© Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports
Notable Quotes Following Lions' 35-27 Loss to Cowboys
Following the Lions' 35-27 loss to the Cowboys Sunday, the discussion centered on the failed two-point conversion attempt, continued struggles on defense and the impact of losing six of the last seven games.
Here are some notable quotes from Sunday's Lions-Cowboys game:
Lions head coach Matt Patricia
On the problems with pass defense: “Obviously, we knew the Cowboys, they have two major issues that you have to stop. Number one is the run game, that would be both the quarterback and the running back. Then they were top in the League in big-play passes down field."
"In the games, as you look at it, where they’re allowed to do both, and certainly, where they can run the ball, and you can’t stop the play-action shots down field off of it, you have a lot of problems through the course of the game. It's very important for us to try to stop the run, so we could at least be able to maintain and stay in it. Obviously, we don’t want to give up those big plays, you know, those situations. Third down was part of that too. We just gave up too many third-down plays and extended some of those drives. There were a couple where we gave up big plays, and we were able to settle down and get off the field, but just not do it consistently enough."
"They have a lot of skill players, they have a lot of fast players. They do a great job. They make a lot of plays – none of that was news to us. We knew that going in, and we had to go out there and perform. So, we didn’t get it done as far as that’s concerned, and they capitalized on it, certainly.”
On the decision to go for the two-point conversion: “Going into the fourth quarter – the start of the fourth quarter, when kind of those scenarios come up, we kind of take evaluation of alright, ‘Where is the game going? What’s kind of positive? What’s not going so well? What do we think our best chances are?’ Then, really what you do is you fast forward to the end of the game and say, ‘Alright, are you going to be going for a two-point play here or not?’ or ‘What’s your decision making?’ So, once I kind of go through that thought process there and decide that, you know, probably in the situation we were in, we’re going for two (points) at the end of the game."
"Then really what you want to do is you want to take a shot at two two-point plays. Hopefully, you get the first. If you don’t, you can go to your second two-point (conversion) play at the end, and then obviously, go for the tie at that point. But it’s really kind of something you start thinking about well in advance from that and kind of just, how it all works out."
"Two-point thing though, is as soon as you commit to it though, you have to stay with it from that standpoint. It’s one of those things where you try to judge momentum swing through the fourth quarter and figure out what’s going in which direction, and certainly, at that point, if we were able to score those touchdowns and be in those positions then the offense probably would have swung things in their favor. At that point, probably would have felt pretty good about the two-point (conversation) at the end of the game.”
Quarterback Jeff Driskel
On if the offense felt smoother today: “Yeah, I mean getting the reps during the week helps. Those guys hearing my cadence, things like that, getting in and out of the huddle – the more you do it the more comfortable you’re going to be. We can still clean some things up. We had a couple of penalties and that’s kind of what set us back at times. Overall, I thought it was definitely cleaner than last week.”
On what RB Bo Scarbrough meant to the offense: “Yeah, I kind of grabbed him after the game and just told him how proud I was of him. He ran the ball super hard. He knew what he was doing. He hasn’t been here very long at all and he stepped right in there, and it was awesome to see him run that ball that hard. He kind of brought some life to our run game and it was awesome. He’s a good player and I’m happy he’s on our side.”
On how the Cowboys defensive pressure affected him: “Yeah, I mean we knew we had they had a really good front and I thought for the most part our guys did a good job of slowing them down. Some of that is on me as well. I have to get the ball out and feel the rush at times and move off of the spot. That’s a really good front and sometimes you just have to tip your cap.”
On if there is any friction between the offense and defense: “No, none at all. That’s the great thing about this group of guys in that locker room is that everybody takes it to heart to themselves and holds themselves accountable.”
Guard Graham Glasgow
On the difference between QB Jeff Driskel and QB Matthew Stafford in the huddle: “I mean, I think he’s pretty calm, cool and collected, and I don’t think that he’s really that different and that sense of what he brings to the huddle. I think that he does a good job of doing his job and trying to get us in a position to win.”
On the performance of RB Bo Scarbrough: “You know, that’s something that came about through practice this week and the offensive line was talking and we said we liked him a lot. I mean, he had a great week of practice and he came into the game and did a good job as well.”
On Lions now losing six of seven games: “I mean, it's tough. It’s something that we take very seriously and I think that we just need to get better and maximize the potential of what we have on our team."
LB Devon Kennard
On giving up 500 yards of offense and what the defense needs to do: “We just need to make more plays. We just left too many plays out there. It’s another game – I feel like a broken record at this point, but another game I feel like the offense played well enough for us to win, but we have to figure it out collectively as a defense. We have to play better, and we can play better.”
On if the problems with the defense are schematic or individual: “I don’t think you can pin point it on one thing. My guess is – we just all have to do better: players, coaches, everybody. We have to elevate what we’re doing and find ways to stop teams.”
On what the team has done to fix the defense and why it may not be working: “I feel like we just need to be consistent in everything we do. I feel like last week we came out and played one of our better games defensively overall, and we needed to build on that and not take a step back. Defensively, I think we took a step back today.”
CB Darius Slay
On how to ensure a losing trend does not snowball going forward: “I can’t speak for everybody, but I know I come to work to get better every day. I advise everybody to just come in and work and try to get better.”
On the difficulty to cover downfield when pressure is not coming upfront: “We had pressure. I think we missed like three (sacks). We were getting what we needed to go, we just have to make the plays, like I said. We had a couple guys that probably had some sacks but missed it. We had a couple guys that had chances to make PBUs and we didn’t make it, and I am one of them. So, it’s all accountable for all of us, so we all just have to put it together.”
On if he feels in reference to his previous comments that the season has gotten “ugly”: “I mean, we have to just win. Everyone knows we have to win. So, that’s the only thing I am saying that it could get ugly, because we just aren’t winning. I like to win and I am sure everyone in here wants to win, so that’s the ugly part, just not winning.”
