I don't think, right now, we're the most confident team. |
I expected (Lions president) Matt Millen to come in and do a great job. He's a great football guy. I just think things haven't gone his way with some draft picks. |
I felt all along going into training camp we have four great backs. Two of them are down right now, so we still have two left. |
I give him a lot of credit to these last seven weeks. He was the guy after losing three in a row that really didn't say a word in front of the team or anything like that, but more so in our huddle. |
I had a choice to come back to the Lions, at least I felt like I did. It was a good contract. It wasn't exactly the contract we wanted. It was on the table for four or five days. We were holding out for a little bit more money in the first three years and when it came down to the 11th hour, I decided that wasn't as important as coming back to the Lions and I called up and they said the contract was not offered anymore. |
I had to treat it as if they were just another team in free agency. I think, more than anything, the day we knew there wasn't a deal there was just a lot of uncertainty in my head because free agency brings a lot of uncertainty. You really don't have any idea where you're going to go. |
I knew we were going to have to give him a lot of help. |
I personally feel like it was divine intervention, because I wanted to come back. God changed Matt's heart about the whole thing, and obviously I'm very happy about the way things turned out. |
I talked to him on the sideline and I kind of got a sense that this might be his last game. As much as I think he'd like to come back, I think he realizes there is not a whole lot left in the tank after 13,000 yards. It's tough for me to think about going through this whole thing again. That's why you have to take some time. You take a month or two and evaluate as soon as the emotion is out of the way. |
I tell him all the time, 'Play your game, don't stay in the pocket for us,' |
I think he came into that first game a little scared, and he maybe tried to do too much, too soon. But I felt all along that Ben, deep down, wanted to be the starter. That's the kind of competitor he is. This year, he wants to be the guy to make plays to help us win games. Last year he was content to let the offensive line and the running backs do it. |
I think right now we played two teams that hadn't necessarily played their best football, that's for sure, |
I used my regular locker from when I was a Lion. Any comfort zone you can find. |
I'm certainly in shock. We didn't handle the ball very well there at the end and didn't even give ourselves a chance to kick a field goal. That's definitely bad football. |
I'm grateful because I think he's a great coach and the Lions may have missed out on an opportunity to get a great coach. Selfishly, I'm glad he stayed in Pittsburgh, because I want to stay in Pittsburgh, if at all possible. |