Locker Room Buzz: Lions Have Kicked ‘Everyone’s Ass’ Last 11 Weeks

Here is a collection of quotes from Detroit Lions players and coaches following their 48-42 loss to the Buffalo Bills in Week 15.

Dan Campbell

On whether he thinks the Bills were great or if the Lions have serious defensive issues:

“No, I just feel like we didn’t play at the same level that that team did today. That’s how I feel, and that’s why, honestly, I put this on me. I didn’t, I just didn’t feel like I had them ready to go, not like we’ve been. You can get away with, maybe if you’re not quite all the way to a 10, but not against the Buffalo Bills, Kansas City Chiefs or Green Bay Packers, Minnesota, Philadelphia—whoever they are. It’s not going to be good enough, and it wasn’t good enough today.”

Jared Goff

On the importance of not overreacting to a loss:

“We don’t, yeah no. We’ll be just fine. I’m sure there will be a ton of stuff written about the sky falling, but no, internally, we’re good. Yeah, we had won how many in a row up to that point, but it sucks to lose. We would’ve loved to win every game out, all the way through the Super Bowl and I hope we can look back on this one as a good learning lesson for us and move on and use some of the stuff that we learned in this game to help us win these next three before we hit the Playoffs.”

Terrion Arnold

On if the defense felt like it was trying to claw back the entire game after a slow start:

“Nah, I wouldn’t say it feels like that. It’s one of those things where you look at, ‘What did we do wrong?’ On the plays that they scored, it wasn’t something where they necessarily went out there and won a 1-on-1 matchup or they went out there and did, it was on us. Aaron Glenn does a great job of putting us in positions to succeed, and we just have to go out there and execute the game plan.” 

Dan Skipper

On his touchdown catch in the second quarter:

“I was trying to — the whole design of the play is the timing of it all. So getting the timing right, and once the ball is in the air, catch the ball, secure it. And then from there, they took (tight end) Brock (Wright). Turned around, there was one guy coming at me, so I lowered the shoulder on him.”

Josh Paschal

On the importance of moving forward after Sunday’s loss:

“He’s a great player, dynamic. He can hurt you with his legs, his arm. They got us today, but we’re gonna regroup. It’s a long season, and the good news is we’re still in control of our own destiny. We’ve got to get coached up and get back to work.”

DJ Reader

On how the team will respond after losing for the first time since Week 2:

“It’ll be fine, just can’t let it snowball. That’s really the thing. People get beat every Sunday. So we just can’t let it snowball. We still are what our record says we are, we’re 12-2. We’ve got a division opponent next week, we’ve got to go out there and get it done.”

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On if this loss will elevate their urgency:

“I think there should be urgency every Sunday. We’re getting closer and closer to the playoffs, we’ve already got a spot there. So I think the urgency, if it wasn’t, we should have it high. I think we do have it high. We just lost man. I think that’s what it is. It happens in this league. S**t, we’ve been kicking everybody’s a** for 12 weeks. This week, it happened to us.”

Sam LaPorta

On the importance of bouncing back next week against Chicago:

“We’ve got three games left. We’re gonna take it one game at a time. We know the opportunity of taking the one seed, just the benefit of playing here at Ford Field, the home-field advantage. Our fans are tremendous. Of course there’s tremendous urgency, but there is every week in the NFL. Every game is a tough game and everybody’s gonna give you their best.”

On if he wants to see the Bills again in February:

“Of course. You always want payback, especially when a team gets the best of you. But that’s the competitor in me saying that.”

Al-Quadin Muhammad

On whether playing a team like the Bills can teach them what they need to improve upon for the playoffs:

“As we watch the film there’s always things you can learn from playing the great football teams. But we’re gonna watch the film, we’re gonna evaluate us and we’re gonna go out there and do what we do best, play our style of football.”