Locker room buzz: Lions frustrated by lack of energy, Skipper's crazy day, corners ready for role adjustment
Justin Rogers
Detroit — Here’s what I learned bouncing around the Detroit Lions’ locker room following the team’s 48-42 loss to the Buffalo Bills.
Disproportionate energy
There was a lot of finger-pointing with the Lions, but they weren't being pointed at anyone but themselves, starting with coach Dan Campbell.
“Ultimately, it’s like I told the team, I didn’t have those guys ready to go, not like (Buffalo),” Campbell said. “Not when you’re playing a team like that. That’s with me. We had a number of guys that have played a lot better than that, just overall, and so that tells me that’s me. I didn’t have these guys completely ready to roll.”
Campbell said his team didn’t match the energy the Bills brought into the contest, something their coach, Sean McDermott, also acknowledged.
“I thought they came out ready to play, they really did,” McDermott said. “You could tell there was an attitude and focus about them, even in the week, during the week, and then last night and then in pre-game warmup, you could tell there was something in the locker room. That’s what I’m used to feeling, that’s what I’m used to seeing.”
While Campbell questioned his team’s energy, he was content with the overall effort. But speaking for a defense that surrendered a season-high 48 points, cornerback Amik Robertson wasn't as kind.
“They were the better team, but the defense, we just didn't come to play today,” Robertson said. “I just felt like we could have had more effort, urgency. I love this team, I love this defense, but we know our standards.
“…The offense, they played their *** off, man,” Robertson said. “I don't know if I'm going to get backlash for this or not, but we know as a defense, we didn't play up to our standards. We fought, though. We just have to play with more urgency and effort. We'll fix it because I know what kind of team we are.”
Still, even though the offense put up 42 points in defeat, they weren’t letting themselves off the hook. Quarterback Jared Goff shared his frustration with the team’s slow start putting the team in a hole.
“Yeah, it’s not enough,” Goff said. “That’s really the best way to put it. I think we were able to rack up some yards and some touchdowns there late in the game, and if we had done that earlier in the game, it probably would’ve been a closer game and wouldn’t have felt so much like garbage time there at the end.
“I know we kind of made it close there at the end, you get the onside kick, you have a chance, but yeah, I think early in the game we kind of shot ourselves in the foot offensively,” Goff said. “In a game like that against an opponent like that, you get behind the eight ball a little bit, down a couple scores, and it’s hard to climb back.”
Stay the course
Even with the loss, the Lions know they control their own destiny. That was the heart of Campbell’s postgame message.
“This is not the end of the world for us,” cornerback Kindle Vildor said. “We still control our own destiny with three straight conference games. We just have to win out.”
If the Lions can win their remaining games, they’re still primed to earn the No. 1 seed, holding tie-breakers over Philadelphia and Minnesota.
“Of course, we don't like losing,” Robertson. “24-hour rule: Get over this **** and focus on the Bears. The game after this game is always the most important. We know the goal. We're going to take it one game at a time and focus on the Bears.”
Detroit plays at Chicago next Sunday, followed by a road trip to San Francisco for Monday Night Football, before closing at home against Minnesota in a game that is lining up to determine not only the top seed in the conference but also the NFC North.
Next man up, again
Speaking of Vildor and Robertson, they’re both ready for bigger roles in the wake of what’s expected to be a season-ending injury for starting cornerback Carlton Davis III.
“I feel like I'm ready,” Vildor said. “I was in this position last year, down the stretch, just being a starter for a contending team. I just have to take advantage of the opportunities, man. I have to study hard, lock in on my craft and play with max effort. I'll be ready to help this team make a push down the stretch, for sure.”
Vildor moved into the starting lineup for the Lions late in the 2023 season, starting two regular season games and all three playoff matchups. He’s similarly started two games this year, finishing Sunday’s game against Buffalo in place of Davis.
Alternatively, the Lions could move Robertson, their starting nickel, to the outside. It's not unfamiliar territory, given he played more outside for the Raiders before signing with Detroit, and it’s something Campbell recently acknowledged had been internally discussed when Davis had to miss a game with a knee injury.
“I'm a football player,” Robertson said. “Wherever they put me, I'll play at a high level, play Amik Robertson (football), play Detroit Lions football, be myself within the scheme. If that's what we're going to do, that's what I'll do. As of now, I don't know what's going to happen.”
Davis' injury also opens the door for a larger role for Emmanuel Moseley, who was brought to Detroit to start on the outside a season ago before suffering a second ACL tear in as many years. This offseason, Moseley was trending toward being Detroit’s starting nickel over Robertson, before a torn pec shelved Moseley for three months.
On Sunday, Moseley was inactive, a healthy scratch, for the second consecutive week.
One helluva day
It’s been a stressful couple of weeks for offensive lineman Dan Skipper. Last week, the day before he was set to start at left tackle against Green Bay, he thought his wife was going into labor.
They went to the hospital and it turned out to be a false alarm. There was no confusion on Sunday when she checked into the hospital ahead of a scheduled induction.
After the game, Skipper hurriedly dressed to join her for the birth of their third child, a daughter to pair with the couple’s twin boys.
“Yeah, I'm getting the f___ out of here,” Skipper said.
Because he played, Skipper got to experience a special on-field moment before his special off-field moment, catching the second pass of his career and his first touchdown, a 9-yard effort on a delayed route.
“It's cool it worked out how they drew it up, but I don't know, it's bittersweet,” Skipper said. “Any time you lose, it kind of takes the fun out of a lot of ****.”
Skipper said the play was initially on the call sheet for the Houston game, but scrapped when he had to start at left tackle for Taylor Decker, who suffered a mid-week shoulder injury.
The Lions worked the play on the practice field on Thursday, their red zone day, and it didn’t go particularly well.
“I got, a nice way to say it, dog-cussed for doing it wrong,” Skipper said. “I did kind of a ****ty job in practice. Worked on it, got a few more reps on it, doing stuff with (assistant offensive line) coach (Steve) Oliver. He does a really good job, he's coached that position at the college ranks, so he really understands that side of things. He really works with me a lot on the jumbo stuff.”
Dissecting the onside kicks
The Lions attempted two onside kicks, but the Bills recovered both. The first, down two scores with 12 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, surprised most observers. Campbell explained the decision.
“I just thought we’d get the possession,” Campbell said. “I thought we were going to get that ball. It was one of (Jake) Bates’ best kicks that I’ve seen him have. That was a big kicker at the end, you know, that thing took a good jump on us, and (Bills receiver Mack) Hollins made a heck of a play on it.”
In a rare expression of regret, Campbell said Hollins’ ability to field the kick and return it deep in Detroit’s territory made the coach wish he had gone a different direction with the decision.
“I don’t know what he was thinking there, but it paid off for us,” McDermott said.
As for the second onside kick, the Lions had no choice. On this one, with 12 seconds on the clock, instead of a traditional high bouncer into traffic, Bates kicked it straight ahead and tried to recover it himself. It was
similar to a play he executed while at the University of Arkansas, although that was a surprise effort.
“I kind of told myself to stay calm and not mess up the kick,” Bates explained. “The kick's the most important thing in that situation, just to give our team a chance. It's kind of the same as a field goal, just keeping my nerves in check and do what I practice.”
In the mass of bodies, Bates nearly came up with the recovery this time, as well.
“Yeah, I thought I had the ball for a little bit,” he said. “I think by the time I got the ball, they might have already had it, so I was trying to rip it out. There was a second I thought I had it.”
Onside kicks have a low success rate in the NFL, which is why the league is constantly considering alternatives to the play. Regardless, Bates felt good about both the plan and execution of both kicks.
“We work on it a lot,” he said. “It's not a big deal until it's a big deal. Today, twice it was a big deal. We work on it quite a bit, just kind of messing around with different stuff. We usually feel like we have a pretty good game plan going into it.”
