FORD FIELD
WEEK 2: SUNDAY, SEPT. 15, 2019
The following are post-game notes and quotes from the Detroit Lions’ 13-10 win over the Los Angeles Chargers at Ford Field on Sunday, Sept.15, 2019.
POST-GAME NOTES
LIONS SCORING PLAYS
- First Quarter: RB Kerryon Johnson caught a 36-yard pass from QB Matthew Stafford with 4:10 left in the quarter
to give Detroit a 6-0 lead. - Fourth Quarter: WR Kenny Golladay caught a 31-yard touchdown pass from QB Matthew Stafford with 7:21 left in
the game to give Detroit a 13-10 lead. K Matt Prater converted the extra point. TEAM NOTES
The Lions… - Produced their fourth game with 10 points-or-fewer allowed since 2018, tied for the fourth-most in the NFL in that span.
- Held the Chargers to 10 points, their fewest points on the road since scoring three points at Kansas City on Dec. 13, 2015.
- Had two different players record touchdown receptions of 30-plus yards for the first time since WRs Kenny Golladay and Golden Tate did so vs. Green Bay on Dec. 31, 2017. The last time the Lions had a running back and wide receiver each catch a touchdown pass of 30-plus yards was when RB Shawn Bryson and WR Roy Williams did so vs. Green Bay on Sept. 24, 2006.
- Recorded at least 1.0 sack for the 13th-straight home game, tied for the fifth-longest streak in franchise history.
- Had a player produce at least 100 receiving yards and a touchdown for the second-straight game. The last time the
Lions did so was in 2014, when WR Golden Tate had 151 yards and a touchdown at Atlanta in Week 8 and WR
Calvin Johnson had 113 yards and one score in Week 10. The Lions had a Bye in Week 9 that season. - Recorded an interception for the third-straight game.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
WR KENNY GOLLADAY - Finished with eight receptions for 117 yards (14.6 avg.) and one touchdown.
- Produced the fourth 100-yard game of his career, the third-most a Lions player has produced within his first 28
career games. - Now has 1,699 receiving yards for his career, passing WR Dorne Dibble (1,655) for the 10th-most receiving yards a
Lions player has produced within his first three seasons. - Notched a touchdown reception for the second-straight game, his third-such streak in the past two seasons.
- Recorded his 19th reception of 25-plus yards to pass WR Nate Burleson (16) for the ninth-most 25-plus yard
receptions in Lions history.
RB KERRYON JOHNSON - Finished with 12 carries for 41 yards (3.4 avg.) and caught two passes for 47 yards to produce 88 total yards from scrimmage.
- Became the fifth player in Lions history to top 1,000 scrimmage yards within their first 12 career games and the first to do so since RB Barry Sanders in 1989.
- Notched his seventh game with 85-or-more yards from scrimmage, tied with RB Doak Walker for the third-most games with 85-plus yards a Lions player has had within his first 12 career games.
- Reached 1,004 yards from scrimmage to pass RB Doak Walker (954) for the fifth-most yards from scrimmage a Lions player has had in his first 12 games.
- Logged a 36-yard touchdown reception, the longest reception of his career. This also marks the longest touchdown catch by a Lions RB since RB Reggie Bush had a 77-yard touchdown reception vs. Minnesota on Sept. 8, 2013.
- Became the first Lions player to produce at least 40 rushing yards and 40 receiving yards in the same game since RB Zach Zenner did so vs. Green Bay on Jan. 1, 2017.
CB RASHAAN MELVIN - Produced five solo tackles and two pass defenses.
- Now has five pass defenses through the first two games of the season, tied with CB Robert Baily (five in 1999) for
the most pass defenses a player has had through two games in Lions history. - Recorded multiple pass defenses in consecutive weeks for the first time since Weeks 2-3 of the 2017 season.
CB DARIUS SLAY - Finished with five solo tackles, two pass defenses and one interception.
- Recorded his 94th career pass defense, the most since entering the NFL in 2013.
- Notched at least one pass defense in 54 of his 91 career games since entering the NFL in 2013, the second-most
games with at least one pass defense in that span. - Produced his 27th game with at least two pass defenses since entering the NFL in 2013, the most in the League in
that span. - Registered his 12th interception in the last three seasons combined, the most in the NFL by a cornerback in that
span.
QB MATTHEW STAFFORD - Finished 22-of-30 (73.3 percent) for 245 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions and a passer rating of 91.7.
- Notched his 34th career game-winning drive when the team was tied or trailing in the fourth quarter.
- Reached 181-straight passes without throwing an interception before throwing a pick, the third-longest stretch of his
career. - Reached 39,156 career passing yards to pass QB Ben Roethlisberger (39,057) for the sixth-most passing yards a
player has had in their first 11 NFL seasons. - Threw for his 242nd-career touchdown pass, tying QB Tony Romo for the 11th-most a player has thrown for in his first
11 NFL seasons. - Notched his 76th career multi-TD game and third-straight game with at least two touchdown passes.
LB JAHLANI TAVAI - Finished with nine tackles (six solo) and one forced fumble.
- Became the fifth rookie linebacker in team history to produce five tackles and a forced fumble in a single game.
- Became the 10th rookie linebacker in the NFL since 1993 to produce at least 10 tackles, 1.0 sack and one forced
fumble through their first two career games. - Now has 11 tackles in his first two NFL games, tied with LB Alex Lewis (2004) for the third-most tackles a Lions
rookie linebacker has produced within his first two NFL games. - Became the third rookie linebacker in team history to finish a game with at least nine tackles and one forced fumble.
The most recent rookie linebacker to do so was LB Jarrad Davis at Tampa Bay on Dec. 10, 2017.
S TRACY WALKER - Finished with a team-high and game-high 10 tackles (seven solo) and one tackle for loss.
- Now has 19 tackles through the first two games of the season, passing CB Anthony Henry (17 tackles in 2009) for
the most tackles a Lions defensive back has produced in the first two games of a single season.
POST-GAME QUOTES
LIONS HEAD COACH MATT PATRICIA QUOTE SHEET
Opening statement:
“Obviously just really proud of the team, proud of the players. I think they went out and worked really hard here today. We know that’s a really outstanding Chargers team. (Chargers Head Coach) Anthony Lynn is a phenomenal coach. He’s done a great job with that organization. We knew it was going to be a long game. We knew it was going to be 60-minutes and we needed all of it. (I’m) just proud of our guys for fighting through everything and just staying mentally tough through the game. We certainly have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of things to clean up and we have a lot of improvement that’s still ahead of us that we have to get to. We’ll enjoy this one tonight and get back to work here tomorrow. (I’m) just proud of the players, give them all the credit. They’re the ones that made those plays when we needed to the most. Great job by them and like I said, that’s a really good Chargers team.”
On how satisfying it was to clinch a win in the fourth quarter after the Week 1 tie: “Yeah, it’ always good. It’s always good
when you make those plays and you can win. Certainly, we’re trying to learn from last week and move forward, which is our biggest thing – just trying to show improvement. Going forward it’s just going to be consistency. You know being able to do that when we need to most of the time. It’s obviously satisfying to be able to have those situations come up again and be able to come out on the positive side of that. We can build off that, which is a good thing for us.”
On the resiliency of CB Darius Slay, QB Matthew Stafford, and the team as a whole: “I think we’re still young. We’re still learning, so we have a long way to go as far as that’s concerned. I do think that right now we’re trying to be mentally tough. We’re just trying to make sure that we understand that sometimes it’s going to be the next-play mentality. Sometimes we’re going to have to forget the last one and go out and just do the right thing the next play and stay within that moment. Try not to make the moment bigger than what it is, besides one play of football and go out and execute the best that we can in that situation. It was good to see that today. It was great to see those two guys in particular. I think those guys played really hard. They were into the game and obviously trying to compete all the way through the end. They performed outstanding when we needed them to in really critical situations. I thought that was great.”
On LB Jahlani Tavai’s forced fumble by the goal line: “I think we’ve seen him make some really good plays and be really aware for a young player, which is pretty good from that standpoint. He’s got a lot on his plate right now. He’s got a lot of improving to do. I think there are just those flashes of awareness where he sees something or a play, or a particular tendency – maybe something along those lines of ball-awareness. It’s just good to see a couple of those plays on tape, but we still have a long way to go there.”
On if he believes the offense has a more aggressive mindset looking at the late-game playcalling: “No, I just think it was kind of how we knew we had to play the game in those situations. You look at the things they do really well and the team that we’re playing in those situations and how the game is going at that particular point to, which is important for us to understand. Sometimes you have thoughts or ideas going into the game and sometimes they change in the game. Maybe something you see or something they’re doing that’s a little bit different – just whatever that particular point of the game is that you have an advantage at that point. I just thought it was the right decisions. I thought it was time to try to do the best we could and be aggressive or whatever you want to call it. I think it was really just plays.”
On the decision to pass the ball on third-and-six with under a minute left in the fourth quarter: “Definitely there are a lot of clock conversations, a lot of clock-management going on. I thought we had a good play call. Obviously, just give credit to those guys. (Lions Offensive Coordinator Darrell Bevell) ‘Bev’ did an unbelievable job. It was a great call by him, a great play by (Matthew) Stafford. Jesse (James) really smooth on the play – the offensive line. Great execution, Give the players credit for that, that was a really good play.”
On if the aggressiveness late in the game helps the belief in the offense: “Time will tell as far as that stuff is concerned. I would say just in general, again I think this group they really care about each other. I think they’re working really hard. They’re trying to get it right. I’m just happy for them that we won. I think they deserve that. They’ve worked really hard. It’s not easy to do in this league. It’s really hard to win in this league. There are good teams everywhere. (I’m) just happy for them and I think that’s probably what you saw. I love raw emotion at the end of the game, I think that’s what is great. It was good to see everybody fired up.”
On the decision to hustle to the line of scrimmage on the final play: “Just in general in football you’re trying to put as much stress on the defense as possible in those situations and we thought that that play would be able to do that. It was just something that – like I said, give Coach (Darrell) Bevell credit give (Matthew Stafford) ‘Staff’ for hustling through, recognizing the situation and then executing at a high level. Those plays sometimes go either way. I’ve seen them go either way. Sometimes you execute and sometimes they execute, but I was just glad that we did.”
On the play of the offensive line today, especially against Chargers DEs Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram III: “First look, we’ll obviously be happy with everything from that standpoint. I know that there are plays out there where we had some assignments and things like that that we have to clean up. Again, (Tyrell) Crosby stepping in and the rest of those guys kind of rallying behind all of it and just getting everybody going in the right direction. It goes back to the work during the week. It goes back to Wednesday, it goes back to Thursday, it goes back to Friday. Even yesterday, just going through the assignments making sure that everything was clean and making sure that we knew what we were going to do based on those two guys. Those are two great players on their side of the ball. (I’m) just proud of those guys for that. When that happens it’s more than just the offensive line, it’s a combination of all of it. There’s a marriage there with the routes and the protection and the quarterback and I think the offense in general just did a great job of making sure what we needed to do in those situations.”
On what he means by September football being sloppy: “I think that’s really true. I think if you look at the NFL in general, I think that there is a lot of bad football in September. I think there’s a lot of mistakes, there’s a lot of penalties, there are a lot of things in there that need to be cleaned up. Why is that the case? I don’t know. Sometimes we talk about training camp, and we talk about how much we get with the players and time and all that, but it’s just kind of been the trend for the
last several years. The hardest part of all that is understanding that we are going to have to overcome some things here that happened in the game and we’re just going to have to stay mentally tough through all of it. Really what happens is there is a lot of situational football that comes up because of it and being able to execute in those situations is really what determines a lot of wins and losses with teams in September. There was a lot last week, there was a lot here today. We just have to keep learning from that stuff, so that as we push through the month and start to clean up everything that we’re doing, and we start to get better and more consistent that we also have a handle on the situational stuff too, which is kind of how all those pieces fit together, if that makes any sense.”
On what CB Jamal Agnew has to do to get his trust back as a returner: “Agnew is a great player. He’s a competitor, he’s a tough guy, I believe in him. I think, just in the moment thought that I had to make a decision there, but that’s just in that moment for this game, and that’s what it was. Other than that, he’s a tough kid, he’s ready to go, he’s ready to go back and work and get back to it and just keep improving. We know how dynamic he is, we know how explosive he is. We’ll just go back to work again. It’s part of the early part of the season where some of those mistakes we have to clean up and just eliminate them and go from there.”
On the decision to go for it on fourth-and-one and the execution of the pass to WR Marvin Jones Jr.: “That was like a laser. That thing was like fired in there. I don’t know if Marvin caught it or it just stuck into his chest, but I mean it was a great play. Great play by the quarterback, great route. I think Marvin had a really good week of practice and I think that’s what shows up in the game. Just good execution by the offense, really.”
On if the special teams performance is making mistakes because it’s early in the season: “I would agree, and I think the penalties obviously, is the biggest situation there that we have to get cleaned up fast. We have to understand how they’re calling the games. The speed and space on special teams is something that, like I’ve said before, unfortunately unless you get into game speed – special teams game speed is completely different than anything else we’ve seen during the week, and that’s the truth. You just can’t simulate it. Our guys have to learn to be smarter in those situations. You might miss your guy, you might miss a block, you might whatever the case may be, but we cannot create penalties on top of it. And we just have to rely on everybody else that’s out there to either make a guy miss or cover up for those mistakes or just make good decisions. I think that’s the biggest part about it. Overall, we just have to be better decision makers, with the special teams so we cannot hurt ourselves.”
On the declined penalty at the end of the first half: “They have an extremely dangerous returner. He’s an outstanding player, and that was something that we didn’t want to give him another chance, just wanted to put the ball down and had him backed up. We actually had an advantage in the situation – we didn’t play it so well. That was kind of the reason for that.”
On if they would have accepted the penalty at the end of the first half: “Yeah we didn’t want to re-kick it.”
On the penalty implications: “I think it just would have been half, half the distance on that one because it was already backed up or whatever it was.”
“I have to go back and remember. I’m not really sure which one – I think we were, I know it was right before the half and I know it was just a question when they came back over to me was, ‘Do you want to re-kick it?’ and I was like, ‘Just put the ball down,’ where it was right there in that situation. I think those were the options.”
“No, it was just a penalty from that deal.”
On how tough the decision was to not challenge the defensive pass interference call against CB Darius Slay: “We were just actually – again, go off the tendencies of what we saw from preseason with those, and I would say not a lot of those got overturned. Probably just in that situation just best to let it go and not waste that situation. Whether it was or wasn’t, they called it on the field. That’s pretty much, I think, what they we’re going to go with regardless if they reviewed it.”
On if his cane was a custom gift: “Nope.”
On if his cane was from Amazon.com: “Amazon.com.”
LIONS OL TYRELL CROSBY
On the offensive line’s performance: “I thought we did well. There’s always stuff we can improve on, you can’t get complacent. You watch the film, learn from it and just improve next week.”
On the game-ending series putting pressure on the offensive line: “Throughout the week we train for it. You just have to do what you’re trained for.”
On the challenges Chargers DE Joey Bosa and DE Melvin Ingram III presented: “They’re very talented rushers. (I) have a huge amount of respect for them. It was privilege to go against them and learn and just try to get myself better.”
On Lions G Joe Dahl’s comments about being a tight offensive line: “We all have each other’s back, really. Throughout the game we’re all just keeping each other motivated, no one is pointing fingers at anyone else. We’re really just good friends with one another, great teammates with one another. It’s just an awesome group.”
LIONS WR KENNY GOLLADAY
On how good it felt to finally get a big offensive break late in the game on his touchdown reception: “We needed it. I was just happy, you know. My number was called pretty much, so I go out there and made a play. Offensively we were doing good, but we were still just hurting ourselves a little bit. But it felt good for sure.”
On if he still sees encouraging signs because of the way the offense was able to move the football: “For sure. We got guys in every position, pretty much, that can be explosive for this offense. It’s nice when we can keep moving the ball down the field like that. It seems easy, but the closer you get down there, it gets tough. And we just got to keep working to make sure that most of those red-area possessions are finished with points.”
On the way the team persevered despite challenges in today’s contest: “That’s football. You’ve got to battle through adversity. There was a lot of adversity out there for both sides. We just kept going. Offensively, we weren’t pleased with how the game ended last week and it was nice to see that we went out there and finished. And on top of that, defense – made a hell of a play at the end. (Darius) Slay, that was great. He had a tough matchup all day long, and for that to be our guy, he definitely showed up today.”
LIONS RB KERRYON JOHNSON
On what is working well with the offense: “We’re playing as a team. (Matthew) Stafford is playing at an excellent level, the receivers are playing at an excellent level. We’re running the ball efficiently enough to keep the defense on us. When you play as a team, you have a chance to win every game – as we showed last week and as we did this week.”
On if his eyes lit up when he heard the play call on his touchdown reception: “Oh, yes. Screen passes – you’re either scoring or you’re getting hit for minus 10 (yards). So, I’m going to take the scoring one. It ended up happening just like what I was thinking. So, any time you get a screen you know that, ‘Hey, this could be a big play.’”
On how often they run that play in practice: “We run that almost on a daily basis.”
On what he was thinking when the ball bobbled in the air: “‘I better catch it,’ because if you drop it and then you look up and see the whole open lane, you’re like, ‘That’s it for me. I have to walk off the field now.’ You have to catch it. You have to recover.”
On what it was like to watch the game-clinching offensive series: “This was big-time win for us. That is a good team – obviously probably going to be a playoff team – my educated guess. They’re a good team and have been for a while. So, to get them at home and get the upper hand on them – especially after last week’s tie, everyone was kind of down. But we had to rebound and come back and win. This one – it was nice.”
On if he feels the run game is making progress: “Again, like last week, I missed one or two runs that should have been 10- plus-yard runs. I have to break a little bit more tackles. Our O-line is doing what they can do. We’re playing against some heavy, good defenders down there, so I have to do my part of breaking a few more tackles and get those big runs. But it’s coming, and when it does, we will all be happy about it.”
On the defense backing up the offense with one final stop: “Great. Don’t even have to get to the two-minute drive. (Darius) Slay just put the icing on the cake.”
LIONS CB DARIUS SLAY
On if the team knew they had to come out and get the win: “Of course we knew. The fans deserve it, the home field deserves it and we deserve it. We work hard. We have great support from the fans and everything. We had to come out here and try to get a ‘W’.”
On his game-sealing interception: “He was setting me up with (opportunities) all game. So I was like, ‘He’s not going to run right now.’ I kind of baited it, made him run the out-route on me on the run and made a play on it.”
On covering Chargers WR Keenan Allen: “Oh man, he’s top five. He’s one of the best our here, best in the game. We were battling – back-and-forth, back-and-forth. (He) caught a couple passes, I made a couple break ups. We know each other personally. We came out together. It was a good battle. Good, friendly battle. We already knew what time it was. I was looking forward to this matchup just as much as he was. Now I just wish him the best the rest of this season.”
On if forgetting about the penalties was the key to maintaining focus and continuing his level of play: “I have to, because if I don’t, if I lose myself, I’m failing the team. I can’t do that. I have to stay on my grind, stay competing, because these boys look up to me and expect a lot out of me. I just try to go out and give them what I got.”
On the defensive performance and holding the Chargers to 10 points: “We went out there and competed like we do. Mano and mano – my best guy on your best guy and we just compete. Holding them to 10 points is good. Philip (Rivers) is an awesome quarterback, great competitor. Right before the game, he came up and told me, ‘Slay, it’s going to be early and often.’ So he let me know it’s going to be a competitive day. I was prepared for it. He was prepared for it. Like I said, I just made one more play at the end.”
On what the win says about the team: “We’re a team. We have to win in all phases. They turn the ball over, we have to turn the ball over for them. ‘Staff’ (Stafford) turned it over twice – guess what the defense has to do? We have to turn it over twice. We counter it. Wherever they lack, we try to pick it up. Wherever we lack, then they try to pick it up. It’s a team effort. Special teams – we just have to stop the penalties. We’re going to work on that. Other than that, it was a whole team effort. We’re all competing in all three areas and play for each other.”
LIONS QB MATTHEW STAFFORD
On what clicked during the game winning drive: “I think honestly we kind of, all the drives that fizzled out, we kind of did to ourselves. There were some –no doubt that’s a good football team over there that we just played. A good defense, they’ve got some great players. We had some penalties, I got a little too aggressive on a couple throws, for whatever reason. But I think at the end of the game, I just trust those guys on the outside to go make plays and they did. Marv (Jones Jr.) had a great catch on that fourth down. I know it’s a four yard catch in the game, but it’s a huge catch in the game. Kenny (Golladay) had a good one on that drive. Obviously the touchdown was a great catch. Just tried to give those guys a chance with a good ball and they made some plays for me.”
On the call to throw the ball on the final third down to seal the game: “Yeah, no doubt. Bev (Darrell Bevell) is an aggressive guy, I’m an aggressive player when I’m out there. I think we work so hard, go trust yourself out there, you know. If you think something is going to work man, go do it. You know, the one pick I threw in the end zone, I’m probably throwing that ball, I’d like to throw it a little better, but I’m throwing that ball 10 times out of 10. You know, that’s Kenny (Golladay), one-on-one with a corner, that’s a great shot. It didn’t work out for us, it ended up as a turnover and a bad play for our team, and I will own that no doubt. But I’m putting that up there, I’m aggressive. I’m going to keep giving our guys chances because they are great players. You know, the second one, I can’t turn that ball over there, running back sitting in the flat for a probably a 15-yard gain, I got a little too aggressive there. But I think, just, that rubs off, confidence. If you have an aggressive play caller, you got a guy back there throwing the ball, aggressively giving you chances. I have confidence in those guys to go make the plays, and that rubs off and helps.”
On WR Kenny Golladay getting called for offensive pass interference on his interception: “No doubt, yeah absolutely. I mean he did everything he could to try to get that other ball out. Sometimes the DB is going to play it really good in the air. He made a great catch. I mean, it tipped around four or five times it felt like and landed on his back and made the play. But yeah, I’m just trying to go through the offense on that play and Kenny won outside, and I gave him a shot and he made a play.”
On the offensive line’s performance without LT Taylor Decker and how they held up this week: “It was great. I was really proud of those guys. There were some moving parts, not only in the game, but also jus all week in practice. Just trying to get a couple guys ready to play, maybe some different spots. I thought we ran the ball really effectively, and in the pass game when I was in the pocket, I think the only time I got out and ran over to their sideline, I probably should have stayed in there. It was a really good day for those guys up front. I was proud of them.”
On the level of comfort between him and Offensive Coordinator Darrell Bevell at this point in the season: “Yeah, no doubt, I mean I go into every game really comfortable. You know, I know what he is going to call. And now I’m just learning more and more when he is going to call it. And that just comes with experience, but I’ve had a lot of fun playing in this system for two games and we have a lot to clean up, we can obviously play better, but I am enjoying it.”
On the touchdown reception by WR Kenny Golladay: “We put a little bit of like a double post concept kind of on a single high safety. Safety took the inside one, and Kenny did a good enough job, you know using his big body, to wall the corner
off and I tried to shoot one in there and I think it ended up in a good spot.”
LIONS LB JAHLANI TAVAI:
On what he was feeling in the moment when he saw LB Devon Kennard recover the fumble: “It was a great team effort, that’s all that really matters. You know, it’s one of those in-the-moment-type of situations. I felt the energy from the defense, and you know it felt great once we recovered the ball on that stop”
On third down adjustments and their effectiveness tonight: “I mean it’s not just me, you know. Everyone is doing their job out there. We tried to collapse the pocket and we were doing a great job of keeping him in until that one play. But other than that, we had guys behind me just making sure that they were covering their go to guys. It was just a complete team effort, so I am so happy. Like I said, all that matters is (that) we got the win, that’s all that counts.”
On identifying Chargers QB Philip River’s go-to receivers during the week leading up the game: “I mean, you just look at the film, you know who their go-to guys are, the big play makers. You know, we just want to make sure we shut them down or a least do our jobs to make sure that we get out of the situation. I mean, they hit us with a few plays, but we just made sure we adapted to the situation.”
On the offense finishing the drive late in the game: “It was a whole team thing. I am so happy everybody just kept fighting. You know offensively, defensively and special teams. There was no quit in any of the players, and we just stuck to the game plan. Made sure we attack where we needed to be.”
On the difference between this week and last week: “You know, last week was last week but you know right now, we just focused on the Chargers, and we got to go over this film and correct those mistakes and worry about next week.”
