Head coach Matt Patricia spoke to the media Monday following Detroit's 19-16 loss to Washington on Sunday. This is a short week for the Lions with a lot to attend to as they welcome Chicago into town Thursday for their annual Thanksgiving Day Game.
Here's all the key questions to come out of Patricia's Monday press conference:
What is the status of quarterback Jeff Driskel?
Driskel showed up on Monday's practice report with a hamstring injury and would have been limited at practice Monday if the Lions had held one. With such a short week, that's obviously not an ideal situation for Patricia and the Lions.
"He's sore from the game yesterday, he ran a lot and his hamstring is a little tight," Patricia said of Driskel.
The Lions can protect Driskel and his hamstring a bit by making him more of a pocket passer Thursday against the Bears, but that's not playing into his strengths. We'll just have to see how treatment goes for Driskel this week and what his practice report looks like.
Patricia confirmed the team reached out to free agent quarterback Josh Johnson, who was here in training camp, but reports are that the XFL team he's under contract with blocked any potential signing.
Right now David Blough is the only quarterback on the Lions roster not listed on the practice report.
What is Patricia's level of disappointment with the season after a fourth straight loss Sunday dropped Detroit to 3-7-1 on the year?
"I'm always disappointed when we don't win," he said. "I think everybody that knows me knows how competitive I am, and that's what we're trying to do.
"I also know that this is a process. I know there's a lot in play here that we're going through, and we're trying to build, and we're trying to do the best we can to improve and get better. Sometimes, for us, we try to just stay on (the) task at hand for the week. It's one-week seasons for us."
Patricia said he's looking at a lot of different things involved in that process, such as the development of some of the younger players and even the progress some of the more experienced players have to go through learning the fundamentals, techniques and schemes this coaching staff is trying to teach.
"For us, it's just part of the process as we go forward," Patricia said.
Does the process outweigh the results on Sunday?
"We are trying to build something," Patricia said. "I do understand that."
Patricia's also never made excuses for 3-7-1, which is ultimately what coaches and players are measured on.
When GM Bob Quinn said 9-7 wasn't good enough when the team let Jim Caldwell go, the expectations put on Patricia were immense.
Monday's talk about building toward something greater is the first time since Patricia's introductory press conference that maybe internally there was a belief it might take some time to get things into place before they could win on a more consistent basis.
Where does Patricia think the team is in that process?
He answered that question by first admitting that's sometimes hard to judge.
"I would say, I'm always encouraged by the way that the team right now fights every single week," he said. "I'm encouraged by some of the players that I see out there improving and getting better and playing more consistent.
"And even some of the players that have been forced into, kind of, action because of whatever circumstance may be, showing up in a positive way. So, I think those all things that we look for as signs that we're moving in a good direction from that standpoint of at least trying to improve overall as a team."
Has Patricia had any conversations with team owner Martha Firestone Ford or the Ford family about his future?
Patricia said he has a weekly meeting with ownership but preferred to keep those conversations private.
What did Patricia like about rookie cornerback Amani Oruwariye's performance Sunday?
The fifth-round pick made his first career start Monday and played in 75 percent of Detroit's snaps on defense. He was thrown at five times and allowed three catches for 21 yards and recorded his first career interception. Redskins quarterback Dwayne Haskins Jr. had just a 30.0 passer rating throwing Oruwariye's way.
"I felt he was good with the calls and ready to kind of go out there," Patricia said. "It was good to see him make some plays. The interception was actually a really good play. He was kind of a little bit behind the receiver, reached through and pulled the ball back into him, so I thought that was good from that aspect of it.
"(He had) some communication things out there that I thought were good, some plays that we have to get better on. I think just the preparation part of it to me is I would say, where he has been the most consistent as of late."
