Tracy Walker: 'I Just Let My Team Down'

Tracy Walker comments on being ejected in the Detroit Lions' season opener.

The Detroit Lions understand the importance of maintaining the proper balance of being aggressive and scaling back when cooler heads need to prevail. 

Unfortunately, veteran safety Tracy Walker made a significant error in judgement when he made forceful contact with Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts. 

“I just let my team down," Walker said postgame. "Me, as a team captain, I’ve just got to be better. I was hot-headed at the moment, and like I said, I’ve just got to make better decisions at the end of the day.”

Walker explained his actions were not in any way due to frustrations, since the defense was not making any plays. 

 “No, I’m just saying, I didn’t see what I was doing at the time," Walker said. "I didn’t see what I was doing wrong. Like I said, as I walked away, I got pushed in the back, so I reacted. For me, I’ve got to be better. Like I said, I let my team down. It’s a learning experience for me, and I will be better from here on out.”

Head coach Dan Campbell indicated Walker's actions are not indicative of winning plays a team makes. 

"It's not good," he said." Look, I don't know. I did not see Alex (Anzalone) and Tracy's. Now, I know Tracy got kicked out, because of a second penalty. Which is unacceptable. And, he knows that it's not okay. That's not what we're looking for, because that's how you get beat. Those guys know that."

Defensive breakdowns

It was pretty apparent that the Lions' defense allowed quarterback Jalen Hurts far too much real estate to operate. 

The team simply did not find answers quick enough to limit his damage in the first half. 

“Honestly, we just let the quarterback get out too many times," Walker said. "That hurt us in the end. Like I said, there’s a lot out there that we can clean up. There’s a lot there that we did well, so we’ve just got to continue to build."