Everyone who watched Sunday night’s Lions-Saints game wondered the same thing: How on earth can Detroit commit so many stupid penalties?
Lions coach Jim Schwartz sounded after the game like he’s wondering that, too, and he said he’s particularly disappointed that the Lions picked up three different post-play personal fouls, indicating that his team didn’t learn from Ndamukong Suh getting a two-game suspension for a post-play personal foul.
“I’ve been very understanding on penalties that occur within the play,” Schwartz said, via MLive.com. “Something that has to do with the play, whether it’s pass interference or holding or something like that. There’s no excuse for the multiple penalties we had today.”
Schwartz suggested that he’ll bench players who pick up personal fouls, as he did with receiver Titus Young, who may have cost the Lions four points with a personal foul that moved them from the 3-yard line to the 18-yard line. Young apologized afterward.
“I was completely wrong for what I did,” Young said. “I kind of let my emotions get the best of me. I really wasn’t thinking of anything but myself at that time. It wasn’t a good time to have a penalty, period, but definitely in that situation I will say I was wrong. It’s something I will learn from. Hopefully I won’t let it happen again.”
Lions center Dominic Raiola was seen chewing Young out on the sideline, and he said after the game that he was angry at teammates who cost the team with their stupid mistakes.
“We’re undisciplined. Undisciplined. Undisciplined,” Raiola said “We [expletive] it up. It’s very disheartening to do this [expletive] in big games. We got to clean it up. We ain’t going to win [expletive] games like this if you play like that.”
It’s on Schwartz to see to it that the Lions don’t play like that.