| LIONS HEAD COACH MATT PATRICIA QUOTE SHEET Opening statement: “All right, good afternoon. First, before we kickoff here, I just want to make sure I express gratitude and thankfulness to all the men and women that serve in our country’s military and that have served. (I) just want to let everybody know the appreciation that we have for what they’ve sacrificed and what they do, so that we can have the great opportunity to do this every single day. Obviously on Veteran’s Day, I think that’s a great opportunity to be really thankful for that. (I) just want to make sure we acknowledge that and talk about that first. “As far as the game is concerned, obviously not the outcome we wanted from that aspect of it. There were some plays in there that were good – I think some plays that we can build off. But certainly (there were) some mistakes in there that I think just cost us from having an opportunity to win the game in the end. We went through the tape with the players, we’re still going through that with them right now, and we’ll go through some corrections here this afternoon. We know how critically important today is for that, to be able to do that, knowing that the next time that we play them it’s going to be on a short week in a situation where our preparation time is going to be cut, and we’re obviously going to have to do a great job. It’s really our opportunity to kind of get ahead from that week from that standpoint, and make sure we get that cleaned up. Other than that, I think we hit some of the topics last night with the game. I’ll take questions and kind of go from there.” On how important the film session analysis is for QB Jeff Driskel today and his performance yesterday: “I think it’s obviously really critical from that standpoint. Today is always a big learning day for us as a team and all of the players individually, so that’s really important for that aspect of it. I certainly think Jeff did everything we asked him to do from a standpoint of running the offense and some things in there that we had game-planned up that were specific for some of the things that we thought would hurt the Bears that he did a good job of. Certainly, there are some plays out there that we would like to have back in those situations, but I thought he handled the situation really well. I thought he tried to do everything he could to help the offense. I think in general, there were just a lot of other things that really hurt us through the course of the game. Penalties being one of the biggest things and getting off track and allowing the Bears to be ahead on the sticks defensively from that standpoint to be able to dial some things up that gave us some issues. There were still some basic fundamentals out there that we didn’t perform very well. We had some balls that were dropped that we have to come up with and that’s a basic fundamental skill that we have to be able to do a good job of. Certainly, I think everything that we can do to coach it and play it better in those situations, we’re trying to do, and certainly today is big day for that to get some of that fixed. I did think he tried to do everything we asked him to do there.” On an injury update for QB Matthew Stafford and if there is a possibility for Reserve/Injured: “No updates on him. Again, it is truly day-by-day, week-by-week, right now as far as he is concerned. He practiced all last week, so we’ll move ahead with kind of a similar plan as we go forward this week.” On the timeline of when QB Matthew Stafford was ruled out: “Basically, the way last week worked was: Stafford practiced all week. He took a lot of reps during the course of the week. Now we always practice our backup quarterback, we have for the entire season in a certain amount of reps during the course of the week. I would say depending on the previous game, a lot of those reps for the backup quarterback will usually go earlier in the week, maybe later in the week depending on kind of where Matthew feels in the beginning part of the week, or if it’s a short week or something along those lines. He felt really good through the course of the week, so that was all positive from that standpoint. We had some additional scanning Friday evening that took place, and that scanning really caused us to have some further internal discussions over the weekend. That was really kind of what sparked some of those conversations. The discussions, the details of those I’m going to leave private – those are medical conversations. But to be honest with you, Saturday, when we came in before we left, just to prepare the team and our preparation to make sure we were doing our due diligence because of where the rep count was – I told the team, ‘Look, we have to be prepared for all outcomes, and if it’s a situation where our quarterback can’t play, we have to be ready to go.’ We actually extended our Saturday walkthrough with that in mind, so we took a double amount of reps just to get everybody ready to go. It’s really no different than some of the other things that we did during the course of the week with other positions, whether it is a specialty player, a punter, a kicker. Obviously, the quarterback is in the same situation because you only have one guy that does the majority of that stuff. With that in mind, I wanted to make sure the team was prepared. But really, knowing Matthew Stafford, he wants to play. He’s extremely tough, he’s extremely competitive and honestly, we spent most of Saturday trying to figure out a way if there was a way for him to play safely. I mean that’s really it. He’s very competitive, he’s honestly one of the toughest guys that I’ve ever been around. I’ve seen him play through some pain in other games that I don’t even know if some of the toughest guys would play through. In those situations where it looks as we’re going through the course of the week, in previous weeks where he’s been really sore, beat up and I’m like, ‘I don’t know if this guy is going to make it,’ and he shows up on Sunday. With that in mind, knowing the toughness, knowing how competitive he is, I just wanted to wait as long as possible from that standpoint because of his situation. “I would say the timeline for us was when we got to Chicago late Saturday night, got done with meetings, I think at that point in time that I just knew he wouldn’t start and out of respect for him and everything that he’s done for this organization, I just wanted to leave the option open when we got to Sunday if he wanted to dress. I think that’s important, I think that’s important to a player. I’ve been in that situation before where I had to tell a very established, long-term, long-time great player in the NFL that he was inactive, and it probably broke my heart more than it broke his to tell him that. So, I wanted to leave him that option, and therefore we would make it official on Sunday morning if he wanted to dress. Honestly, if he woke up good Sunday and walked in – there was another conversation Sunday, so we had to meet again and go through that on Sunday morning and at that point we made the decision that it wasn’t safe, and we couldn’t figure out a way to do it. Jeff Driskel was told at that point that he was going to go. It wasn’t a surprise to him from that aspect of it because we prepared appropriately, and we just went out and played. From that aspect of it, there were a lot of things that went through my mind as far as dressing for the game and not dressing for the game. There are certainly different scenarios where I thought, ‘OK, well this would be good or not good.’ In the end the reality was it wasn’t safe for him to play Sunday, we made that decision. We had a lot of guys injured, we had some guys that already kind of weren’t really going to be able to play and we kind of dressed some guys that were kind of beat up just because of where we were with the injuries. In the end it wasn’t eight healthy guys being inactive sort of conversation, in the end it was what would be the best scenario?” On how he balances long-term injury risk and a player’s desire to play in a game: “Yeah, it’s really hard. I mean it’s just hard every single – but I take it day-by-day. I do respect that from – these guys are super competitive, they’re super tough, they’ve been doing this a long time. He’s been doing it an extremely a long time at a high level, and like I said, played through things that I don’t think most people would play through. So, for me, I just have to take it day-by-day, and in the end if we wait until the final minute because out of respect for him to walk in and be like, ‘No,’ I have to understand that. But in the end as the head coach, I’m going to try to do the best thing, not only for the team, but for Matthew Stafford as an individual or any of our players as individuals. It’s no different than a lot of the other injuries we get or guys that we get that sometimes I look at them – whether it’s an ankle, a knee, a head or whatever it is, and I just feel like it’s not safe, it’s not right. Then as a coach sometimes you have to make those decisions. They’re not easy.” On if there should have been a change to QB Matthew Stafford’s injury designation on Saturday: “The only thing about that is, and the one thing that we were conscious of, and I was really conscious of is if you downgrade a player to out, then you can’t make him active or dressed. That was the only thing I thought that would be more messed up, right? Trying to get a guy to dress after we downgrade him to out. ‘OK, let’s take the night, let’s go to bed and let’s wake up tomorrow and see how we feel, and then make a decision.’ That was really my biggest concern there, if we downgrade him to out, then I can’t even have him dressed for the game, which I wanted to leave that option open.” On whose decision it was for QB Matthew Stafford not to dress: “(It was) collective. Yeah, a collective decision. I would say for me, it was really when I talked to the medical staff and talked to everybody appropriately in that conversation, and I just thought that at that point it was like, ‘All right, well I’m going to have this other guy up just in case,’ because we had some other injury issues that I was really concerned with in a different position that I was like, ‘In a major emergency, this might be a deal.’ Honestly, there are things that go through your head like, ‘OK, obviously Sam (Martin) was a little bit beat up this week, and what if something happens to him, who’s going to hold?’ Stafford, he’s that guy. It was Danny Amendola, but he wasn’t doing it this week. You kind of go through those scenarios of emergency situations and I would say we had another one that was a little bit more pressing that maybe we had a guy active that was still in the same sort of not totally healthy but could have gone in and done what he had to do to help us. So, (we were) kind of weighing all of those situations, that’s where that decision came from.” On why he believes he should coach the Lions another year and if he is worried that he will not: “I think for me, every single day I come to work, and I work as hard as I can to try to do everything I can to make this team better. I truly believe that this team is tough. I truly believe that this team goes out and fights every single day. I think they work hard. There’s probably progress that I see that I think is encouraging that maybe everybody else doesn’t see because we’re judged by what we do on Sunday, and that’s where we need to improve. There’s no doubt about that. But like I said, for me I come to work every single day. I work my butt off to try to do everything I can to help this team win. Honestly, I think we’re whatever we are, 24, 25 games in. So, we have a long way to go. We have a lot of work to do, but we’re working really hard at that.” On LB Jahlani Tavai wearing the coach-to-defense communication system and seeing more playing time against Chicago: “Those guys, there’s actually quite a few of them that have green dot availability during the game depending on some of the package or situations. I think one of the things that I was conscious of in this game was making sure we did have a good rotation with the linebacker corps. I think we have some good players there that really – and there’s maybe a sweet spot in there of a repetition count that I think for us, with some of the packages that we ran. We had a couple different packages that we kind of threw at the Bears, and I think for that was it was predetermined. It was something that we had kind of scripted through the game of like, ‘Hey, we’re going to give certain guys rest during these series and roll them in and out,’ from that aspect of it. So, that we could try to be better in the fourth quarter, which was I think, maybe something that we talked about the previous week, I guess, was trying to be better in the fourth quarter, which I thought we were. I think from that standpoint, some of those rotational type of series, I thought they helped.” On if they had specific packages for the Bears: “Some of the packages I ran yesterday were specific for that game, but not necessarily ones that we haven’t practice or maybe had dialed up before.” On an injury update for RB Ty Johnson, T Rick Wagner and DT Kevin Strong: “Rick, he’s in (concussion) protocol, so we’ll have to go through that process from that standpoint. Nothing new other than just the protocol for him. Certainly, one of those situations that are hard when you walk out, but he was good today, in good spirits and everything from that standpoint. Same with Ty Johnson – he’s in protocol. Miles Killebrew is still in protocol from last week too. So, those are kind of the three injuries there. Kevin Strong, we’re actually getting – still going through an evaluation here with the doctors here and taking a further look into some of the things that were bothering him from the game. He actually tried to go back out there and tried to play. I think, in the middle of the game he felt good, kind of went back and maybe had a little bit of a bigger body pushing on him, at that point it kind of – I don’t know if it reaggravated or whatever it did, so we’re going to wait and see. He was pretty sore this morning from that standpoint, so we’re going to try to grind through the night here and see what we can find out about that injury.” On the decision to not throw a Hail Mary at the end of the first half at Chicago: “The end of the first half, we were certainly trying to get actually, by the clock, into field goal range first with (Matt) Prater, obviously, which again, he made a heck of a kick yesterday, 54 yarder in that stadium with that wind and stuff. That’s really great for him. We were trying to get into that situation, and I think at the very end of it when we were looking at the situation as far as trying to throw one up, protection was probably our number one concern. Then also just kind of the wind and the particular play that we had dialed up there, we just didn’t feel it was the right situation.” LIONS QB MATTHEW STAFFORD QUOTE SHEET On how difficult it was to hear that he was not going to play at Chicago: “It was tough. Obviously, I want to be out there with the guys. I think it was the right decision, a collective decision, but it’s tough. I love playing this game. I work really hard to try and be out there for my teammates and wasn’t able to do it. So, (a) tough pill to swallow. I thought Jeff (Driskel) did a great job, played great. I think the guys rallied around him, which was good. Obviously, we’d love to come away with a win there, but I was proud of the way the guys fought.” On how he felt in practice last week: “I felt pretty good. I felt really good. I took as many or more repetitions than I normal do, to tell you the truth. Just trying to get out there and play. I wasn’t able to obviously do it on Sunday.” On the plan for him for the rest of the season: “I’m going to do everything I can to be out there. You guys know that. I think that that’s just something that’s kind of going to be a decision probably week-to-week on whether or not I can make it out there, but I’m going to do everything I can to try and be out there as soon as possible.” On if he was surprised by the results of his Friday medical scan: “Yeah, it surprised me. Definitely had a bunch of discussions and a bunch of people look at it to try and see if there was anything I could possibly do to help my chances and play. Obviously, asked around and ultimately I think made the correct decision.” On how much the injury is pain management opposed to function: “It’s both. It always is both. I’m not going to talk too much about it to be honest with you.” On if he is thinking about the long-term effects of his injury: “I’m just in the moment. I’m trying to play every Sunday. I’m trying to play as much as I possibly can. I felt like we were playing really well as an offense. I had a bunch of confidence when I was out there. I thought we were playing good. Obviously, disappointing to not be out there, but like I said, I’m going to do everything I can to be out there as soon as possible.” On if he felt restricted in practice the past week: “I thought I was throwing it pretty good. You can ask the receivers, but I thought I was throwing it pretty good.” On if the decision for him not to play was his or Head Coach Matt Patricia’s: “Collective. It always is. Obviously, had some input from a bunch of different doctors. Coach and I talked about it. I thought about it by myself, so it’s always a collective decision.” On if his practice regiment changes for this week or if it remains the same: “We’ll see. Honestly, we just put to bed the last game, so we’re going to be moving forward and kind of, I’m sure, having a bunch of conversations and devising a plan that is best.” On how hard he fights to try to play on Sunday: “At a certain point, I have to do what is best for the team too. I wanted to make sure that I gave myself as much opportunity, as much time as I possibly could. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to start the game but just wanted to be available if they needed me to finish the game handing off or hold a kick. I don’t know – something. I was just trying to help our team win. Ultimately, I think I made the right decision of giving my pads to somebody else and letting them go play. At the same time, I just wanted to give myself every chance if I could.” On if he knew Saturday that he was not going to play: “I knew I wasn’t going to probably start the game. Late Saturday night, coach and I were talking. Probably wasn’t going to be able to start the game, but thought I could still maybe be in there for an emergency if I needed to help out any way that I could. So, we left it open as late as possible.” On what the specific decision was on Sunday: “It’s dress, no dress. Just trying to see if we lose two quarterbacks in a game, and I have to go finish it out handing the ball off. Or, somebody gets hurt, and I have to go hold or do something – do whatever I can to go help.” On how he felt being on the sideline for a game: “It’s obviously an odd feeling for me to watch from the sideline, but I was pulling really hard for them. I wanted Jeff (Driskel) to play as good as he possibly could. I thought he did a great job for us. He plays the game differently than I do, but it’s fun to watch. He’s a super athletic guy, has a great arm. I thought, given the circumstances, he did a really nice job of coming in and giving us a chance to win there at the end.” On QB Jeff Driskel’s mobility and if he tried to give him any tips during the game: “I definitely can’t do some of the things that he can do, there is no question about that. He’s moving around, making great plays with his legs. He’s a big physical guy, so it was a lot of fun to watch. I’m just here to try and help – or I was on Sunday at least – just trying to help him in any way I could. I’ve played the Bears a bunch of times and he had it handled for the most part, but I was just trying to be there for him if I could.” On how his nerves changed when he doesn’t have control over the outcome: “Yeah, it was an odd feeling. I was probably in one of the weirder places that I’ve been mentally in a long time watching that game. But I was just trying to pull for the guys and obviously it was a close game down to the wire, so I was just hoping we could come away with it.” On if the injury is different from last year: “Correct.” On if he could take the rest of the season off: “That’s not my thinking at the moment. My thinking is to try to be out there as soon as I possibly can to help us win.” |
