Pool Report Interview with Referee Clete Blakeman
(On the unnecessary roughness penalty called on Detroit defensive back Tracy Walker at 14:54 of the third
quarter)
Question: On the helmet-to-helmet contact with Tracy Walker, it appeared he was going for the ball. Does the defensive
back have the right to go for the ball? Does that offset any incidental helmet-to-helmet contact?
Blakeman: “That’s a good question, but the reality is, it is strict liability for a defensive player. In this case, he may be
going for the ball and not intending to hit the helmet, but when there’s helmet contact, it is a foul in that situation.”
Question: Even if he had come up with the interception, that doesn’t change the ruling in any way?
Blakeman: “Even if he did impact the helmet and then intercepted the ball, it would still have been a foul.”
Question: On the two hands-to-the-face penalties on Detroit defensive end Trey Flowers. I don’t know if you were the one
who actually threw the flag there, but when discussing with the crew, what did you guys see on those calls?
Blakeman: “The umpire threw both of them. The last one was really the only one I’ve discussed with him. Basically, it’s for
illegal use of the hands, hands-to-the-face foul. To be a foul, we basically need some forceful contact that’s prolonged to
the head and neck area of the defender. So, in his mind he had pinned him back, it was prolonged, and that’s what
created the foul.”
Question: You said head or neck area?
Blakeman: “Head or neck area, yes.”
HEAD COACH MATT PATRICIA:
(on controversial calls by the refs) “We all know we can’t have those penalties, whatever it was that caused those to
take place. We’ll go back and take a look at it and make sure we are coaching it better, make sure we are doing the
right things. Just can’t have them. We know how dangerous Aaron Rodgers is and how detrimental those penalties
are.”
(on missed opportunities in the red zone) “Certainly, we have to get touchdowns. Obviously, we’ve got to get those
points, and we’ve got to keep them out of the end zone on defense. It’s a complementary game, it’s all three phases
working together. I think there’s certainly things we have to improve on in that aspect of it. In the red area, execution
has to be at its highest, whether it’s communication or alignments, we certainly can’t go backwards in that aspect on
offense and we can’t have penalties on defense. We have to clean that up.”
(on what happened on the 12 men on the field penalty that resulted in a Packers first down) “We have a couple of
different calls there in that situation, and one of the guys just didn’t get the communication. We have to get that fixed
and make sure that doesn’t happen. We can’t give Aaron Rodgers another chance.”
(on two tough losses in a row) “The good thing about this squad, I love coaching this squad, they’re a tough team,
mentally tough. That’s a great locker room in there. They’re pulling together now. They’re all stepping up and doing
everything they can to try to get it right. We don’t have a lot of time to reflect. We have to move forward. We have a
short week. We have Minnesota coming to us at home and we have to travel home tonight. We have to get the stuff
from the game cleaned up, and we have to push forward and get ready for next week. It’s a long season. There’s a
lot of games, a lot of good teams. It’s a fine line in the NFL every single week. We’ve got to get moving in the right
direction.”
(on settling for field goals) “In those situations, we’ve got to score touchdowns. You can’t settle for field goals when
you play Aaron Rodgers. But, it’s a complimentary game. We obviously had a lot of opportunities to win, and we
have to go out and execute all three phases better. It’s a team game. It’s not just one side. It’s all three phases
working together. We have to coach better. We have to get the coaching right. And we have to go out and execute.”
QUARTERBACK MATTHEW STAFFORD:
(on problems that occurred in the red zone) “No doubt. That was the story of the game in my opinion. I thought our
defense played well enough for us to win the game. We made some big plays on offense that we shouldn’t have
blown in the end zone. We can’t do that on the road against a good team. They made the plays at the end of the
game to beat us.”
(on the controversial penalty calls) “You guys have better views of them all than we do. We just go out there and
play. We know we aren’t playing the officials; we are playing the Packers. Calls are going to go your way, going to
go against you. I have no clue which ones were close or not.”
(on struggling to convert on third down) “Just execute. We had a couple here or there that were close. Just really,
it’s fundamental stuff. Just throw and catch better. That’s what third downs are about most of the time. We just have
to execute a little bit better.”
(on the Packers’ pass rush) “They have a good front. They’re really good, especially at their place. When you give
them third-and-ten, that’s when they’re going to be at their best. So, we have to do a better job of staying within thirdand-manageable, and when we do get it, execute.”
(on field conditions) “If you watch tape, all of the games here, there’s guys slipping all over the place. That was a big
thing in our locker room – figuring out what the right cleats were. I think most of the guys on our team were in about
as sturdy of a cleat as you can get, and they were still slipping around. I was slipping a little bit out there too. I don’t
know, it’s the grass here, I don’t know.”
DEFENSIVE END TREY FLOWERS:
(on his hands to the face penalties) “It was hands to the chest initially. I was doing it all game. I didn’t know that
was a flag to the chest. I didn’t think hands to the chest was a penalty. I thought hands to the face. I had him
right here to the chest and the second time I changed it. I don’t think that was a penalty.”
DEFENSIVE BACK TRACY WALKER:
(on the loss) “Just totally pissed off right now. It is what it is, disappointed, hurt. We had that game. We should
have won.”
(on what is most frustrating) “Honestly the end result. I feel like we could have had a better game. We were
supposed to be victorious in that game. Green Bay came to play. There were some awful, awful calls, but we
need to play through them. We didn’t, obviously, so we came up short.”
WIDE RECEIVER DANNY AMENDOLA:
(on the offense) “We need to get better. We played a good team and we knew it would be close. You kick
yourselves offensively with missed opportunities and getting five field goals. We just didn’t capitalize. We are
close in a lot of areas. We just have to finish it off. We did some good things tonight and made some good plays,
yet there are opportunities we missed and we can’t miss those opportunities and expect to win.”
CORNERBACK DARIUS SLAY:
(on the loss) “We know we are a way better team than what we are putting out there. Some of these games have
been close, but some of these games we feel like we should be blowing folks out. We just self-inflict ourselves
with penalties and everything as a team. We aren’t playing as a complete team. We didn’t capitalize on our
turnovers. As a defense we didn’t get off the field enough for the offense. We aren’t helping each other out right
now. That’s what we need to do to be a better team; play for each other.”
(on Green Bay’s final drive) “It’s rough. It’s hard. It’s tough. A-Rod (Aaron Rodgers) knew what we were doing
from the jump. He already knew what kind of team we are so he probably had his favorite plays he wanted
designed up. As a team we need to find a way to execute better and slow that down. We played ball the whole
game. We just need to finish.”
WIDE RECEIVER KENNY GOLLADAY:
(on the offense) “We were in the red zone quite a bit and we just came out with field goals. That is tough when
you have that quarterback on the other side you have to finish. Everybody needs to do their part and finish.”
(on starting the game with a flea flicker) “We practiced that all week and felt good about it. Let’s go a make a
play. Let’s start the game off with a bang. It was just another situation where we wish had come out with seven
instead of three.”
