Lions head coach Matt Patricia spoke to the media Tuesday following Monday night's tough, one-point loss in Green Bay at the hands of the Packers.
As expected there were several questions regarding the officiating in that game, which involved some controversial calls that went against the Lions.
Here are the key questions from that media session:
What conversations has Patricia had with the league about some of Monday's penalty calls?
Patricia was in meetings all day Tuesday getting ready for Minnesota on a short week, and hadn't seen or heard anything from the league.
NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent came out Tuesday and acknowledged that the second hands to the face penalty called on defensive end Trey Flowers, the one that allowed the Packers to run out the clock and kick the game-winning field goal, should not have been called.
As was the case Monday night, however, Patricia wasn't in the mood Tuesday to blame the officials for the loss.
"I think if you go through a game and you're relying on the officials to tell you whether or not you won, I don't really think you're going to turn out in a favorable manner more times than not.
"So for us, it's about trying to go out and do the things that we can control to win the game and do that better."
What is Patricia's message to the fan base after another set of officiating blunders went against the Lions?
"I love our fan base," he said. "And I love their passion and I love all of it. I appreciate it more than you know. I just want the fans to know we're going to work to get things right and do things the right way.
"We're tough. We're built tough. We're blue collar, and just like this city, and just like this state, we'll just continue to be tough and in the end toughness is going to prevail."
How does Patricia think the NFL game is being officiated league-wide this season?
It's something Patricia declined to comment on, other than to re-emphasize controlling what he and the players can control from a penalty standpoint.
"I think we can just do some things better and eliminate the penalties we've had that we know are on tape that we can prevent," Patricia said. "Certainly from situations that came up in the game last night, whether it's false start penalties, delay of game penalties, too many men on the field, all that has to start with coaching and we have to coach it better."
Is Patricia concerned with Detroit's ability to close out games the last few weeks?
In both of their last two games, the Lions held a lead in the fourth quarter against Kansas City and Green Bay, only to see those leads dissipate, and the Lions come out on the wrong side of the scoreboard.
"It's definitely something we have to do a better job of, absolutely," Patricia said. "We understand there's a lot of factors that go into closing out a game. Some of it happens earlier in the game and some of it happens later, but that's part of the process right now of trying to improve as a football team and identify some areas we think we can get better at.
"For us, that's part of the work, that's part of the improvement."
Will Patricia review the techniques involved with the Flowers penalties for illegal hands to the face and coach those any different?
The grabbing of the front collar of the shoulder pads is a technique to attack the chest and get some different leverage angles to press into the offensive player to either open up his hips to turn a different way or try to affect their balance, per Patricia.
The fact that the league admitted the second penalty shouldn't have been called means there's no reason to alter Flowers' technique.
"We'll make sure we're looking at it the right way and make sure everything is in the proper placement, and we'll go from there," Patricia said.
What about safety Tracy Walker's unnecessary roughness penalty?
Walker was diving to try and make an interception on a pass, and contacted the receiver's helmet, drawing the flag.
"All of those situations we've been working through the last several years as a league to try to make the game safer in some of those situations," Patricia said. "A lot of the onus is put on the defensive player to make sure that they see the contact coming. They see the body angles and the leverage, and we have to do a good job. It's about safety. First and foremost, the game is going to be about safety – both players that are in defenseless positions and also the people that are coming through and giving the hits.
"We have to do everything we can to coach it to get those contact points out of there and try to be as safe as possible. That's what it is and that's what we're about to try to make sure that these guys are protected for a long time."
