Everything the Detroit Lions said about losing to the Dallas Cowboys
Everything the Detroit Lions said after blosing to the Dallas Cowboys 24-6 at AT&T Stadium on Sunday.
Quotes courtesy of the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions public relations staffs..
Coach Dan Campbell
I thought our defense played much better today. It wasn’t perfect. I told those guys, ‘You can win when you play that type of defense.’ They set the tone for the game. They played hard. They were on point and were physical in the perimeter. I thought our corners and safeties really showed up and those big guys in the middle, that was a step in the right direction. Offensively, we played the type of game we needed to play against this opponent minus the turnovers, and that’s what killed us.
On what he can do to rein in Jared Goff’s turnovers. He now has nine on the season.
We’ll look at the tape. Certainly, playing with rhythm, playing on time, awareness in the pocket. It’s no excuse but some of those at the end, you’re down a couple of scores, you’re trying to hold it a little bit to finally throw, but we’ll look at the tape.
On his frustration with the Jamal Williams turnover.
That was frustrating, but it was also frustrating, I was trying to get a call into review.
Trying to get the play before reviewed?
Yeah, I was trying to get in my headset so it was a combination of the two.
On talking to the official after the Trevon Diggs interception and what explanation he got.
Yeah, they just said that he had both hands in possession and it had been verified
They did review it?
Yes
On what he was waiting for Brock Wright being knocked out – was he waiting for a booth review?
I was waiting for my person upstairs. That’s who I’m listening to. I have a devoted line to them.
On the interception, you can’t throw a red flag but they clearly said it had been looked at and the ball wasn’t moving?
Yes. They said that he had possession.
When you looked at it, did you think Brock got into the end zone?
I couldn’t tell. I didn’t have the angle, so it was too hard for me to see.
On if he feels like he is in a boat and plugs one leak while others spring up.
There are things that pop up and that’s what we’re charged with. That’s what I’m charged with, so it doesn’t matter who we have or what we’re doing or who we’re playing. The bottom line is you’ve got to find a why to win and I really felt like we were on track to do that, and then we had those couple of mistakes that killed us, the turnovers. Against an opponent this good, it’s ‘good luck.’ This is a good opponent. It’s a talented roster and it’s well-coached.
Back to the challenge, should the offense have waited to have snapped the ball? Was it rushed? How did the play get called before you had a chance to challenge it?
We had time. They were up there and I was waiting to get a call, so it’s like, at that point let’s go. Let them line up and play ball.
It’s hard to talk about positives right now but on the play of Jeff Okudah.
He played really well. That was encouraging. I tell you what, he had his best week of practice this week and that was his best game.
On his impression of Joshua Paschal.
It’s good to have him. He’s an explosive player. He’s got versatility and he’s high motor, and he’s smart. He made a couple of rookie errors out there, which we knew he would in his first game, but he also, he popped. I mean, he flashed in there. It was very encouraging. There’s a lot of room for him to grow.
On making Michael Brockers, the team captain, inactive. What goes into that decision?
Certainly, it is difficult, but we felt like it was the right decision for us for this game and for what we needed. I sat down and talked to Brockers and he was great, he understood. Look, he’s like anybody. He’s a competitor and all those things but he also understood and he appreciated the communication
On what went into the decision to sit D’Andre Swift this week and are there any updates on Amon-Ra St. Brown?
Swift was not ready. Hopefully, Swift will be ready next week, and then Saint is in the protocol. I just talked to him. He gave me the thumbs up but who knows what that means?
On how big of a loss (St. Brown) it was that early in the game.
We know what kind of player Saint is, so anytime you lose a player like that it’s not easy, but Tom Kennedy stepped in and we had Leif (Kalif Raymond). Leif is going to play a lot anyway, but we had to move him, and move TK around, move Reynolds. And those guys handled that well.
On if the offense if regressing.
Look, the turnovers certainly don’t make anything look good. We had a game plan that was going to be much more conservative against this opponent. We were not going to let Parsons and Lawrence and them just tee off on us all day long. We wanted to get Goff in a rhythm and be very meticulous on what we did, so our plan was to play more of that type of game, and we did that. So, I’m not disappointed about those. And we wanted to take a couple of shots and, you know, protection breaks down. We don’t get one out there. Those are what’s frustrating. We didn’t hit the shot plays we needed to with the type of game we wanted to play. We wanted to ground it out and take shots, and then the turnovers.
On his assessment of the Diggs interception. It looked like Goff had a clean pocket.
I thought it could have been a little bit better. Honestly, I didn’t see him throw it. I watched Reynolds on the route and then I look and I see the adjustment, but Diggs made a hell of a play, that’s for sure.
On coming back to Texas and how it feels.
At this moment, it’s gut-wrenching. I got to see my folks and that was nice. My parents and my brother. I hadn’t seen them in awhile so that was nice. But when you lose, it stings, so that’s tough.
On his overall level of frustration.
I’m frustrated because we’re losing, just like I was last year. Just like I was at New Orleans when we lost a game. You don’t like to lose games. I’m not down. I’m not losing confidence. I’m not going to go hide in a corner because that’s not what I’m about. You change a couple of things. You take care of the football. You play your game plan the way you should and all of a sudden you win, so we’ve got to keep this in the true perspective of the fact, hey, our defense is playing pretty good football right now and we’ve got to continue to do that, and if we do that, we can alleviate some pressure on all three phases, or the other two. That’s why I’m encouraged. I hate losing but I’m encouraged by that because I know we’ll get better offensively.
QB Jared Goff
On the turnovers and how they were difficult to overcome
“Absolutely, we can’t do it. The defense played their tails off today and gave us a great chance to win that game. We didn’t do our part offensively.”
On the first interception
“Just not a great throw to be honest. I was trying to kind of ‘back shoulder’ it a little bit. Not a great throw.”
On the concern level after two games without a TD
“It’s definitely something we need to fix and it’s a point of emphasis for us, and Ben [Johnson] made it a point of emphasis for us this week, and we didn’t execute when we had to. It starts with me and trickles all the way down. Plenty of chances today and didn’t take advantage of them.”
On the various injuries on the offense before and during the game
“We’ve got guys capable of doing it. Those guys obviously are critical to us, but we’ve got guys coming in and replacing them that are plenty capable. I feel confident in those guys.”
On the first interception again
“I was kind of trying to throw a back shoulder and it just wasn’t a great throw. Guy made a good play. Wish I could have it back.”
On if he thought the ball hit the ground on reply of the first interception
“I don’t know, I didn’t see it.”
On if the later interceptions were due to trying to make something happen
“Trying to, but still going to hold the ball, but trying to…But ya, trying to extend the play, may something happen.”
On If they need to emphasize ball security
“Absolutely. Starts with me. We take care of the ball today. We probably win.”
On the first interception again and if he and the receiver were not on the same page
“No, he was fine. I think he may have gotten turned around a little bit, but he ran the route and I’ve got to throw a better ball.”
On if the turnovers were about trying to do too much
“At the end probably. The second one was probably trying to extend the play a little bit more than I typically would if it was regular flow of the game But ya, the second one, we’re punting if it’s incomplete so just put it in a place were nobody can get it if that’s the case.”
On how he bounces back from a tough performance
“It’s all I know – just come back on Wednesday, really tomorrow, but we’ll come back on Wednesday practice and show them who I am. You’re character is revealed in moments of adversity and we’ve certainly been through our fair share of that the last couple of years. This time’s no different. I’ll let them see who I am.”
On the offensive game plan
“We’ve got to execute. We got down there - We’ve got to finish it, we’ve got execute, we’ve got to create more explosives somehow, someway and take care of the ball. I know this is kind of cliché, but if we take care of the ball and execute in the redzone, we probably win the game.”
On Jamaal Williams
“He’s extremely passionate, right? A guy that doesn’t take that stuff lightly. There is no harsher critic than himself for him. So, you pick your teammates up. I know he’s going to be down, a lot of us are. So, you pick him up. Be the leader you say you are and make sure he knows that we’ve got his back.”
On if he feels they gave the game away rather than the opponent taking it away
“I think the play 7 made early was a hell of a catch. They were both really good catches, good interceptions. But ya, we gave it to them. Again, I think you can kind of separate them a little bit. The sack fumbles were unfortunate, but at that point in the game trying to extend the play. Take care of the ball either way, but the two interceptions are the ones that I’d like to clearly have back. They’d give us a chance of winning.”
RB Jamaal Williams
On the gameplan and how what was in control for three quarters came undone in the fourth quarter: “I just have to hold onto the ball. Just a lot of bad, I’ll say, just a lot of mis-happenings, just how the ball came out. I’m just upset. I don’t like turnovers. I don’t like being the reason the team loses. So, I’m just going to go back to work, put my head down. I’m just grateful to have teammates who still trust me. Still believe in me. I still believe in myself. I just have to go back to work.”
On if there is frustration because the offense has played so well at times and with the defense playing better that the team can’t get complimentary football in a single game: “Not really. We see how we are working. We see how to get a win. Today could have been complimentary football, but I have to make sure I do my job. It was moving. We were doing great. I just have to hold on to the ball and get into the end zone. That’s it.”
On it seeming like the offense was struggling all over, with five turnovers: “It all started with me. None of that, no one would have to be in those positions if it wasn’t for me. I put this one on my back.”
On whether he talked to his team about that: “I talked to my teammates and just let them know. I just appreciate them being the type of people they are. Hard working, understandable people. I am just grateful for their characters and them still believing in me and what I do. I’m just going to go back to work. These types of things, I don’t know how to deal with them right now. Just to have them as my teammates, I know they believe in me and the only thing I can do now is go back to work and get to work for them. And myself. I have to prove myself.”
DL Aidan Hutchinson
On the offense’s turnovers and how the defense responded: “We just have to react to it, and I thought we did a decent job of it early, and we were falling apart a little bit by the end. We just have to be better at complimentary football, I think. We just have to play better together and start stringing things together as an offense and a defense. We can’t be one playing well, the other struggling a little bit. We have to be playing with each other.”
On how the team can get better at complimentary football: “I think we are on the right track on defense; I think we are going to keep rolling. But, it’s like, our offense puts up 45, we let up 48. It’s just tough. We have to be better together. That’s really it. We are going to keep working. I think defensively, we are seeing some good things out of everybody, especially with that high-powered offense with Zeke and Dak and CeeDee. I thought we were holding those guys a lot. It is what it is.”
On the point of emphasis for the defense being turnovers and getting only one with giving up a lot: “We can’t complain too much. We have a hell of an offense. Sometimes we have those games. We aren’t going to start pointing fingers because the second we start pointing fingers, we are going downhill. We are just going to keep focusing as a defensive unit on getting better. At the end of that game, we could have gotten some extra stops. And our offense had our back in the past, when we were letting up a lot. We just have to do the same. When our back is against the wall, we gotta go.”
DL Josh Paschal
On what it was like to finally be able to play with his teammates: “It felt good to be out there with my teammates, to be able to build off of this, but we want to come out with the win, and that is the main thing. I have a lot of work to do; a lot of work in practice to do, and I can’t wait to get back to it with my brothers this upcoming week.”
On if he felt comfortable on the field today: “I just have to finish in the second half; clean up some technique things. Our coaches are doing a great job of coaching me up with I am out there, and my teammates are doing a great job of playing. I just have to hold myself accountable and be able to build off of this game.”
On the front line being able to get more pressure than in the past: “I think the difference was just us flying around, having confidence in ourselves. The coaches have put us in a great position to play fast and I think that is what we did.”
On what changed in the fourth quarter when Dallas started moving the ball and putting up points: “I think as a defense, when our back is up against the wall, we have to stand up. We have to be able to make those stops. I believe in this defense and I believe in the vets that we have and everybody we have. And I think we will be able to bounce back and learn from this as well.”
TE Brock Wright
On his would-be touchdown: “I felt like it was in. I felt my knee hit the ground. Just waiting for my call to come in. But, time crunch situation, gotta get up on the line and run another play.”
