| Football, Alumni | 16 Aug 2009 |
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| Stafford: Post-game quote board by Scott Farrell |
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Taken from the Detroit Lions' website, here are some selected post-game quotes from Lions rookie quarterback Matthew Stafford on his debut, along with head coach Jim Schwartz:
from Matthew Stafford:
On how feels about his first preseason game:
"It was fun, It was a blast, it was fun out there. I threw it around a little bit - I obviously don't want to throw anymore picks but we jumped back and had a touchdown there which helped us out".
"Yeah, that's a ball I just should have thrown it away. We were hot; it didn't happen the way we wanted it to and I tried to make a play on third down. I should of just threw it away. I'm going to throw interceptions, it's going to happen; every quarterback does and I understand that. It never really got to me and I don't plan on it happening anytime soon. I knew there was going to be another drive and I had another chance to get out there and make something happen and best way to make up for that is to go out there and score a touchdown. It was big for us and Drew (Stanton) and Daunte (Culpepper) played really well. Drew there at the end really gave us a chance to win; that's a situation we have worked a hundred times in practice - working almost everyday - and he did a great job of getting us out there. And Hanson (Jason) is about as automatic as they get."
"I knew it was coming. I felt it, I looked to my left, actually had nine-route, a go route to my left and the corner had great postion on him so I went back right, saw Derrick (Williams), had him deep pretty good and just kind of cut it loose to a spot where I thought he was going to be and I don't really know what it looked like but we scored - I heard the cheer"
• On whether he was nervous on the sideline before he got into the game
"I wasn't very nervous, more anxious. I was like, ‘ I want to get out here and play.' It was tough sitting around for the first quarter and a half and I loved watching Daunte, he is a great player, but at the same time, I want to be in there too. Once I got out there, I felt at home. We had a first good couple plays; we stalled out for a little bit but I felt like we did pretty good."
from head coach Jim Schwartz:
(on Stafford's interception)
"Obviously Matt made a bad decision. They blitzed him, a rookie quarterback is going to get blitzed, but then rather than burning the ball he tried to make a play that ended up costing him. The thing I liked about it is: he bounced back with an 80-yard touchdown drive and took a hit which you have to do in the NFL and made a perfect pass and Derrick (Williams) made a great catch. I liked that bounce back.
"That's part of his personality; that's one of the reasons we drafted him. He's not scared, he's not afraid, he's not afraid to go back out and put himself out there. I wasn't in here when he was in here but I imagine he wasn't shy about coming in, that's all apart of the reason, not just what he did on the field. It didn't take Vince Lombardi to see that he can throw the football but all those other things led to this organization drafting him."
