, I think that’s a great question too because I think the one thing for me that as a head coach, I definitely was conscious of some of those games where – really close and not able to close them out. How does that affect the emotional and physical development of the team? Can it derail the team? I was worried about some of those situations, but the one thing about the team that I will say from this year is that: Every Monday they came in with that same sort of attitude and energy that, ‘OK, hey, it’s a new week. It’s a new opportunity, and we’re going to try to make the most of it.’ I tend to sit there and wait for it to turn and wait when it’s not going to be that way. But honestly, I think even just yesterday is a great example of what this team really was about. It was not going to worry about who was playing. It was not going to worry about who they were playing. They were just going to try to do everything they could to go out and compete for each other. From that stand point, I think the team showed me a lot. I think they showed me how much they did care, and how much they wanted to try to do right, and how much they wanted to improve. They never gave up. They never quit, and they worked really hard all through the course of the week to do everything they could no matter who played. I think that’s something that is a strong point for us that we need to make sure that we build upon. It was definitely something that I talked to the team about today and made sure that they understood how important that is, that mind set is. Also pointed out the things that we need to do to get better, and that we’re going to have to start over. So as tired as everybody is, as hard as everyone has worked sitting in those chairs today, after 16 games we have to work harder because we still want to be playing. There’s definitely some guys in here that got some assignments to do here for the next couple months, so when they come back – but a lot of it is they need rest. A lot of the guys work really hard, so they need to get away from it for a little while, but not too long, because the offseason will be here before we know it, and we’ll be back at work which is what we’re all looking forward to doing.”
On how much more difficult it is to evaluate young players when they suffer injuries during the season: “I think it’s absolutely part of it. No different than Kerryon (Johnson) last year and then just Kerryon showing us what he can do when he came back. But really then even, the second part of it when he came back again, and his determination to get better. I think for young players, when they’re not out there it does make it difficult for us to try to really figure out what can we do, where are they at? But we do understand that some of that stuff is just circumstance of the situations, and we try to just continually grow and develop. Certainly, from a holistic view of the team, we’ll look at all those scenarios and decide to make sure that we have enough depth across the board to compete in those situations with those guys.”
On if he thought they had enough depth to compete when they sustained injuries this season, like Pittsburgh did this season: “I can’t really comment on Pittsburgh. I think in general for us, we have to make sure that we develop young players that we have on our roster that can go in and compete at a high level and help us win. We know that will be a part of the process going forward, and we’ll always have a mix of young players with veteran players with new players. In all those avenues, we do have to do the best we can to make sure we have enough depth in all of those positions, so that when injuries occur, those guys can step in and go perform. We always try to figure out if we can predict injuries. That’s a great industry – If anybody can get that done for me, that’d be awesome – but sometimes it happens in a situation where you might lose a couple guys in one position, and it becomes really difficult. That definitely happens, and I don’t think any other team would be any different from that aspect of it. I think the younger players, the guys that we need to develop and grow, will get another great opportunity to do that with the ones that are here, and the ones that have been here for a couple years now, or even the ones we picked up last year, and continually push those guys. Looking forward to having those guys come back and be better. That’s certainly going to be part of it as we push forward and get ready for the offseason program.”
LIONS EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER BOB QUINN QUOTE SHEETOpening Statement: “First, I want to start off with a couple of brief comments before I’ll take some questions. First off and most importantly, just wanted to send my condolences to Marvin Jones (Jr.) and his family over the last couple days of what happened with his son Marlo. Pretty horrible thing that happened, and I was able to spend some time with Marvin on Saturday afternoon with Jazmyn. It’s probably one of the more difficult things I ever had to do. I have a pretty good connection with Marvin since he was the first free agent that I signed here in March of 2016, so just seeing him in that state was hard for me. I just want to say that from the organization, from myself, that we’re behind him 100 percent. Anything he needs in support, we’ll be there for him. (It) kind of puts in perspective a year that was not up to par for us, and goes to show that there are things that are way, way more important than football games. But everybody in this building is a family to me, starting with our ownership down to the support staff, to our players, to our coaches, and this is a time that we’re all going to pull together.
“Also, I want to say I’m very supportive of (Owner and Chairman of the Board) Mrs. (Martha Firestone) Ford and her family during this season. Obviously, when a season goes this way, there are a lot of conversations about players, about staff, about wins, about losses, about injuries. Her thoughts and her family’s thoughts and questions are very insightful, and there’s really good conversation on a weekly – more than weekly basis about everything that has gone on here. Also, I want to thank the fans. I thank – on the road, as a lot of the guys in here travel with us on a weekly basis to our away games. Some pretty incredible showings of support from our fans on away games and especially obviously at Ford Field. The place is always rocking. So shout out to those fans that are with us. They continue to be with us, and that’s very important to us. Thank you guys here, to the media for your support. You guys are obviously the conduit to our fans, and that’s important. The NFL season is long and hard for everybody, and you guys included. So I hope at the end of the day today, you guys get some rest as well. I’m sure I’ll see you guys soon in Mobile (Alabama).
“Bottom line for our season, and I’m going to say this word a lot, is we didn’t finish. I know Matt (Patricia, Lions Head Coach) has said it a couple times, I’m going to say it over and over again this whole offseason because when I look at everything – and we’re just in the beginning stages of evaluating the whole season as a whole – it just was a season we didn’t finish. We were in all the games, you guys know all the statistics about how many times we were leading, and how many games we were in and all that. But at the end of the day, we didn’t win enough, and that’s the bottom line. Our responsibility here is to look at that over the coming months, look at everything from A to Z, from players to scheme to organization to you name it. We’re going to evaluate it and do everything in our power to make it better for next year. I thought going into the season, we played well early. Thought there was some major improvements on the offensive side of the ball in the first month of the season. Then there was really just some games where we didn’t play a full game. We played well on offense, didn’t play well on defense – played good on defense didn’t do enough on offense. Settled on too many field goals – Green Bay, first game. A couple points here and there earlier in the season, and we could be having a whole different conversation here today, but we’re not. Our job is to look back at it, evaluate it and try to make this – right this ship and get this team where we all know it should be. We’re going to take a hard look at everything from players, like I said, to scheme, to coaching, to organization, to injury prevention. I’m not going to stand up here and ever make excuses. Nobody wants to hear it. The fans don’t deserve excuses, they deserve answers, and that’s kind of what we have to sit back in the next couple weeks into months and look at with a really wide open lens. Then to narrow that lens down to when we have to make bigger decisions coming forward on the team to put a better product on the field next season. There are high expectations every year. There are high expectations going into preseason, high expectations going into the offseason, and that’s never going to change. It doesn’t matter if our record is 16-0 one year or with the record this year. The expectation is always at a very high level for myself and for the coaching staff, and that’s never going to change. Disappointing, lack of finish, and we’re going to do everything in our power to get this better and right the ship.”
On at what point in the season did the mentality change from building on the current foundation of the team to rebuilding the foundation: “I think anytime you bring in a new head coach there’s going to be a lot of change. We talked about this last year after the season. Probably a little bit more expected than going into it, but that’s when you get into the building, and you see things you want to change, and Matt (Patricia) wanted to change some things, and he has, and It’s taken a little bit longer. Bottom line (is) we have to do more to win. I think that’s the bottom line. Whether it’s scheme or players, it’s going to be a combination of both every year. We all know that. I think it’s just a process that – it takes longer for certain teams, and some teams hit it off the bat. Unfortunately we’re in a position where going in to Year 3 we have to step up to the plate.”
On why Lions Head Coach Matt Patricia deserves to coach a third season: “Yeah, because you look at the whole body of work, and there are not enough wins. There are not, and that’s the bottom line in this business. But in terms of talking to Mrs. Ford and her family, it’s just the foundation that’s here and the good things that have happened even though they have not equated to wins and losses, to scrap that and start from scratch would be taking a step back. So I think that’s kind of some of the things that we look at, and we just have to push forward to next year and evaluate everything and just take a hard look at ourselves. Take a hard look at everything, myself included, and see what we can all do better to make the record better next year.”
On the positives of the season: “I know Matt (Patricia) has talked a lot about the foundation and everything. I go into – I get to sit back and watch the whole season again. That’s what I’ll do in the next couple weeks, but you just go back to yesterday, right? No one gave us a chance in that game, right? Did anybody in this room give us a chance in that game? No, and we were down to a playoff team, the number two team in the NFC that beat us on a field goal with the last second. We’re playing with – we signed 14 players off of our practice squad this year, three players off other team’s practice squads, and all those guys were playing a decent role yesterday. So, I’m proud of those guys. I see that foundation. Now, I’m never going to sit up here ever and say that injuries are an excuse. They’re not. We had a lot of injuries this year, and we have to look at that and see what happened there, and see where we can get better. Those are some things that are off the top of my mind that are a little bit fresh. I think when we sit back and get a little bit closer to the offseason portion of the time, we’ll have a little bit more of a reflection of where that is. But I was proud of our team yesterday. We lost the game. I’m upset about that, but to watch some of these guys that basically just got an NFL uniform in the last week – Anthony Pittman. Three weeks ago, four weeks ago – Bo Scarbrough. All these guys that – they’re fighting their butt off each and every week on the practice squad, we give them a jersey, and they have to go out there and play against Aaron Rodgers. So I give those guys credit.”
On this season’s record compared to the 2017, 9-7 record: “I think I just answered that though. I think we don’t want to bring it down to the basement again and start the foundation again. That’s the answer.”
On the importance of adding a dynamic defensive player: “Obviously, the more pass-rushers the better, right? You want to get after the quarterback. But I think we always talk about: Is it pass rush, or if the coverage is a little better, will the pass rush get there? So it’s always a combination – then you throw in: How many times are you going to blitz per game? So to answer your question, yes, always like another pass-rusher, those are hard to come by. But I think it’s always a combination of those things when you really evaluate the whole body of work in terms of trying to get after the quarterback.”
On how close he feels the team is to being a playoff contender: “That’s the money question, right? Appreciate it. I’m not going to put a timeline or a number of players on this – there’s a lot of things we need to get better at. There’s a lot of things when you win three games – it’s not just one thing. We sit there every week and evaluate the games and look at the roster and look at the scheme and look at all of that. It was hard this year for us to point at one thing, and I think it was hard for you guys. Sometimes if you have a poor year, you could just say, ‘If you guys did that one thing different, you would’ve won 10 games.’ You can’t do that with this team. This was an abnormal year for us. It’s something that we’re really going to have to dive into because we sit there scratching our heads every week where we didn’t finish, or we were two plays away or bad call here, bad break there, dropped pass there and it adds up to our record. We’re going to own our record. That’s what it is, and we can’t change it. We’re going to accept that, and we’re going to look forward to try to give this team and this city and this organization a better record going forward.”
On if he has felt he’s built depth across the roster after four years of being general manager:“Yeah, I do. I mean, we have 16 guys on IR – that’s a lot. I know some other teams we talked about have nine or 10. I think 16 is a pretty high number. So to find 16 injury replacements from our practice squad or on the street through the course of the year – and when you really look at it they really start to happen around Week 7. The beginning part of the season we were a little bit healthier, I would say. 16 is a high number to replace. So I think the answer is ‘yes.’”
On the options available for CB Darius Slay’s contract: “Listen now, I’m not going to get up and talk about anyone’s contract status – never have, never will. It’s conversations we have internally with the player and their representatives. So we’ll leave it at that.”
On if it was a mistake to not sign a more proven veteran quarterback as a backup: “Good question. I think we went through a lot of quarterbacks this year. I think eventually when we got down to it, we made the switch earlier in the season from Josh (Johnson) to Jeff Driskel. Then when Matthew got hurt you know Jeff went in there and the three games he started, I would say that he probably played good enough to win two out of those three. We didn’t win those games and that was probably a byproduct of the defense not having a great day or special teams not having a great day. Jeff went in there, and I thought played at a decent level to help us win the game. Then you get down to your third string quarterback and listen, David Blough is a rookie free agent that we brought in as a developmental guy and all of a sudden he has to start at the end of the season. He wasn’t perfect, but the experience that he gained, the plays that he made were pretty impressive. Now did he have some mistakes? He sure did. He’s going to learn from those. So that’s something we’re going to look back at and see what we need to do going forward in the future.”
On possibly paying more for a backup quarterback: “Yeah, possibly. It’s something that’s fairly team-by-team. Sometimes when you have a higher-priced starter, it is a little bit more difficult to do what you’re doing. If you have a quarterback under his rookie contract, it’s a little bit easier financially to do that. But that’s something we’ll look at and evaluate this offseason for sure.”
On his confidence level that QB Matthew Stafford’s back injuries will not be lingering issues in the future: “Very confident. In just talking to all the doctors, trainers and Matthew himself that he is going to be good to go for the offseason program. So no issues there.”
On how being in close games makes their offseason plans more difficult: “Yeah, it’s going to be a tough evaluation. Some seasons when you end, it’s pretty clear – like you need X, Y and Z. I think this season is going to take a little bit more of a deeper dive in to some of the what-if situations. What if Da’Shawn Hand didn’t miss almost the entire season? What if some players that we thought were going to perform at an A-level, performed at a B-level? So it’s going to be a little bit of a deeper dive I think for us this offseason, but we’re looking forward to diving into that. I think everyone probably needs a couple of days to regroup, and get their lives in order, and then we’re going to come back and hit this hard and try to get the evaluation going.”
On trading former S Quandre Diggs to Seattle: “The Quandre Diggs trade – I know (Lions Head Coach) Matt (Patricia) spoke to you guys about that when it happened. I thought it was the best thing for the football team at the time. Going back, it was something we felt good with Will Harris stepping in there and playing. Unfortunately, the week after that Tracy (Walker) got hurt. So it was kind of a tough week or two when you make that trade, and then a guy that you’re really counting on to take that leadership role gets hurt and he misses a couple of weeks. That’s just something that we decided was the best thing for the team at the time.”
On if he regrets trading former S Quandre Diggs: “No.”
On how serious the trade discussions were with CB Darius Slay: “Not very serious at all. Nope.”
On if he expects CB Darius Slay to be a long-term part of this team: “I answered that question a few minutes ago.”
On the performance of the free agents they signed in the offseason and if they got the production that he expected from those players: “Yeah, I think Trey Flowers played exceptionally well. I think Trey the first couple of weeks of the season was still kind of battling through the shoulder thing. But once he turned it on, I think he played really well for us in all aspects – run defense, pass defense, quarterback hits, hurries, sacks. Justin Coleman is another guy that we signed. He played really, really well at the beginning part of the season, had a little bit of a lull mid-year and then kind of played really good towards the end of the season again. So I think I’m good there. You know, Jesse James needs to get more involved in the offense. I think when you sign a tight end in the offseason and then you draft one in the first round, it’s kind of hard. It was kind of a hard thing for Jesse. But I know Jesse is excited about going forward with a really deep tight end room and that’s going to be a big part of our offense going forward.”
On what his reaction was when he found out he would be keeping his job: “Yeah, I like my job, so I’m happy to be back. I mean, do you like your job?”
On why fans should trust him to turn around the franchise: “I feel very confident in my abilities. I’m very thankful to the Ford family to be here from 2016 on. I feel that with myself in the GM seat and Coach (Matt) Patricia as the head coach, I think we’re going to get this thing turned around.”
On if he had any input on the decision to keep Head Coach Matt Patricia and if he agrees with the ownership’s decision: “Yeah, I speak to ownership all the time. They ask my opinion on the head coaching position with Coach Patricia, and I gave them my opinion and analysis, and I agree with their assessment.”
On if he will give any input to Head Coach Matt Patricia if he makes coaching staff changes: “Nope. Matt has full authority on his coaching staff, so I do not.”
On what they can do to fix the pivotal points in a season where they fall short: “Yeah, that’s the million-dollar question. That’s what we have to look at and say, ‘What are the things we can do to when those big plays come up in the Arizona game or take the officials out of it in the Green Bay (game)? What can we do to avoid kicking five field goals in the Green Bay game and scoring one more touchdown, and it doesn’t matter at the end?’ You name it down to the Oakland game when we’re down to our last drive and have a chance to score, like all of those things. That’s everything we have to evaluate. I don’t have the crystal ball right now to tell you the one thing. If I had that one thing, we wouldn’t be standing here right now, so that’s something we’re going to take a look at this offseason, and do everything in our power to make the decisions that are best for the organization and to get us over that hump of getting over those pressure points.”
On the reason for losing close games: “Well you know this year – looking back at it, my first year was 2016 and that’s when we had what, eight fourth-quarter comebacks, is that right? This year you guys know the stats of the games we’ve lost after having a lead. You guys know the stats better than I do. So it was almost like the reverse of my first year for whatever reason. I hope I answered your question Pat, I was just trying to –.”
On how they can win close games: “Yeah, we’re trying to sort that out.”
On how a mandate to compete for the playoffs impacts the short-term and long-term decisions of the team: “Yeah, that’s a good question. When I took this job in 2016, my vision was as a general manager you always have to have your lens on the short-term and the long-term, and that’s not going to change. That is not going to change for me. Obviously, we need to win next year. I understand that. But when you’re trying to build the organization, you’re trying to create a lasting ability to win. You have to make decisions that are prudent for short-term and long-term. It has to be a combination of both. If you go after it one year, you might go 8-8 and not do anything or 9-7, and then the next year you have nothing. I have to take all personnel decisions, all decisions for the organization with a short-term and a long-term focus.”
On if anything has changed with the dynamic of how they go about the offseason: “No. It’s all pretty much the same, standard procedure.”
On LB Christian Jones’ contract extension: “Yeah, Christian was a guy we obviously signed two years ago. Really good scheme fit for what we do, very versatile. As you guys know, when we’re trying to build the front seven, it’s really hard to find linebackers that can play on the line of scrimmage and off. I think Christian has obviously shown he can do that at a good level. I thought with his contract coming up we had some discussions midseason with his agent. It came together pretty quickly actually, and we thought it was a fair deal for a guy that’s played a lot of good football for us the last couple of years.”
On if he will continue to take a look at quarterbacks in the draft: “Yeah, obviously with where we’re drafting, we’re going to have to pay attention to everybody. I think previously when we were drafting in the teens and 20s you can really not spend a lot of time on the top seven or eight because with what it would cost to get up there, you would really never do it. So I think this year with where we’re drafting, we’re going to have to take a closer look at everything and just know really from A to Z, 1 to 250 the draft, rather than not focusing on just the guys we’re going to be picking. Sure, quarterbacks included.”
On the impact he thinks the team’s 2020 first-round draft pick will have: “You would hope the guy would be an impact player at (No.) three. I think the draft pool isn’t set yet. The juniors haven’t officially declared. Some of them have, but we’re still waiting on – you’re probably going to hear another 50 names here in the next couple of weeks of who’s declaring. So I think I’ll kind of hold comments on that until maybe we talk about it at the Combine.”
On how beneficial coaching the Senior Bowl is: “Yeah, I’ve never been a part of a staff that has coached it. So I’ve heard good things, as in I know a few staff members that are currently here were on the staff the last time we had it. I think it was the year they drafted Ziggy (Ansah), is that correct? So I’ve heard good things. If we get that call here in the next couple of days, we’ll be excited about. Mobile is a great place to visit. I usually spend four days, what’s a couple of more?”
On if nine players from their 2019 NFL Draft class appearing in a game for the team this season was due to injuries or talent: “Probably a little bit of both. I mean some of those guys obviously we drafted, and they played, and we wanted them to play, and I think some of them played because of injuries. But I think we feel good about our draft class. The biggest jump is from Year 1 to Year 2, so we want those guys to make a big jump. T.J. (Hockenson) is going to come back healthy. Jahlani (Tavai) – I thought he had good rookie year for a linebacker. It’s a hard position to play as a rookie, and he stepped in and played really well. Will (Harris) had some growing pains midseason, but I think Will Harris played his best game of the season yesterday. (He) really kind of let it loose and played fast, so that was a good sign. Some of those other guys later rounds, they did a little bit, but they need to do a lot more next year.”
On if he thinks the team’s talent compares to the talent of the rest of the NFC North division:“Yeah, I do. The record doesn’t indicate that, but I do feel like our talent – we’re not there yet. We have to add some guys like we do every year. Every team changes, I talk about it every year – 25 to 30% every year. So we just have to make a good run at it this year and make sure those new 25% of our players can contribute at a high level and help push us over the edge to get more wins.”