FORD FIELD
WEEK 1: SUNDAY, SEPT. 12, 2021
The following are post-game notes and quotes from the Detroit Lions’ 41-33 loss to the San Francisco 49ers at Ford Field on Sunday, Sept. 12, 2021.
POST-GAME NOTES
LIONS SCORING PLAYS
- Second Quarter: QB Jared Goff threw a six-yard touchdown pass to TE T.J. Hockenson to tie the score at 7-7 with 13:29 left in the half. K Austin Seibert made the extra point.
- Second Quarter: K Austin Seibert kicked a 49-yard field goal to cut the score to 14-10 with 6:13 left in the quarter.
- Third Quarter: QB Jared Goff completed a 43-yard touchdown pass to RB D’Andre Swift to cut the score to 38-17 with 4:23 left in the quarter. K Austin Seibert made the extra point.
- Fourth Quarter: RB Jamaal Williams ran for a one-yard touchdown to cut the score to 41-25 with 1:53 left to play. QB Jared Goff completed the two-point conversion to TE T.J. Hockenson.
- Fourth Quarter: QB Jared Goff completed a two-yard touchdown pass to WR Quintez Cephus with 1:07 remaining in the game. Goff completed the two-point try to Cephus to cut the score to 41-33.
TEAM NOTES
The Lions… - Produced a takeaway on the defense’s first play from scrimmage in a season-opener for the second time in four seasons.
- Had two running backs each catch at least eight passes for at least 50 yards in the same game for the first time in franchise history.
- Had two running backs each produce at least 100 yards from scrimmage and score a touchdown in the same game for the first time since Sept. 11, 2016.
- Scored 33 points against the 49ers, the ninth-most the team has produced in a season-opener since the merger.
- Made two two-point conversions in a single game for only the third time in franchise history and the first time since 2003.
- Produced 430 yards of total offense, the seventh-most they’ve produced in a Week 1 game since the merger.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
QB JARED GOFF - Completed 38-of-57 passes (66.7%) for 338 yards, three touchdowns and one interception for a 92.6 passer rating.
- Set franchise records for the most completions and attempts in a quarterback’s debut, while ranking second for the most passing yards and tying for the second-most touchdown passes.
- Became the 36th different quarterback to start a game for the Lions since the merger.
- Passed QB Dak Prescott (109) for the 20th
-most touchdown passes through 70 games played in NFL history. - Passed QB Kurt Warner (18,490) for the sixth-most passing yards through 70 games in NFL history.
- Produced his 10th game with at least 300 passing yards and three passing touchdowns, tied for the ninth-most in NFL history through 70 games played.
- Produced his 15th game with at least three touchdown passes, tied for the 17th
-most in NFL history through 70 games played. - Produced his 26th game with at least 300 passing yards, tied for the third-most in NFL history through 70 games played.
TE T.J. HOCKENSON - Finished with eight receptions for 97 yards (12.1 avg.) and one touchdown.
- Produced his fourth-career game with at least 50 yards and a touchdown, the fourth-most by a Lions tight end.
- Became the first tight end in NFL history to produce at least 50 yards and a touchdown in each of the first three Week 1 games of his career.
o The last NFL player to do so was Hall of Famer Bob Hayes (1965-67). - Reached 100 receptions for his career, becoming just the second Lions tight end to produce his 100th reception through 29 games played.
- Became the 12th tight end in NFL history to produce at least 100 receptions, 1,100 yards and nine touchdowns through 29 career games played.
T PENEI SEWELL - At 20 years and 338 days old, became the youngest player to start a game at left tackle in NFL history.
o Became the second-youngest player to appear in a game in franchise history (since 1950).
o Became the second player in franchise history to start a game before turning 21 (since 1970).
RB D’ANDRE SWIFT - Rushed 11 times for 39 yards (3.5 avg.) and caught eight passes for 65 yards (8.1 avg.) and a touchdown to produce 104 yards from scrimmage on the day. His eight receptions marked a career high.
- Recorded a 43-yard touchdown reception, a career-long reception. This marked the longest touchdown catch by a Lions running back since RB Reggie Bush had a 77-yard score on Sept. 8, 2013.
o This marks the sixth-longest touchdown reception by a Lions running back in history. - Joins RBs Barry Sanders and Billy Sims as the only Lions players to total at least 1,000 yards from scrimmage and 11 touchdowns from scrimmage through 14 career games.
- Became the fifth player in NFL history to produce at least 550 rushing yards, eight rushing touchdowns, 400 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns through 14 career games played.
S TRACY WALKER - Notched seven solo tackles, 1.0 sack and one tackle for loss on the day.
- Recorded one tackle for loss, the 12th of his career. This ties for the third-most tackles for loss by a defensive back in franchise history.
- Produced the second sack of his career.
RB JAMAAL WILLIAMS - Rushed nine times for 54 yards (6.0 avg.) and a touchdown and caught eight passes for 56 yards (7.0) in his Lions debut, totaling 110 yards from scrimmage.
- Tied his career-high for receptions in a game.
- Became the first Lions running back to rush for at least 50 yards and a touchdown in a game and produce at least 50 receiving yards since RB Joique Bell on Dec. 7, 2014.
LIONS HEAD COACH DAN CAMPBELL POST-GAME QUOTE SHEET
Opening statement: “State the obvious here. We didn’t do enough to win there. We dug ourselves in a really big ditch, early, against a very good team. Everything that we said that we needed to do to win this game we really didn’t do. We were better in the second half. We gave ourselves a chance, but it wasn’t good enough.”
On what factors led to being in a 28-point hole: “Look, it was two-fold. Offense, we go for it on fourth and we don’t get it. I don’t— I’m not going to second guess that. I wanted to be aggressive, I wanted to try and find a way to get seven on the board instead of three. Defense goes out there, gets a stop. Turnover, first one out—we talk about turnovers. Well, now we have a chance to capitalize. We get in a second-and-long, we throw a screen. The timing’s not good, we get blasted. We lose yards, now we’re out of field goal range. We make it a longer field goal, we kick, we miss. And so now we’ve just squandered two opportunities on offense, when we could have capitalized on what the defense did for us. And then on the flip side, the defense, we don’t get our first stop until the third quarter. I mean really—we did get the turnover, but they scored on every possession after that. And so now, you feel like you’re trying to stay true to who you are offensively but now you get forced in kind of a world that you’re not in. We had tackles for losses in our run game, we’re not capitalizing on third down. I think we were 27 percent. It’s not good enough. And then two-for five on fourth certainly isn’t good enough. So it was truly a team effort. It was truly a team effort and it just got out of hand early.
You throw the ball 57 times, that’s not our game man. We’re not going to win a lot of those games. Now, we had a chance. We gave ourselves a chance, but we have to eliminate all the little stuff. There’s going to be so much stuff to clean up on that tape.”
On his thoughts on QB Jared Goff’s Lions debut and his pick-six: “That was one we all wish he would have had back. I’m sure he does too. He just kind of hung on (T.J.) Hockenson too long and it bit us in the ass. But, all in all, look—when you put 57 passes on a guy relative to the way the game was going, he gave us a chance to come back. I’ll say that. And I do believe, all the way to the end man, he gave us a chance at the end of the game. You’d like to believe that we if we could keep ourselves out of that situation, your odds of winning are even better.”
On his philosophy on going for it on fourth down multiple times today: “It just—I felt like we needed to do that this game. I think every game has its own challenges and its own unique floorplan, if you will. I just felt like it was important to try and create some momentum, if you will. I knew that three wasn’t going to be good enough to beat this team. And so how do you get seven? The best way to do that is give some four-downs to your offense and go for it on fourth down. So I don’t second guess those, I don’t. I wanted to try to be aggressive, but smart at the same time. We came up short.”
On RB Jamaal Williams’ and RB D’Andre Swift’s performances today: “I would say, well first of all, Jamaal has been the rock because he’s been there every day. He’s been steady, he’s been sound. We know exactly what he is. He’s been very durable and dependable. That showed again today. He was exactly who we knew he would be and there’s value in that. Swift hasn’t practiced a ton. Now, we got him back, and you could see what he could do when you get him back. But there was things that Swift was able to do—that screen that he took to the house was something special. But it’s clear that he’s missed some practice. He was rusty. There was little things to his game that he can—and will be so much better now that he’s got this game under his belt. He’ll just get a little better and a little better and a little better. So look, I’m encouraged with that.”
On CB Jeff Okudah’s performance today: “Until I really watch the tape—I mean look—I know the long one we all saw. Man, we got the pressure that we wanted on (Jimmy) Garoppolo. He just—the ball gets fluttered up in the air, a long one. Jeff just didn’t get his eyes around. They made a play on the ball and it hurt. It hurt us. It was just—I would say for Jeff, it was an up and down game. He flashes on a few plays, you’re like, ‘Wow. OK there he is’. And then next thing you know, something happens that’s just—I don’t want to make excuses, but at the same time he’s in year two. He made some young errors is what he did.”
On if there is an update on CB Jeff Okudah’s potential injury: “Yeah, we’re checking him out now. We know obviously it’s somewhere around the ankle, could be Achilles. We’ll know a lot more this afternoon, hopefully, or tomorrow morning.”
On his reflections on his first regular season game as Lions Head Coach: “Look, kind of what I told Dave (Birkett). I wanted to try to be aggressive, but not to a fault, to try to give ourselves some momentum. I knew we had to be able to stop them in the run game.
That’s what they do really well and everything is built off of it. And we didn’t do that early enough. Once again, we just didn’t capitalize offensively. When we had our opportunities, you go for it on fourth, you have to make them count. And if you’re willing to do that, then your defense has to come back on the field and get a stop. When you dig yourselves in a 31 to 10 hole at halftime and you feel like you’re built on run and play-action pass and some of those things, it makes it difficult. Now, it’s a credit to our—it’s a credit to our guys. They fought. They got themselves back into it. And ultimately my message to them was, I told them, ‘I don’t know
what’s going to happen in this game. You could end up being up big, you could be down big. But if you’ll just play each play’. I told you guys earlier in the week, I told them. This game is never over till the very end and just keep playing it for what it is. As bad as it can be, or even as good as it can be, the game’s not over until it’s over. So just play the situation and the down as it comes and don’t worry about the rest of the stuff.”
On the potential to build on the run game: “I do, I do feel that way. I feel like that’s a positive. I like our offensive line. I think they can move people. I think our backs can run it. Now, we’ve got to find a way to get some – we need to create some explosive plays in the pass game. It doesn’t mean you’re throwing it downfield every play, but we got to find a way to get better at pushing the ball down the field because we can’t live that way and we’re about to face an opponent who’s going to force us to score some points now. So, we got to find a way to get it down field a little bit.”
On T Penei Sewell’s first-career NFL game: “You’re talking about (Penei) Sewell? I thought that – it was probably towards the end of the second quarter and we’d gone in to this game plan wanting to take care of our tackles, even when (Taylor) Decker was playing. We wanted to take care of both of them just to be smart, game one, and we were going to be very mindful of him. It was late in the second and I remember I was going to say something into the headset like, “This kid’s playing pretty good. Like, I feel like he’s holding his own.” I didn’t want to do it because I didn’t want to jinx him, but I felt like from afar he really did. When you don’t even
think twice about (it) at a certain point and you’re thinking about everything else, that’s a good sign.”
On the decision to move T Penei Sewell from RT to LT for today’s game: “I think, ultimately, we felt like we knew that matchup would be (Nick) Bosa over there, who was – we all know the type of player he is. We just felt like, athletically, he was the best matchup for him knowing he would get a dose of him and he is. He’s powerful, he’s big, he’s explosive, I’m talking about Sewell and
he’s played some left tackle in college. I mean, that’s what he had done and I know he embraced it. Like, he was really excited to go back to left. So, it just felt like the right move and from that standpoint, we felt like he performed pretty well.”
On if he has a worst-case scenario for an injury to CB Jeff Okudah: “I don’t know. I mean, we’ll see. I know that they checked that out. They said that could be a possibility, but we don’t know for sure. So, I don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves with it.”
On if he will emphasize the positives or negatives from today’s game moving forward: “Here’s what I will ultimately take out of it is number one, one of the things I wanted to make sure that we did no matter what happened in this game, that we continue to play and just give yourself a chance at the end of the game. And we did do that. Now, you don’t picture it being that or you’re going to throw it 57 times, but ultimately, our guys – they did play till the end. They didn’t throw their palms up and they didn’t start sulking and they didn’t start – they just went back to work and found a way to get back into this game. Defense played better in the second
half. Offense found a way to score some touchdowns. Special teams did their job, we got an onside kick and we gave ourselves a chance. But man, our margin for error is so small. We have to play the game a certain way. It’s just the way we are and the way we’re built. We cannot – we don’t have the luxury of making some of the mistakes we made and being able to win. So, we got to clean that, and we will clean that up.”
LIONS QB JARED GOFF POST-GAME QUOTE SHEET
On how he processes an up-and-down game like today: “I think that you find out a lot about who you are. There are going to be a lot of games this year that are going our way and games that aren’t going our way. This one certainly was not early on. I think you find out who you are as a team and we found out a little bit about some guys today which is a good thing. With that being said, we can’t put ourselves in that position. We can’t go down that much early and expect to have a high percentage of victory very often. Specifically, to myself, can’t throw a pick on the two-minute drill, specifically a pick-6 and give them that momentum, all that right
before the half. Would love to have that one back but I was proud of how the guys fought.”
On what he saw on the final offensive play of the game: “I was trying to get something up. (Amon-Ra) St. Brown told me he thought I was scrambling so he was adlibbing a little bit and I was just trying to get something up there.”
On what he found out today about the young receivers: “We’ve got some scrappy guys and some guys that will fight, that will fight for each other, and that will fight for me, and will fight for the ball. It’s good to see. I think a lot of those plays that you see a guy like (Quintez) Cephus making—I know Kalif (Raymond) had the ball down the field, (Amon-Ra) St. Brown had the play. Trinity (Benson), to show up on Monday and make the plays he was making all day, it’s pretty impressive. I know the best thing about them is that they’re sitting in there right now critiquing themselves which is good. So, a lot to build on for them for sure.”
On his interception returned for a touchdown: “I was trying to get something in there to T.J. (Hockenson). Unfortunately, the ball didn’t come out the way that I wanted it to with what he had going on. Yeah, just one I’d like to have back. Certainly, wasn’t throwing it over there.”
On the chemistry between him and TE T.J. Hockenson: “T.J. did a great job. It’s a chemistry that I’ve spoken about that we’ve been building I think ever since I first got here that me and him have been working together. There are a lot of things today that showed up that are from all that work and from that chemistry that you’re talking about. I think specifically the touchdown, just being a player there and kind of adjusting his route to make it work. It was good and we made it work.”
On the lack of explosive plays in the passing game: “I think you can easily take the excuse of their defense is pretty damn good up front. They can get home and they can get to the passer pretty good. But at the same time that’s a lot of teams in this League, it’s going to be either every week or every other week that we play. So, we have to create them. We have to find ways to get down the field. We have to find ways to get guys open and I have to find ways to deliver the ball to them.”
On how he thought T Penei Sewell played: “I thought he played great.”
On if he is encouraged by the production in the run game: “Yeah, sure. You’re encouraged by a lot of individual plays. I think a lot of he run game is stuff that you’re encouraged by. The stuff that needs to be cleaned up is kind of the – as the flow of the game goes, being able to continue that and stay consistent. There’s a lot of individual plays like you said. A lot of those runs were really good and our running backs are damn good and our O-line is damn good. So, we can lean on that and rely on that, but it’s the consistency of that. It starts in practice and it’s every play throughout the game.”
On what it says about Head Coach Dan Campbell that he is willing to go for it consistently on fourth down: “I love it. I love it. He’s an aggressive guy and I don’t think I even flinched to come off the field on a few of those. I kind of expected it to happen and we love doing it.”
On if the comeback push gave him encouragement for the season: “Personally, I think I kind of spoke on it earlier, it’s good to know who we are and hopefully the team knows who I am and we can draw from that a little bit. But at the same time, we shouldn’t put ourselves in that position. We shouldn’t have to show who we are and, in that sense, we should hopefully be making it a game the whole game and making plays throughout the game.”
On if the game plan called for more passes to running backs and tight ends more that wide receivers or if the 49ers defense took away looks to the receivers: “A little bit of both. Obviously, we want to get those guys involved. We do want to get the ball in (D’Andre) Swift and Jamaal (Williams) and T.J.’s (Hockenson) hands. And so yeah, probably a little bit of both. Some of that was designed and then some of it was just the way that they were rushing the passer, the way they’re covering down field and they were open.”
On fans returning to Ford Field for the first time since 2019: “We appreciate the people that were here and that stuck around and made it loud for us there at the end. We know we need to give you guys something to cheer about a little earlier on in the game and we intend to, but it makes us feel that energy and we do feel the momentum when we can get that stadium rocking late in games, even when it’s not going our way.”
On the rotation between RBs Jamaal Williams and D’Andre Swift: “I felt fine about it. I think they both do a great job and both have homerun abilities. You saw Swift on the screen. You saw Jamaal on all of those runs he had up the middle there. They’re a good complement.”
On how much of the roster he is still feeling out in the passing game: “A little bit. There’s a little bit of that, especially—Trinity is the easy one, right? He got here six days ago. So, there is a little bit of that, but at the same time, we’re playing on a field on Sundays. It’s time to make plays. There is no excuse for anything that happens in the game. I guess to answer your question, it will be nice to have some time on task with a lot of these guys and be able to put some stuff on the field, in practice, and then be able to apply to the game will be nice, no doubt.”
On the vibe in the huddle during the comeback: “It was great. It was really good. Again, I think you found out who we are and it’s not a moral victory and it’s not something that we’re necessarily proud of, but it is something that is good to know. It’s not going to be the last time that we’re down in a game. It’s not going to be the last time that we have to come back. And on the flipside, we’re going to be up in some games where we have to stay the course and know that each play is its own individual play. It’s encouraging to know who we are, but at the same time, we have a lot of stuff to get fixed and I’m excited to get it fixed starting tomorrow.”
LIONS OLB TREY FLOWERS POST-GAME QUOTE SHEET
On the continued aggressiveness throughout the game: “Oh yeah, definitely. You fight hard. It’s a team that is not going to give up. I think we got to do the things in between better and that’s just settle down. Like you said, we started off fairly fast, but in the second half of football when there needs to be plays back to those fundamentals and stopping the run, tackling, leverage. Things like that I think we got to clean up when it comes to the big games.”
On what he saw on the forced fumble: “It’s just effort you know and glory to God for being in the right position. So like I said, we had a chance there and that was play in the beginning, play in the end, but those in-betweens we got to come up with some plays in between.”
On the biggest change in his role: “Just the same thing. Just being tied in, especially with this team as far as emotions and things like that. Being tied in is a change as far as my job and understanding that you got to listen to a lot more of the defense, of the switched calls or whatever it is. That’s about it. It’s still the same game. I’m on the edge, got to set the edge, got to make tackles in front of running backs.”
LIONS TE T.J. HOCKENSON POST-GAME QUOTE SHEET
On what he learned from the game: “Yeah, I think you kind of find out who our team is and we’re not willing to back down in certain situations. I think we got to come out a lot faster and we have to be better as an offense, better as a defense, better as a team at first in the first half. I was really pleased with the guys and everybody, how we came out in that second half. It just wasn’t enough. That’s how the game of football is. We’re going to come back next week and come in tomorrow and learn from the tape. There’s a lot of good stuff on there. So, I think a lot of the guys will learn from that and we’ll come back next week.”
On his connection with QB Jared Goff: Yeah, I think we spent a lot of time in the offseason trying to get that development with JG (Jared Goff) and kind of continuing that relationship. And I’ve talked about our relationship as friends, as teammates. I think we’re going to continue to show that on the field on Sundays. When we’re playing it just really shows the connection, you know that everybody has. I think there’s a lot of excitement out there. So, like I said, we’re going to learn from this film and we’re going to come back.”
On what it means to have a starting quarterback have so much trust in him and his abilities: “Yeah I love that. I mean I’m just excited to be in that position and continue to be in that position. But I got to come in day in and day out and continue to improve and continue to gain that trust. That’s not just one game. I think for you guys, it kind of shows on Sundays what we do, but I think there’s a lot behind the scenes that we do to build that. I just need to continue to do that and continue to improve.”
LIONS T PENEI SEWELL POST-GAME QUOTE SHEET
On if he felt back at home on the left side: “I definitely really felt comfortable out there at left. I mean, there was no other choice, I was gonna play it come game time, so I had to be ready.”
On if he thought about the difficulty of making his first start against 49ers DE Nick Bosa: “To be honest not that much. If I focus on that it would get to my head. Again, can’t let the name on the back of that jersey beat me, so going in I gotta just focus on just kind of looking at them as another person and go from there.”
On his overall performance today: “It was alright. I gotta get better at a couple things. My hands were out of whack, pad level came too high on a couple, so I gotta go back to the drawing board and get better for next week.”
LIONS RB D’ANDRE SWIFT POST-GAME QUOTE SHEET
On the production in the run game today: “We did some good things, but it just wasn’t enough. We just can’t play from behind like that. We’ve got to finish better and come out stronger, get off to a better start.”
On what he saw on his receiving touchdown: “I really didn’t have to do much. Jonah (Jackson) did a good job of making a kickout block on the linebacker. I really didn’t have to do much, just get out vertical and make a man miss thanks to Jonah.”
On how much he feels up to full speed: “I feel good, especially getting out there and getting the reps that I did have today. It felt good getting back in the groove of things.”
On how the offense can start faster: “No penalties. We want every drive to end in a kick, preferably (at least) a field goal. We just have to start better. We can’t play from behind.”
On the offense’s fourth-quarter comeback: “Somebody had to make a play. We were saying that every time we’d get back in the huddle, ‘Let’s make a play.’ We knew what was at stake, we knew what had to be done, we just didn’t get it done. Looking into the eyes of the guys that were in the huddle, nobody had any fear or anything like that. Somebody was going to make a play, we just came up short.”
LIONS RB JAMAAL WILLIAMS POST-GAME QUOTE SHEET
On what he was seeing today to make him play well: “I was having fun. They were moving people. Seeing holes like that just makes you happy. It makes you want to keep on going, pounding. IT’s just unfortunate how the way the game went that we had to get out of it and start throwing the ball. I love the way my line was blocking today and making it easy for me and (D’Andre) Swift.
On if he is comfortable with working in the pass and run games: “Give me the ball. No, it was fun, honestly. Great first game I feel. Just getting settled in and learning. We still have things we need to work on and just be ready to go. I’m proud of my team because of the way we worked and we fought hard at the end and we still had a chance to win that game. So, even after all of the things and the mistakes that we went through, we still had a chance to win that game. I’m still positive, it’s only week one, it’s a long season. We’re just ready to go and we need to keep that mindset, steadfast, and keep chopping down that redwood tree.”
On T Penei Sewell’s performance: “He’s out there. Shoot, I seen holes. That’s all I saw. But I’m proud of him. Coming in there and first game playing against other superstars and left tackle, that’s a hard position just in general. For him to come in and do his job and have him running the ball pushing people out of the way and stuff. I’m proud of the way he played. It just gives us more optimism, positive energy to see what else we’re going to do this year. We’ll get it going and we will be good.
