Mike Macdonald: "Our Guys Fought The Heck Out Of That Game"

Mike Macdonald (0:00)

Yeah, I mean, just not a good enough performance on our front. Got to give Detroit a lot of credit. I thought they had a great plan offensively. Definitely, I mean, they outplayed us on the defensive side of the ball for us. I will tell you this, our guys fought the heck out of that game. They went down to the last second, and that's what I'm most proud of right now. And we're going to hold on to that. And that's a foundation that we've built here that we're going to push forward with. And we're four weeks into the season. And look, the message all week has been that we're on the foundation of our football team and where we want to be. And it's obvious we're not the team that we want to be yet. And we shouldn't be the team that we're going to be. We have time to grow as a football team. We have a short week. We have to have a sense of urgency about it. And we need to take the next step. But just wasn't good enough, especially on the defensive side of the ball today. So, you know, we've got to make it right and move forward.

I wouldn't say it changed much. I wouldn't say it was a significant change. I mean, in terms of the plan, you can't be, you can't go like, you know, you can't be just making rash decisions.

SPEAKER_2 (1:23)

What was the explanation you got on the penalty on the title or on the work out?

Mike Macdonald (1:28)

Oh, I didn't get an explanation.

SPEAKER_3 (1:31)

You mentioned that the way the guys sponsor, for the guys who work on the defense, make better rolls is just what they showed you when they were taking on the job.

Mike Macdonald (1:39)

Well, we got the stop at the end of the safety, so, I mean, that's probably, you know, one of the few bright spots of the game. It just shows you we're not, you know, we're just not gonna give up, no matter the situation, so that's gonna be us.

SPEAKER_3 (1:52)

I think that before the Williams touched out, they were actually 2.5 yards downfield, on passing solutions, and giving a lot of yards after we catch them.

SPEAKER_2 (1:59)

What were they able to do to make that so effective?

Mike Macdonald (2:02)

You're saying they targeted...

The run after catch stuff? Yeah, I think that's a compliment to common errors. One, goodbye them. Two, you know, the things that we've been executing at a high level on defensively taking right angles, tackling, and all the stuff that we emphasize on a daily basis wasn't coming to life. So we'll watch the tape and attack it and fix it. And move forward, but, you know, you can't allow all that rack yardage and create those explosives for sure.

SPEAKER_2 (2:36)

Going for two there, I guess, what kind of was the thought process there?

Mike Macdonald (2:40)

Well, at the time, we felt like we probably, you know, we had a chance of getting a stop on defense. And then just the way the game was going, having a chance to win it in regulation if you need it. We were going to need another score regardless, so, you know, make it a six point game.

SPEAKER_2 (2:56)

Did you think DK might have caught that, the first chance at that?

Mike Macdonald (3:01)

It looked like it initially, you know, it's tough, it's moving fast, and then the explanation I got was that they were looking at it, the booth was looking at it, and they confirmed that it was incomplete, so. That's what happened.

Yeah, I mean, we were forced to chuck it around in the second half, and I thought he was poised. I mean, it was a loud environment. Lions fans did a great job, but operation wise, I thought we were clean. I thought he was poised. I thought he was accurate. I thought he played a heck of a game. I don't know what the stats are, but I thought he played really well.

I wouldn't say it's a litmus test. It just shows us we're not the team that we need to be at this point. I mean, it's just what it is. It just wasn't good enough. They did what they did to win the game. They did a great job. They had a great plan. And we came up short. So how do we move forward right now as a football team and take the next step? Because we've got a short week coming up, and there's urgency. I mean, it's always an urgency, but we got to go to work here over the next few days and make this right.