What They're Saying: Lions Don't Take Winning for Granted

The Detroit Lions earned their second victory of the 2022 NFL season. Here is what was said in the locker room.

The Detroit Lions earned their second victory of the 2022 season. 

After an extended losing streak that had reached five games, the feeling of preparing for a divisional opponent and securing the victory left many on the roster feeling relieved and excited. 

"Of course it feels great," Dan Campbell said. "I'll be honest, I'm exhausted. I wanna go home, put your feet up, drink a beer. So, it feels real good. I'm just proud of them. I really am. I'm proud of our coaches. I'm proud of the players. I'm proud of everybody just because everybody puts a lot of work into it." 

Here is a sample of what was said in the locker room following the Lions 15-9 victory over the Green Bay Packers. 

Aidan Hutchinson

On what Packers QB Aaron Rodgers said to him about his interception: “He made some comment about me being a young pup or something. And then he told me he gave me a freebie and I was like, ‘Freebie or not, I’ll take that interception.’ It was cool man. It was a cool moment and that’s my first-ever pick in football really. And I got it against one of the best.”

On what it meant to have a good defensive performance against a great quarterback: “Yeah, I mean we were playing lights out for the most part. I mean they were getting yards, but we were getting stops that we needed which is all that matters on defense. And Kerby (Joseph) was balling out. Kerby’s a turnover machine so we love it. And I got one of my own, so I will take it.”

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Derrick Barnes

On the feeling of getting a win and contributing heavily: “It feels better when you have a performance like that and also win, and I was telling myself no matter what happens I want to win a game because if we had that type of performance and you lose none of that matters. And I would have told myself I could have did something better to help my team win. But we won and that’s what’s important.”

Jeff Okudah

On the feeling of getting a win: “It feels good. I think I learned over the course of my career you can’t take the wins for granted. So, I’m going to sit here and enjoy this win. They’re a good Packers team regardless of what the record says. And go to work on Wednesday to get ready for the next one.

On getting through this past week with a player being traded and coach being fired: “It was definitely different. I think what we’ve had in our toolbox is that next-man-up mentality. You know, with so many moving parts, it’s nothing that we weren’t used to sort of say.”

On losing former Lions Secondary/Passing Game Coordinator Aubrey Pleasant: “It’s hard anytime you lose a great coach. I think today speaks to the resilience of the guys in this locker room. After everything that happened, we put our heads down, locked in on the tunnel vision, and got a win.”

DeShon Elliott

On the mood this week after Aubrey Pleasant fired: “We went about it like any other week, if anything more detailed. Just because we were like, ‘Man we’ve got to get this done bro. We are just too close not to be getting it done and we don’t know how to finish.' And we finally did that today. Obviously, there’s things we could have done better on. But we’re going to be okay. We’ve got to keep going. Keep pressing the issue bro, keep trying to be great.”

On what Aaron Rodgers’ three interceptions says about the defense: “(Expletive), we were playing great. We’ve got to keep it up. I mean, we don’t have many takeaways and to have both of the rooks come up big, we really appreciate that. I mean we expected someone to step up. Every week it’s going to be somebody else. We’re going to keep working.”