What They're Saying: Lions Feel 'We Can Really Dominate Anybody'

The Detroit Lions remain confident despite their loss to the Bills.

The Detroit Lions walked away from their close loss to the Buffalo Bills feeling a renewed level of confidence. 

Despite being nearly a 10-point underdog, the team battled one of the top squads in the NFL and had an opportunity to win late in the game. 

Here is a sample of what was said in the locker room following the Lions 28-25 loss to the Bills. 

Jared Goff

On if he liked the matchup he saw on the third-and-1 throw to Lions WR DJ Chark: “Yeah, kind of. I wish I had thrown a different ball. I thought the play-call was great and had some options what to do there, and yeah, if you had to do it again, do you do something differently? I don’t know, maybe, but if I throw a better ball, it might not matter. But yeah, unfortunately, that’s going to be the play that gets focused on, but there’s a lot of plays that could have gone either way today as well.”

On playing a close game with one of the best teams in the League: “I think over the last four weeks, we just are such a different team, it’s such a different feel. We know we can beat anybody. We know we can play with anybody. We know we can really dominate anybody, and that was a really good team out there, but we did a lot of good things. And you tip your cap to them. That’s a hell of a team, and the way they played hard, and the whole thing, but yeah, there isn’t a team in this league that we can’t compete with and can’t beat.”

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Dan Campbell

On if he regretted the 3rd-and-1 play call and if he considered going for it on fourth down: “Could have done that. Certainly could have done that. No, we like the play call. Didn’t work out, kicked the field goal.”

On the time management at the end of the game: “So yeah, they had three timeouts, you’re saying why didn’t I use mine? Right, so I wanted to use some of the clock down knowing we still had two. But yet, taking off some since they had three timeouts. I am trying to preserve just enough time for us to score a touchdown, but yet leaving them enough time after a touchdown. That was the fear. What was it like 23 seconds they had left there at the end? So we didn’t burn enough of it and still have the ability to score a touchdown.”

Alex Anzalone

On Lions LB James Houston’s debut performance: “Yeah he has some special pass rush abilities that we’ve been seeing for weeks. Just trying to find a way to get him up. He definitely capitalized on his opportunities and they were not ready for him. It’s fun to watch when young guys like that get an opportunity and capitalize on it.”

James Houston 

On his emotions after having a multi-sack performance in his NFL debut: “I mean, on Thanksgiving, just very thankful. Very thankful and grateful God put me in this position. I talked to him this morning and last night, I just told him I’ll give him the glory. He gave me the power and the speed and all that, I’m giving him the glory. It’s really all God.”

Amon-Ra St. Brown

On how he processes today’s loss: “Yeah, it was a tough loss definitely. It came down to the end. I wish we could’ve gotten a touchdown at the end, but we got the three points. I mean, the Bills did a heck of a job of going down there I think with 23 seconds. But yeah, it was a tough one.”

On if today was a learning experience going against a Super Bowl contender that made more plays down the stretch: “Yeah. We can’t have -- you play a team like that, you can’t have any mistakes. Like, that’s a great team. Everyone knows it. Offense, high-powered offense, good coach, defense. I think we played pretty well as a whole, but just there are a few plays you wish you had back.”

On what feels different with this team compared to a couple weeks ago: “After coming out a game like that, that’s a great team. We all know how good they are, but losing that close, no one wants to lose obviously, but that’s a good football team. Us being able to see that we’re that close to winning those types of games, I think gives everybody in this locker room hope. We know we’re just so close, we’ve just got to eliminate the little mistakes, penalties here and there, play it clean and maybe they’ll come our way the next time.”