LIONS HEAD COACH MATT PATRICIA QUOTE SHEET
Opening statement: “OK, so as far as the injuries are concerned, we had a couple of guys at the end of the game: Kenny Wiggins with his arm, we’ll take a look at that here tomorrow and see where he’s at. J.D. McKissic was kind of in the shoulder, neck area there, so we’re going to get some looks on that. (Devon) Kennard was his leg. He couldn’t come back, so we’ll see where he’s at, but I think he should be OK, but we’ll see where he’s at this week. Mike Daniels was his arm, so he went out a little bit early in that deal. We’ll see where he’s at from there. Those would be the four main ones right now that we’re really kind of grinding through here after the game. I think for us, obviously a slow start. Not really what we want to do against an explosive team like this. Obviously, it’s detrimental. They can score extremely fast, they’re a very aggressive defense, they have good players on both sides of the ball, so you have to do a better job to start the game. We had to make some major adjustments there. I think to some of the things that we were doing, I thought once the game settled down, I think our guys went out and fought really hard to try to get things right. We got some adjustments at halftime that we needed, and kind of went out there and tried to improve on what we were doing. Obviously (we) didn’t finish in the end. I thought we were in a good place at the end, we were coming back, and then a couple of turnovers and things like that kind of hurt us. Obviously, then the touchdown at the end, but from that aspect of it I think the guys are trying. We had some young players out there, certainly some plays out there that are plays that we have to make that are awareness. You just have to be able to see that it’s coming and just be able to play it better than what we did. Certainly, from that aspect of it, we’ll go back, we’ll re-coach it, and make sure that we’re all getting better from that aspect of it – coaching and playing. Some of those young guys that are out there, they have an opportunity and they have to step up and go too from that aspect of it. Again, I think the one thing that is consistent is the team fights, they work hard really, regardless of who’s out there. Sometimes we get down a couple of guys and we’re trying to figure out different combinations of things that we can do. From that aspect of it, we just have to try to do a better job here to start the game and get out there a little bit faster. Give (Buccaneers Head Coach Bruce) Arians a lot of credit. He’s got those guys playing really hard, really well. They’re good players and they’re playing really well together, so they were ready to go. We’ll just go to questions.”
On if he can put the team’s frustrations of losing close games into words: “I mean, I don’t think you ever want to put frustration into words because it never comes out right. I would say for us, we understand. We just look at it from a standpoint of why? What are we doing and how do we improve of it from that aspect of it? That’s what we have to do. Certainly, we know in the NFL, when you don’t start fast, you’re going to be behind it from the start, and that’s going to be a play here or there where if it doesn’t go you way or you don’t make a play happen then you’re right back into that tough situation. So, we can help ourselves that way. That would help.”
On what he said to the defense after the Buccaneers’ quick start and how the team responded: “I’ll probably keep a lot of that private, but I would say, obviously I was not happy with where we were at and how we were starting. I don’t think they were happy with it either. I think they understand that and there are certain things that we have to do from that aspect just to settle things down, and go out there and do what we’re supposed to do and not try to do something else. Play aware, know who their players are, know where they’re lined up, and we can’t have that happen. I was in a situation where I was not happy, I think the players know that, and I don’t think they were happy, and we needed it to stop. We made the proper adjustments. I thought we did get it stopped for a little while. I thought that was good.”
On how difficult it is to coach when they are dealing with several key injuries: “You know it’s part of the deal. It’s not easy, but it’s part of the deal. We just tell the guys we have to be ready to go and these are the scenarios that might come up, and if they come up everyone just has to be ready. Certainly, we understand that from that aspect of the game where injuries are going to occur, sometimes you get a lot more than not, and it just seems like we’ve had a lot. So, from that aspect of it a lot of guys have to be ready to go. They have to prepare hard and when those different combinations come up based on who’s in and who’s not and some of the different packages, it is important because there are a lot of things out there on the field as far as communication, and just experience that changes once that happens. Those guys have to pick up where everybody left off, so that becomes a little bit challenging from that aspect of it.”
On why they have had so many injuries: “I would say not the why at this exact moment, but we’re certainly looking into a lot of the similar type of injuries and some of the things that we’re getting. We are diving into a lot of that, certainly, absolutely. There are a lot of variables that go into it too, and we’re trying to make sure that we can sort through all of kind of the external stuff, and just get to the core of what really is going on. I’m on that.”
On how the team’s conditioning has been this season: “I don’t think it’s a conditioning issue at all. I think our team is actually in really good shape. Even the guys that come in that have to play that maybe haven’t played a lot of football this year, I think those guys are in really good shape. I think they work at that a lot. To me I think some of the stuff at the end of the game is – we have in different categories, and conditioning, I would say from that aspect of it. Those guys are – rarely you get those guys out there where they’re just totally gassed by the time we start the fourth quarter.”
On WR Danny Amendola throwing the ball in the stands after a reception: “I mean, I think just Danny Amendola in general, I think is one of the toughest guys that we have. He’s one of the most competitive guys that we have. He plays so hard. I’ve known Danny for a long time, I love him to death, and I’d do anything for the guy. He’s just a football player. He’s trying to go out and he’s putting his body in crazy positions to go try to make a play, so I appreciate that a lot.”
On if he talked to WR Danny Amendola specifically about that play: “I did not.”
On if he can share any details from his long conversation with Ownership/Front Office, Owner and Chairman of the Board Martha Firestone Ford prior to the game: “No, a lot of just general conversation and just catching up, and some of those things. We had the meetings this week, so just kind of talking a little bit. That’s about all.”
LIONS WR DANNY AMENDOLA QUOTE SHEET
On throwing the ball into the seats after his first-down reception: “That was just spontaneous. Trying to get a spark rolling. Just trying to get some juice going.”
On how hard the season has been: “Let me tell you something, if you don’t win the Super Bowl, every season is tough, you know what I’m saying? There are 31 teams that go home disappointed and there’s one team at the end of the year that is happy and I know that from experience. We got a lot of guys who are beat up, banged up and injured and we got guys rolling in, next man up, trying to step up, trying to make plays. Everyone here is trying their best, everybody is fighting. I love how everyone comes to work, I love how we fight on game day and whatever the situation may be, we are going to get out there and fight for our brothers. So that is what I love about this team.”
On the “fight” the team has not always being enough: “That’s right man. We have to find an edge each week, we have to believe, we have to roll into each game thinking we are going to win. So that’s not going to change.”
LIONS QB DAVID BLOUGH QUOTE SHEET
On his fourth-quarter interception that was returned for a touchdown: “Yeah, can’t do it, can’t do it. Obviously, it’s the play that we’ll come back to, that we’ll look at that ultimately was the dagger in the game. Danny (Amendola) ran a good route. I left it a little behind him, guy made a good play and went the other way with it. Playing quarterback in this league, you have to value the football first and foremost. It’s just frustrating that it happened there after the guys fought so hard to battle back. I’ll take it. It’s on me. It’s frustrating.”
On the challenge of having so many players injured: “I think as a football player you just go and play the next snap, and that’s the mindset you have to have. You can’t worry about who’s in. We’re all here trying to do our best job every single job, every single snap, and we trust whoever is in the huddle. Obviously, it’s not ideal with some injuries, but that’s everyone across the League. It’s Week 15, and everybody is banged up. We’ll be alright. We’ll keep fighting.”
On what he has learned about NFL defenders and how they react to where his eyes are looking: “Those guys are really good at what they do. That’s why they’re on the field, too. I have to be better with my eye discipline. I can’t just think something is one thing and predetermine things, and not go through my reads. That’s what has got me in trouble sometimes. I have to trust my eyes and get the ball in the right position. Obviously, (I) can’t have those two turnovers and put ourselves in a bad position. Coming out of the half, which we talked about this week a ton, was going to be huge for us. Then once we fought back and had ourselves in a position to tie it up.”
On the reason they started the game slow: “I think there were plays that were on the field to be made, and we didn’t execute them, I didn’t execute, to the best of our ability. We just have to come out and start faster. We talk about it a lot. It’s a shame. It’s frustrating that that’s what happened, and I’ll take a lot of responsibility for that too as the leader of the offense. It can’t happen.”
On not being able to score points off of LB Jahlani Tavai’s first quarter interception: “Tavai made a great play. Obviously, when you get the ball at midfield, you expect at the least we’ll come out with some points here. It’s a great start, and then it’s tough. We went backwards on the first play, and then two incompletions, I think, following that. We have to be sound all the way around, especially at the start, (we) can’t put ourselves in a hole. But that’s on all of us.”
On the players’ frustrations: “Yeah, we signed up for all 16 (games). We’re going to go and fight for the rest of the year. It’s frustrating, obviously guys – we work hard and give everything we have. It’s no fun when you end up getting beat by three touchdowns. Nobody in there enjoys that. We’re going to go back to work tomorrow and try to correct it, and just improve as men and players. That’s all you can do. You go back to work and you work and you work, and you see what happens. We’re better for it at the end of the day because of it.”
LIONS T TAYLOR DECKER QUOTE SHEET
On the difficulty of coming back within seven points and then the “pick-six” happening: “I mean, that’s just the nature of the game. A lot of games, I don’t know the percentages, but it’s a high percentage where games are decided by seven points or less. So to get down early and have to battle back, it’s a tough position that we put ourselves in. They’ve got plenty of great players on their team and we just can’t get down early.”
On the slow offensive start: “Give credit to them for making plays and bringing a bunch of different pressures and changing up a lot of different things to make us think and try to react on the fly. And then I’m sure there are some execution errors on our behalf that we’ll take a look at tomorrow”
On the team’s mindset with a dramatically different depth chart than the beginning of the year due to
injuries: “Yeah, I mean obviously we would love to have those guys out there, but it’s the nature of the game. Guys are going to get hurt. We’ve had injuries across the board, and if you’re on this team or any team, you’re going to get an opportunity at some point to go out there and perform. And that’s why you play the game. Maybe you’re a guy that’s been on the practice squad for 10 weeks and then you get your chance, you take advantage of it. It’s just the nature of football, guys are going to get hurt. It’s going to happen every single year. Unfortunately, we just had some big pieces that the injuries have happened to.”
LIONS DT DAMON HARRISON SR. QUOTE SHEET
On his reaction to Head Coach Matt Patricia huddling up the defense on the sideline: “No, I can’t give you much, boss. I’m an even-keel guy on the sidelines. My reaction to it would be the same either way.”
On his goals the remainder of the season: “Just to finish out strong, help some of the young guys: John Atkins, A.B. (Austin Bryant) and the new guy we got in, (No.) 75 (Frank Herron). Just help them get acclimated to the defense more and try to give them a little something that I know, and at the same time still being able to do my job.”
On having a lot of roster turnover due to injury this late in the season: “It’s tough because what we built individually, A’Shawn (Robinson) and I, or even Mike (Daniels) and I, we got someone else coming in who has to learn how to play – how to play on pass plays and run defense and all that stuff. It’s tough, but again, stuff just has to be good during the week.”
LIONS RB WES HILLS QUOTE SHEET
On his first-career start: “It’s a great opportunity the Lions gave me. I was trying to take advantage of that opportunity. It’s a dream come true, but it would’ve been 10 times better with a win.”
On his performance: “I felt like I could do better – always can do better. I’m always trying to get better in some way. That’s my only mindset – try to find a way to get the team win.”
On what his two touchdowns meant to him: “It means the world. The Lions organization took a chance (on me), gave me a chance, kept me around and gave me an opportunity. I just wanted to go out there and give it my all and help them win.”
