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- The Dude
(Opening Remarks)
“We’re very pleased with the offensive output. Four touchdown drives over 75 yards. (QB) Case (Keenum) setting the franchise record for consecutive completions. We had the offense going and the offense did their job. That’s where the focus has been over the last month. As I mentioned last week, we’re improving, we just have to keep it going. Case got a lot of help, great plays, great catches – he had a big day. Obviously it wasn’t enough to win. The difficulty we had in the game was keeping Detroit out of the end zone and 31 points is unacceptable from a defensive output. We had some opportunities, had so opportunities to change the game. The play right before half, the fourth and inches – we get that in, it looks different, feels different, we come out (in the second half) take possession. Unfortunately in the third quarter, to start the third quarter we had a questionable call on the holding, on the kickoff return, that backed us up. We had a couple of false starts, so we got pinned. We just couldn’t make the plays we needed to make on defense. (Detroit QB) Matt (Stafford) had a big day – we were concerned about, like I alluded to after the game last night. He had four drops – he had a near perfect day. He really didn’t put the ball down the field, with the exception of two plays, what was out of broken coverage on the defensive offside. But they found a way. We’re moving on. It’s hard to imagine that less than twenty-four hours ago we were playing a game, and now here we are all settled in London moving on to the Giants. ”
(On whether DT Michael Brokers re-aggravated his hip injury in Sunday’s game and if he has any word on the severity of the injury)
“We checked Mike out. It’s a different injury. I don’t think it’s related to the previous one. They kept him out last week. So, he’ll be day-to-day this week.”
(On whether there is anything more he can do as a coach to help bring down the number of penalties other than just addressing them with the players)
“We knew going into the game that Matt was good at home with the cadence. We do the best we can with respect to the defensive offsides. We were dealing with the crowd, backed up offensively to start the third quarter. We had the two false starts. I’m not necessarily overly concerned right now. Our numbers, we were at six last week, we had eight this week. I disagreed with the defensive pass interference on (S) Maurice (Alexander). I did not see the hold or on the first kickoff return to start the second half on (DE) Eugene (Sims). When you look at them, when the game is over and you look at the penalties, you see your number be eight or whatever, that’s too many. But then you go and you look at them closely and that was a big play for Maurice, to stop their drive – the penalty is called and then they continue the drive, as opposed to, we’re off the field and we got a punt in (WR) Tavon’s (Austin) hands. In close games those are significant penalties. But the team is aware. The team is addressing penalties like they’re addressing their practice tempo – their effort and their commitment to meetings and things like that. I’m not overly concerned right now. The penalties aren’t our problem.”
(On if he had any issue with the defense rushing on Detroit’s final kneel-down plays at the end of the game)
“There’s been some criticism with respect to that. This approach did not come from the sideline – it was not a call, it was not something that we practiced or that we preached. I think it was a byproduct of frustration and things that (DT) Aaron (Donald) endured during the game and the players took it on themselves to do it. We’ll address it. I talked to (Lions Head) Coach (Jim) Caldwell after the game and apologized and I said I’d get to the bottom of it. If the game’s over, the game’s over, pay respect to your opponent. You guys don’t realize all the stuff that goes on inside, up front between the offensive linemen and the defensive linemen. We’ll address it and it’s unlikely that it’ll happen again.”
(On if there are things they can clean up on the defensive side going into the Giants game)
“We have to clean stuff up this week, defensively, there’s no doubt. I’ve talked to you guys about my opinion of (Lions QB) Matt (Stafford), and now we’ve got (Giants QB) Eli (Manning). We gave up 160 yards to (Lions WR) Golden Taint, who’s an outstanding player and you all saw what (No.) 13 (WR Odell Beckham Jr.) did for the Giants. He’s a good player, so we’ve got to do a better job. The ball’s going sideways, it’s going to go sideways. It went sideways a lot yesterday – sideways meaning that they’re throwing the ball out and doing their rub, picks and their screens. We just didn’t play them well, we need to make those tackles. We had a couple balls go down the field – one in the high red zone to the tight end, which was a good throw – credit their offense, it was a great design and Matt looked off our defense and he put the ball down there. And then we had the false start and we had a blown coverage and he just put it up – that was a big play to Golden that got them down to the two yard line. We’ve got to do better – completion percentage, balls going outside in the short and all those things are not a concern, but the big plays down the field, especially in a game like this, you can’t allow to happen.”
(On how the travel went to London last night and if he’s happy with how everything went)
“The players, obviously the mood in the locker room after the game was somber, filled with disappointment, things like that, but we have to move on. Everything was communicated to the players, it was very, very organized, our operations led by Bruce Warwick and Kate (Walker), they had everything together. We had a meal upstairs and the families were included in that – family members upstairs in the suite. And then we obviously had to go through the TSA procedure. We got on the buses and the flight took off, then we settled down. I think players, for the most part, got some rest. We came in this morning – everything was set up, we’re ready to go. The coaches, as we speak right now, are game-planning downstairs, haven’t had a whole lot of sleep, but, I think by Wednesday, we’ll be okay – players are the same way, we’re encouraging them to eat and take care of themselves. And fortunately, from an injury standpoint, we didn’t have anything other than (DT) Mike (Brockers). So we’re good to go, we’re on to the Giants right now.”
(On if losing a series of close games can be mentally draining on a team)
“No, we went into this ballgame knowing our opponent very well. And our opponent, being Detroit, they had two close wins, and three very, very close losses. We expected there was a potential for that to happen. It just didn’t work out for us. I think in this case, we showed some positives, especially form an offensive stand point, and that carries over. Our offense is getting better. I think the numbers are improving. I don’t really care where we’re ranked, and all those kinds of things. The Detroit defense had a hard time stopping our offense, as we did their offense. I expect our defense to bounce back as the health factor improves. The encouraging thing to me in the big picture is, the offense is making plays, and (QB) Case (Keenum) is comfortable, and we’re pushing the ball down the field, we’re getting the ball in the end zone, we’re getting the ball to our playmakers. No, the run game is not there. We showed signs of it early, and I was encouraged. They adjusted, so we put the ball down the field. That’s what you have to do in this league.”
(On the reasons WR Pharoh Cooper was inactive, and why RG Cody Wichmann did not play)
“Cody was, in our opinion, good enough to play if we needed him. (RG Jamon Brown) ‘JB’ had played well last week, and we decided to go with eight (active offensive linemen. The roster was different, the 46 was different. (TE) Temarrick (Hemingway) was inactive, (CB Trumaine Johnson) ‘Tru’ and (WR) Nelson (Spruce) were inactive. It’s hard at times when you have injuries to afford yourself to keep up six receivers. Our defensive line was questionable with (DE) Will (Hayes) coming back, and with Mike coming back. I felt like we needed to keep nine defensive linemen up. Therein lies the issue with respect to ‘Coop’, it’s not something that he’s done or he hasn’t done. It’s just hard to get all these guys up. ‘Coop’ is doing well. He had a great week of practice, he’s doing well. It’s just hard to keep everybody up.”
“We’re very pleased with the offensive output. Four touchdown drives over 75 yards. (QB) Case (Keenum) setting the franchise record for consecutive completions. We had the offense going and the offense did their job. That’s where the focus has been over the last month. As I mentioned last week, we’re improving, we just have to keep it going. Case got a lot of help, great plays, great catches – he had a big day. Obviously it wasn’t enough to win. The difficulty we had in the game was keeping Detroit out of the end zone and 31 points is unacceptable from a defensive output. We had some opportunities, had so opportunities to change the game. The play right before half, the fourth and inches – we get that in, it looks different, feels different, we come out (in the second half) take possession. Unfortunately in the third quarter, to start the third quarter we had a questionable call on the holding, on the kickoff return, that backed us up. We had a couple of false starts, so we got pinned. We just couldn’t make the plays we needed to make on defense. (Detroit QB) Matt (Stafford) had a big day – we were concerned about, like I alluded to after the game last night. He had four drops – he had a near perfect day. He really didn’t put the ball down the field, with the exception of two plays, what was out of broken coverage on the defensive offside. But they found a way. We’re moving on. It’s hard to imagine that less than twenty-four hours ago we were playing a game, and now here we are all settled in London moving on to the Giants. ”
(On whether DT Michael Brokers re-aggravated his hip injury in Sunday’s game and if he has any word on the severity of the injury)
“We checked Mike out. It’s a different injury. I don’t think it’s related to the previous one. They kept him out last week. So, he’ll be day-to-day this week.”
(On whether there is anything more he can do as a coach to help bring down the number of penalties other than just addressing them with the players)
“We knew going into the game that Matt was good at home with the cadence. We do the best we can with respect to the defensive offsides. We were dealing with the crowd, backed up offensively to start the third quarter. We had the two false starts. I’m not necessarily overly concerned right now. Our numbers, we were at six last week, we had eight this week. I disagreed with the defensive pass interference on (S) Maurice (Alexander). I did not see the hold or on the first kickoff return to start the second half on (DE) Eugene (Sims). When you look at them, when the game is over and you look at the penalties, you see your number be eight or whatever, that’s too many. But then you go and you look at them closely and that was a big play for Maurice, to stop their drive – the penalty is called and then they continue the drive, as opposed to, we’re off the field and we got a punt in (WR) Tavon’s (Austin) hands. In close games those are significant penalties. But the team is aware. The team is addressing penalties like they’re addressing their practice tempo – their effort and their commitment to meetings and things like that. I’m not overly concerned right now. The penalties aren’t our problem.”
(On if he had any issue with the defense rushing on Detroit’s final kneel-down plays at the end of the game)
“There’s been some criticism with respect to that. This approach did not come from the sideline – it was not a call, it was not something that we practiced or that we preached. I think it was a byproduct of frustration and things that (DT) Aaron (Donald) endured during the game and the players took it on themselves to do it. We’ll address it. I talked to (Lions Head) Coach (Jim) Caldwell after the game and apologized and I said I’d get to the bottom of it. If the game’s over, the game’s over, pay respect to your opponent. You guys don’t realize all the stuff that goes on inside, up front between the offensive linemen and the defensive linemen. We’ll address it and it’s unlikely that it’ll happen again.”
(On if there are things they can clean up on the defensive side going into the Giants game)
“We have to clean stuff up this week, defensively, there’s no doubt. I’ve talked to you guys about my opinion of (Lions QB) Matt (Stafford), and now we’ve got (Giants QB) Eli (Manning). We gave up 160 yards to (Lions WR) Golden Taint, who’s an outstanding player and you all saw what (No.) 13 (WR Odell Beckham Jr.) did for the Giants. He’s a good player, so we’ve got to do a better job. The ball’s going sideways, it’s going to go sideways. It went sideways a lot yesterday – sideways meaning that they’re throwing the ball out and doing their rub, picks and their screens. We just didn’t play them well, we need to make those tackles. We had a couple balls go down the field – one in the high red zone to the tight end, which was a good throw – credit their offense, it was a great design and Matt looked off our defense and he put the ball down there. And then we had the false start and we had a blown coverage and he just put it up – that was a big play to Golden that got them down to the two yard line. We’ve got to do better – completion percentage, balls going outside in the short and all those things are not a concern, but the big plays down the field, especially in a game like this, you can’t allow to happen.”
(On how the travel went to London last night and if he’s happy with how everything went)
“The players, obviously the mood in the locker room after the game was somber, filled with disappointment, things like that, but we have to move on. Everything was communicated to the players, it was very, very organized, our operations led by Bruce Warwick and Kate (Walker), they had everything together. We had a meal upstairs and the families were included in that – family members upstairs in the suite. And then we obviously had to go through the TSA procedure. We got on the buses and the flight took off, then we settled down. I think players, for the most part, got some rest. We came in this morning – everything was set up, we’re ready to go. The coaches, as we speak right now, are game-planning downstairs, haven’t had a whole lot of sleep, but, I think by Wednesday, we’ll be okay – players are the same way, we’re encouraging them to eat and take care of themselves. And fortunately, from an injury standpoint, we didn’t have anything other than (DT) Mike (Brockers). So we’re good to go, we’re on to the Giants right now.”
(On if losing a series of close games can be mentally draining on a team)
“No, we went into this ballgame knowing our opponent very well. And our opponent, being Detroit, they had two close wins, and three very, very close losses. We expected there was a potential for that to happen. It just didn’t work out for us. I think in this case, we showed some positives, especially form an offensive stand point, and that carries over. Our offense is getting better. I think the numbers are improving. I don’t really care where we’re ranked, and all those kinds of things. The Detroit defense had a hard time stopping our offense, as we did their offense. I expect our defense to bounce back as the health factor improves. The encouraging thing to me in the big picture is, the offense is making plays, and (QB) Case (Keenum) is comfortable, and we’re pushing the ball down the field, we’re getting the ball in the end zone, we’re getting the ball to our playmakers. No, the run game is not there. We showed signs of it early, and I was encouraged. They adjusted, so we put the ball down the field. That’s what you have to do in this league.”
(On the reasons WR Pharoh Cooper was inactive, and why RG Cody Wichmann did not play)
“Cody was, in our opinion, good enough to play if we needed him. (RG Jamon Brown) ‘JB’ had played well last week, and we decided to go with eight (active offensive linemen. The roster was different, the 46 was different. (TE) Temarrick (Hemingway) was inactive, (CB Trumaine Johnson) ‘Tru’ and (WR) Nelson (Spruce) were inactive. It’s hard at times when you have injuries to afford yourself to keep up six receivers. Our defensive line was questionable with (DE) Will (Hayes) coming back, and with Mike coming back. I felt like we needed to keep nine defensive linemen up. Therein lies the issue with respect to ‘Coop’, it’s not something that he’s done or he hasn’t done. It’s just hard to get all these guys up. ‘Coop’ is doing well. He had a great week of practice, he’s doing well. It’s just hard to keep everybody up.”
