Lions’ Stafford, Bush disagree on need for players-only meeting
By Mike Dyce
On Sunday the Detroit Lions lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a team that was one of the last in the league to get their first win. More embarrassingly, the NFC North leading Lions lost to the Bucs at home. It was the Lions’ second straight loss and that had some, like running back Reggie Bush, panicking a bit.
“We definitely need to have a players-only meeting and really dig deep inside and find out what we’re made of,” Bush said, via the Detroit Free Press.
Quarterback Matthew Stafford was less pessimistic and said the Lions needed to rely on their leaders. He preached
“This is a team I’ve been around awhile and we have strong leaders on this team who can get it taken care of just in individual groups and we’ve got leaders at every position,” Stafford said. “And guys know what it takes to win in this league and what a fine margin it is.
“There is no offensive, defensive, special-teams overhaul needed. We’ve got to go out and just play a little bit better than we’ve been playing.”
The important thing, according to Stafford, is for the veteran players to show the younger players how to handle the situation they’re in. He probably is a little peeved that Bush would call for a players-only meeting.
“We have young guys who maybe haven’t been in this position,” Stafford said. “It’s on the leaders of this team, the guys that have been around, to show them how to act. Yeah, you lost two games, but you’ve still got a chance to go out and win your division, and it starts on Thursday.”