The Detroit Lions were once again handed a disappointing loss in front of their home fans at Ford Field on Sunday, dropping a 38-17 decision to the Tampa Bay Bucs.
The Lions didn’t look ready to play from the get-go: The Bucks put up 314 yards and 21 points before the Lions earned a first down without a penalty. The first quarter saw the Lions outgained by a ghastly 236 to 1; they’d gain just 56 yards in the first half.
“I think for us, a slow start is not what we wanted to do against an explosive team like this,” head coach Matt Patricia explained in his post-game presser. “We have to do better at the start of the game and get out there faster.”
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Detroit had themselves a better second half, outgaining the Bucks 241 yards to 159 and making the score interesting late before a pick-six from David Blough sealed their fate.
“We had to do some major adjustments there to some of the things we were doing. I think once the game settled down, our guys went out and fought really hard to get things right.”
“The one thing that’s consistent is that the team fights, they work hard regardless of who’s out there.”
When asked if he was able to put the frustration that the players are feeling with the mounting losses into words, Patricia went in a different direction.
“I don’t think you eve want to put frustration into words because it never comes out right,” he said. “For us, we understand and we look at it from a standpoint of how do we improve things. Certainly we know in the NFL when we don’t start fast, you’re going to be behind it from the start and it’s going to be a play here or there where if it doesn’t go your way or don’t make a play happen, you’re right back into that tough situation, so we could help ourselves that way.”
The Lions have two games remaining on their schedule for the 2019 season.
