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Below is a look at what Detroit Lions head coach Jim Schwartz had to say after Sunday's loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. (Quotes provided by the Lions.)
On the Lions' performance: "You can't explain it. It was a poor performance. We had a punt blocked. We had five turnovers. We gave up a play over the top. We played our butts off on defense the whole game and then gave up a play over the top for a touchdown and a coverage that we shouldn't have given up on that play. That's how we ended up with a loss. Even though there were a couple of things that we did that were good to keep us in the game, it didn't make up for the mistakes that we made."
On explaining the number of turnovers: "You saw them. We fumbled the ball going out of bounds on one. Calvin (Johnson) fumbled down when we had a chance to win the game right there and Calvin's one of our best players. Matt (Stafford) made a mistake on the one that was intercepted for the pick-six. Some of them, I don't know how to explain it, were fumbles on plays that we have to secure the football."
On how tough this loss is: "There is so much on the line and there is still a lot on the line. Depending on what happens in the other games today, it's going to be a five-game season. As disappointing and as bitter of a loss this is, we have a short turnaround to bounce back. We have a five-game season. This does not eliminate us from the playoffs. It doesn't do anything other than make the last five games even more urgent. Those are our marching orders over the last five games."
On how to recapture some of the form that was presented early on in the season: "I thought defensively we did some really good things today, other than giving the ball over our head. I thought there was an up until that point. I don't know how many yards of offense they had, it wasn't very much. I think you can't throw out the whole performance. There are things that we need to do better in there. We moved the ball on offense. We didn't finish with kicks. Whether it's field goals, extra points or punts. That's what we aspire to do on offense."
On if CB Chris Houston was to get help from the safeties: "I don't talk about the breakdown. The breakdown was we gave up a long touchdown pass. We don't assign blame. The blame is on the entire defense."
On Houston's injury: "He was hurt after that play and he was done for the day. I don't know if it was during the play, after the play or before the play."
On what happened on the play that injured Houston: "He has a foot thing, let's put it that way."
On if Stafford is playing recklessly: "I don't think so. He just wasn't as sharp as he has been. Particularly the one that was the pick-six. They made it difficult. They rushed well. Give credit to where credit is due. That's a team that came in winning two games in a row and their only loss was when they had a big lead at Seattle. Our guys knew they had a job ahead of them. I thought that their pass rush made things difficult on Matt. We probably had more pressure than we had the whole season. They were mixing up blitzes and also coverage. We didn't make enough plays. We had opportunities and we didn't make enough plays to win."
On the interception in the third quarter: "We still want to be aggressive and take shots you have to do. The post player came across and intercepted that ball. We had made a play very similar when we threw the ball down the middle to (Brandon) Pettigrew. There is a fine line there of being aggressive and taking care of the football. In that case, that wasn't one of those."
On what the Buccaneers did to limit WR Calvin Johnson in the second half: "They were devoting an awful lot of coverage to him. We had opportunities to run the ball. I don't think we did a good enough job running the ball in total. He still had opportunities. We still got passes to him, including our last offensive play of the game. I thought we were still working hard. He had a couple first down catches in there. They did make it a lot more difficult. It was a chance in scheme when (Darrelle) Revis went out of the game."
On what the Buccaneers did do to limit WR Nate Burleson in the second half: "Nothing different than what they did in the first half. Nate made some plays in the second half. I know he had that one that went off his helmet. He sort of stumbled with the ball. And one was just off his fingertips on the sideline. We still had opportunities there."
On the defense and DE Ezekiel Ansah: "I thought our pass rush did a pretty good job. Other than the touchdown drive that they had, we had a big third down where we didn't give very good pressure. I thought we had good pressure the whole day. Our defensive ends are a big part of that. He's a big part of our defense and it was a long time getting him back. We needed to get him back."
On if the short turnaround a concern: "You can look at it a lot of different ways. You can look at it as turning right around and getting focused on the next opponent. Like I said, we have five games and it just makes all those games more important. It's basically a five-game season at this point in the NFC North."
On DT Nick Fairley's penalty: "I don't have any comment on the rules. That's not my job. It's my job to play within them."