What They're Saying: Lions Blowout Is 'Perfect Setup' for Packers

Quotes from Detroit Lions players and coaches following Week 8 win.

Detroit Lions safety Kerby Joseph (31). / Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images

Here are the notable quotes from Detroit Lions players and coaches following their 52-14 win over the Tennessee Titans in Week 8.

Dan Campbell

On the defense picking up the offense.

“Yeah, it’s bittersweet, because you know that you weren’t at your best, and so there’s a little bit of that empty feel. But, on the positive side is what we talked about. Well, yeah, but when your special teams unit plays that well and is that productive, and then you do those little things, the red zone offensively and the takeaways defensively, well, you didn’t need it. You didn’t need to play your best there. You want to and we should, but it’s just another reminder. When we play, because we play with three units here, and when a couple of them are cooking at the right time, it can bail out one of your units. And, when you get them all three playing at the right time, I think you’re very hard to beat. So, I like where we’re at, we’re in a good place. It’s win number six, it’s a perfect setup. We get to go to Lambeau this week, I’m already excited. I know the guys are, and so it was good. That’s a good win.”

Jared Goff

On David Montgomery's touchdown pass to Sam LaPorta.

"That was an absolute dart, and his dance was good too, after. We've been cooking that one for a couple years, too. Good moment for it, too. Sam wasn't that open, he was open, but that had to be a good throw and that was an absolutely well-thrown ball."

Kalif Raymond

On recovering from the low moments early in his career.

"I remember 2017, goodness, gracious, I was struggling. Had a lot of fear, a lot of doubt. I remember actually I walked off the field, I think I was playing for the Giants, I said, 'I just played my last NFL game.' I actually told myself that in my head. I had a choice during that time. That offseason, I was like, 'I can either go in the tank and quit, or I can give everything I have.' That summer, I trained so hard. Probably over-trained, you can say. I trained so hard, I had so much help and I had a lot of people that helped me keep going. I'm just thankful, thank God for being here today and being able to keep doing what I'm doing."

Taylor Decker

On the early pass-protection struggles.

"On the first play of the game, we had a play-action pass called. The D-end, he played pass all the way and went right up the field, so that's on me. I've got to be better in that situation. I don't remember the other one specifically, but yeah, we have to be better in protecting him. We know he's a play-maker when he can have some time back there. Overall, I would say the pass-protection was not up to our standard today."

Trevor Nowaske

On overcoming the Titans' hot start and creating takeaways.

"I feel like we're just a 'bend, don't break,' kind of mentality. Obviously, we've got some things to work on. Some things to clean up, but we had a couple good red-zone stops, a lot of turnovers, a lot of takeaways, which kind of helped us in the end. But, yeah, I feel like at the end of the day, we're a 'bend, don't break' mentality on defense."

Jahmyr Gibbs

On his 70-yard touchdown run.

"I'm not really doing nothing too much. It's really the line. Both long touchdowns I've had these past two weeks, I was untouched. Again, shoutout to them. They do a great job every week of making my and 'D-Mo's' (David Montgomery's) job easy."

Amik Robertson

On where this year's Lions offense ranks among best offenses he's been around.

"I've been in the league four years, and I've never been a part of an offense like this. Us as a defense, we just try to match the energy, man. We try to go out there and give them a spark. They already give us a spark, so we just try to give them the same spark they give us."

Khalil Dorsey

On the special teams performance in Sunday's game.

"It makes me happy, because all the days we practiced, especially in training camp and until now. I'm happy for (Kalif Raymond) 'Leaf,' he almost broke that record. I'm happy for everybody. I feel like we executed on all levels. Still need to do some work here and there, but I think we did a great job."

On his 72-yard kickoff return.

“The play before, when they had kicked it to me, I saw the kicker was mad that I didn’t take it out. It was borderline, right on the edge, I’m like, ‘You’re either gonna have to kick it a little shorter,’ or whatever, but hopefully he gives me the green light from here on out. But, once I caught it, we had a double team to the left. I wasn’t worried about anybody to the front side, I know they’re not gonna catch me. I was like, ‘Alright, let’s just get there right now.’ Isaiah (Williams) had a great one-on-one block, and I just took it up. The rest was kind of a blur, I was just trying to beat everybody. I saw the kicker right there, took it to the outside, and there was one more dude. Got a step on him, but he was able to push me out. I just know my dad’s gonna be torturing me as soon as I get upstairs."

Amon-Ra St. Brown

On scoring in five straight games and the overall offensive effort.

"It's awesome. It's a sport that, obviously every receiver wants to score every week and have 100 yards, but that's not the reality of it. The biggest thing is winning. As long as we're winning, I feel like the rest of it can take care of itself. That's what we've been doing. Putting up points, executing. I will say, I do feel like today on offense, when we were on the field, we could've done a lot better. But, it's the way the game kind of played out. We were in the red zone a lot, and we executed well in the red zone. I feel like we could've done better. But, we came out with a big win against a team that wasn't a pushover, like most people thought, and had a good defense, and we put up some points."

Brock Wright

On the offense scoring 52 points despite Jared Goff throwing for only 85 yards.

"It was weird. And, Sam at one point said, 'It kinda feels like it's taking a while.' And, that's because we'd been sitting on the bench for a while. Special teams just playing their butts off, getting us in great field position. Defense with the turnovers, so kind of one of those funky games. But, it's great to put up points like that and getting the ball spread around a lot. It's fun to see."

Kerby Joseph

On how the defense is able to be in position to create takeaways.

"To be honest, it comes with watching film, of course, and reading your keys. But, I feel like the coaching, they've just been doing a great job. (Safeties coach) Jim O'Neil, (defensive backs coach) Deshea (Townsend), (defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn) 'A.G.,' (defensive quality control assistant Dre Thompson) 'D.T.,' they all put us in a position to make plays. I feel like when we all trust the game plan, nobody can compete with us."

On the defense producing without Aidan Hutchinson.

"We miss Hutch, but you know, this team is built on adversity, the 'next man up' mentality. We've got Hutch, we're gonna pick up the slack for him. We're gonna do it for him."