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Eric Woodyard, ESPN
DETROIT — Dan Campbell blamed himself for the Detroit Lion’s seventh consecutive loss on Thanksgiving Day.
After experiencing a 29-22 upset at home to the Green Bay Packers on Thursday, the Lions head coach shouldered the blame but said his team isn’t entering “panic mode” despite the recent performances.
“The easy thing is to get in panic mode, and I know what it looks like and it wasn’t good enough out there, but I’m not panicked,” Campbell said. “We’ve got the right guys here. We know how to play, we’ve got to clean some things up and we’ll have six to go when we get back. And the fight’s on.
“They think this is going to be some cruise control; we’re going to have to fight, scratch and fight and claw for everything,” he said. “We have to. That’s the type of team we are. That’s where we’re at.”
The 8-3 Lions also survived a scare Sunday against Chicago, but came out of that game with a 31-26 victory after a surge in the last three minutes. In Week 10 on the road against the Los Angeles Chargers, Detroit escaped with a 41-38 win behind a 41-yard field goal by kicker Riley Patterson at the end.
Despite closing as 8.5-point favorites at ESPN BET, the Lions couldn’t overcome their 17-point deficit in the first half against Green Bay. Lions quarterback Jared Goff finished with three turnovers for the second straight week, with three lost fumbles for the first time in his career.
Two of the fumbles came in the first half. Goff ended up 29-for-44 with 332 yards and two touchdowns on the day. He was also sacked three times.
“The turnovers in the first half have certainly been the problem the last two games and have put us behind,” Goff said. “Subsequently, part of the reason why we lost today. Yes, the efficiency and how well we’d like to play on offense can certainly go up and the last two games is not to our standard. Absolutely.”
Goff’s six turnovers in the past two games have matched his total in his previous 18 games combined. Goff was pressured 17 times by the Packers’ defense, his most in a game against the Lions. He went 3-of-12 passing and committed three turnovers when pressured.
He refused to blame the offensive line despite the recent injuries to guard Jonah Jackson (wrist), who was sidelined for the second straight game, and veteran guard Halapoulivaati Vaitai, who went on the injured reserve list Nov. 14.
“I’m behind what I believe is the best group in the league and those guys rushed well today. They did. They rushed well and did a great job,” Goff said. “I don’t point at our O-line for the reason of that at all. Probably could’ve got rid of the ball quicker on some of those as well.”
With six games remaining on the regular-season schedule, the Lions still sit atop the NFC North standings. They’ll hit the road Dec. 3 to face the New Orleans Saints as they try to get back on track. In its current position, the team is expecting every team’s best shot but looking to respond.
“Even last year, I mean you come and play us, you know you have to bring your all and that’s this year,” said Lions linebacker Derrick Barnes, who had six tackles and a quarterback hit. “I know I think that every team we play is going to give us their best and that’s what we want. That just challenges us to see what we can do and then losing again like this is terrible, but we know who we are, we know our identity.
“We know the outside noise doesn’t matter to us, we’re going to come back next week and go to work.”