Lions quotes: Comments from Jim Schwartz's Monday press conference

Below is a look at what Detroit Lions head coach Jim Schwartz had to say during his Monday press conference. (Quotes provided by the Lions.)

On if he is thinking of shutting down S Louis Delmas and DT Corey Williams: "Well neither guy obviously was able to play, which says a little bit about where those guys are because No. 1 it was a big game, No. 2 those are two of the toughest players that I've ever been around and two guys that have proven time and time again that they can play with a lot of pain that other people can't. Neither guy was able to go, and we weren't going to put them out there if they weren't. So, we've missed those guys but just part of football."

On TE Brandon Pettigrew's injury: "Well, Pettigrew wasn't able to finish. He'll be tested today. But he had an ankle (injury) and we'll see the extent of that, what kind of ankle (injury) it is and everything else. But it wasn't a good sign that he wasn't able to finish because there's another guy that's had some injuries and he's played through some stuff. He's always done a good job there. Nick Fairley had an injury late, who we tested today. We'll see where those take us as well as the other guys we talked about and make the best decision."

On what DT Nick Fairley's injury was: "He had a shoulder (injury). We'll see the extent of that. But again there's tests to be done just like every Monday, no different than any other one."

On if CB Jacob Lacey was injured at the end of the game: "Yeah, he's been banged up a little bit coming into it. He's been battling through. He got kicked on one play in a spot that you don't want to get kicked that he was able to come back and play. But he's had some other things that have limited him a little bit."

On who kicked Lacey: "It was one of the opponents. I mean, ‘kick,' it wasn't like somebody kicked him. He got hit in a spot. He got hit in spot that you don't want to get hit."

On what happened on Stafford's fumble: "Ball slipped out of his hand. I mean, it was slippery and the ball slipped out of his hand. I don't think there's any-you can't get too scientific with it, coefficient of friction stuff on that. Ball slipped out of his hand."

On a common theme in three-straight losses when leading by 10 points: "Well, the other times we've lost them at the end of games. This one our lead was early. We came out to a fast start, which again, early in the year had been an issue for us, ‘How come we're not starting fast?' Well, we came out and we started fast in this one but let them right back into it. Anytime you have a game that's weather conditions are the way they are, taking care of the football is paramount. One of the reasons we had a 14-0 lead is because they turned the ball over early in the game. But both times we turned it over we were in the plus side of the field. We were in their territory. Doesn't necessarily mean we would have scored in either of those situations, but if we don't we have a good chance to pin them down with field position and make it a lot harder on them. Like I said last night, they were critical plays. Had a lot of critical plays in the game and there were plenty of opportunities to change it after that but we didn't make any of those plays."

On what he saw from WR Kris Durham: "Guy made a great catch, had a couple other catches. We didn't do as good a job as needed to in the second half of the game on the outside part of the field. They started making a more concerted effort to stopping the run, bring in safety blitzes and nickel blitzes and things like that to try to really clog up our run game and when that happens we need to win outside and all of our wide receivers, tight ends - we use a lot of guys in those roles - we weren't efficient enough making plays on the outside part of the field to make them pay for that strategy. Both teams had a hard time on the outside part of the field. Packers didn't make a whole lot of plays on the outside of the field either. But particularly in that second half, we had four or five opportunities where guys slipped down or we were a little bit off with a throw or miss an opportunity that could have kept drives alive and could have put us in scoring position."

On if there is anything that can happen in the next three games to take away the sting of the season: "Start with the Arizona Cardinals. Come out, come back to work, go work hard to get a win against the Arizona Cardinals. This is a week-to-week business in a lot of different ways and it's the only thing we can concentrate on right now."

On if he is saying that beating Arizona overcomes the 4-9 record: "I didn't say that. I said it's the only thing that we can work on is Arizona right now. I'm not worried about the sting of the last three or anything else. We can go out and we can compete hard and we can play this game to win. That's the only thing that we can do."

On if the Cardinals losing 58-0 makes them more dangerous: "Well we've lost five games in a row so we're certainly not, we're worried about ourselves not our opponents. The fact that they struggled, they lost a game, it's more about us and us ending our losing streak than anything that's happened to them or anything that they're going through right now. Nobody feels sorry for anybody in the NFL, I'm just telling you."

On getting away from the run game in the second half: "No, I don't really think so. I think that more went to Green Bay doing a good job stopping it. We had a couple times where we ran on first and second down; left ourselves with a third down (and) we weren't able to get the third down. Any time they're stopping drives, and we were very efficient on third down in the first half so we were keeping drives alive, but when you're not able to keep drives alive it's hard to consistently run the football. You're not getting earned first downs, you're not getting opportunities to stack one run on top of another, and I think that was probably more the case than anything else. We were still committed to it."

On the reaction you had to the celebration penalty after TE Tony Scheffler's touchdown: "Not very smart. The League is always giving leeway for guys that make plays as long as you're not taunting or suggestive or anything like that. You can celebrate one person...one person can ‘Lambeau Leap', all the other stuff. When you get in the choreographed stuff then they draw a line. It wasn't choreographed. It was one guy coming in and just in the moment right there and not making a good decision, not realizing the way that it would be interpreted. We paid...I mean it cost us 15 yards in field position. I thought Jason (Hanson) did a good job with his kick after that. We did a decent job on coverage after that. But it's still something that, I mean that's easily avoidable."

On Stafford making a block downfield on a reverse play: "Well, it was a reverse and he's a guy if there's anybody to clean up, he can do it. You know, he's 230 pounds. You know, he's certainly not out there trying to avoid contact. He's trying to do his best to help the team. I thought he made a key block on that play."

On DT Ndamukong Suh's roughing the passer penalty: "Yeah, I mean, we were already offside on the play, which wasn't very smart. I mean, I think it was our only offside of the game. But the quarterback's out of the pocket, usually you get a little bit more leeway. It's a bang-bang call. The way that (Aaron) Rodgers scrambles around, if he pulls that ball down and starts scrambling, you sit there and say, ‘How come you pulled up on the guy?' He didn't hit him in the head, didn't hit with his head. He pushed him, they called the penalty. We've got to live with it."

On if the team is exploring another option at punter: "You know, we'll have to see. I thought Nick's (Harris) done a good job for us as he's come back. Unfortunately, a couple times that we've had opportunities particularly late in games to pin teams back, we haven't had our punts. Thirty-yarder with a three-second hang time, you know? When it's a one-score game and we've got the ball around midfield and we've got a chance to back them up in bad weather and stuff like that, all of a sudden they were in good field position. I think we netted, I'll have to go back and look, like 18 yards on the kick or something like that. They get a field goal off of it and make it a two-score game and now it makes it a really difficult situation. Every player's got something they can do better, including our punter."

On P Nick Harris' comfort level holding for K Jason Hanson: "That's all part of an evaluation. Nick's always been a good holder, but you're judged on everything you do, not just one facet of what you do as a player."

On the miscommunication between WR Kris Durham and Stafford: "I mean, you've been around for a while. I'm never going to give you that. I think it's safe to say that they were both thinking something else. As they both have admitted I think, it really comes down to, you know, sort of the price you pay for losing three receivers. I mean, that's Kris Durham's first game. He's practiced an awful lot with Matt, played with him a little bit in college, but that was his first time going out there. We didn't have him during training camp, we didn't have him in the offseason program, and those are things that come from a long time together and seeing things exactly the same way. It certainly cost us."

On what Durham did to secure his starting role over WRs Mike Thomas and Brian Robiskie: "Well, he's been in our offense in practice. He brought size to the equation. He has very good hands as you saw on that one play. We had those other guys in games in different roles, but the way it worked out is he got more playing time. "

On RB Stefan Logan slipping with a hole on a kickoff return: "He just slipped when he made the break. Looked like there was a lane there, might be an understatement there, Mike (O'Hara). There was a big opportunity there. There are a lot of opportunities in there. When you turn a ball over, it's a missed opportunity. When you give up a play somewhere, it's a missed opportunity. A third-down conversion, you miss a punt, but that was obviously a big play in the game too. They had just scored and we got a chance to either get a really long return or even break one. Field conditions were slippery. That had nothing to do with the hole that opened up. We did a good job of blocking and opened up a big hole. We have to find a way to keep our feet there, stay under control and then it would have just been the kicker to beat."

On losing five straight and how to keep the team focused: "The same way you do anything else, you keep your focus on things you can control. You keep your focus on the individual plays within the game. Like I said last week, it's very difficult to lose in professional sports, in any kind of sport. It's even more difficult, I think, when the games are so close. Sometimes if you get blown out, you can sort of put it off your radar pretty quickly as a player, as a coach - hey that wasn't our day and you just move on to the next one. I think our focus on those individual plays, our focus on the fact that we can make a difference, I think that will help us get through."

On QB Matthew Stafford having to get to the finish line of the season: "Same as any other player. We're all paid to go out and perform. It doesn't say anything about what stakes the games need to be played under. There are games that are scheduled. We have a lot to accomplish including getting wins. That's the most important thing."

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