Inside the locker room: Deshaun Watson offers chaotic look at trick-play TD that put Lions away

DETROIT — Romeo Crennel is getting credit for staying aggressive and putting the Detroit Lions away on Thanksgiving with a late trick-play touchdown in the final frame. While Crennel deserves the credit for the call, it sounds like he deserves even more for trusting his offensive stars to make a play.

Houston was up 34-17 in the fourth quarter, just getting the ball back after forcing a turnover on downs. Instead of coming out and running the ball three times and kicking the field goal, the Texans let quarterback Deshaun Watson put this one away for good. Watson handed off to Duke Johnson, who sold the run for what felt like forever before flipping it back to the quarterback. Watson turned his head downfield and saw Will Fuller all alone. The receiver caught it at the 15-yard line and was able to beat Lions cornerback Justin Coleman to the pylon.

“I don’t know the name of the play,” Crennel said after the game. “He just told me he wanted to run a flea-flicker, and I said, ‘OK, let’s go with it.’ So, he made the call, and then we executed the play.”

Watson tore Detroit’s defense apart, completing 17 of 25 passes for 318 yards and four touchdowns. He also ran eight times for 24 yards. Fuller caught six of seven targets for 171 yards and two touchdowns. Crennel credited both for playing a tremendous game, crediting Watson’s ability for knowing when to get out of the pocket and get moving.

“That’s something that we wanted an exact look and really when I called the play, Duke looked at me and was like ‘Hey, if we’ve got pressure, I’m going to keep it and I’m not going to pitch it back,’” Watson said of the play. “So that’s why he kind of carried the ball a little bit longer than he was supposed to. And when he kept it, I just called him ‘Hey, Duke, Duke!’ I was yelling his name, and he just turned around and threw it back to me. And I grabbed it, and I saw Will, so I got it to Will, and that’s how it really happened. So he was really keeping it because that was the plan in pressure, you know, keep it. But I called his name, and he trusted me, and he pitched it back and I just grabbed it and launched it.”

Observations: Matt Patricia’s firing could be imminent after another lopsided loss on Thanksgiving

Crennel and Lions coach Matt Patricia go way back with those New England connections, which made the trick-play dagger even more interesting to the outside world. Patricia has one of, if not, the hottest seat in the entire NFL. To have a long-time confidant and friend deliver the potentially crushing blow to his tenure on a trick-play was reason enough for questioning.

Patricia brushed it off, saying his defense has to be ready for those plays while giving it up to the Texans for their outstanding execution.

“No, I said, ‘Happy Thanksgiving. Send love to your family from my family,’” Matt Patricia said when asked what he said to Crennel after the game. “And we’ve got to go play a football game. And listen, we had a trick play earlier in the game. Great job by them in a short week. I think we all know that on short weeks, those things come up, and you’ve got to be ready for them, and they obviously executed theirs’ outstandingly.”

See below for more quotes from inside the locker room after Detroit’s 41-25 loss to the Texans on Thanksgiving:

Patricia on his job security: “My thoughts are really just with the team here today and what we were trying to do here today. It doesn’t go beyond that; it’s what I focus on. I focus on the team. I focus on those guys that go out on that field, those guys that are in that locker room and try to give them everything I can to give them a chance to go be successful. That’s the focus. It never changes; it is what it is.”

Patricia on the personal toll of the last couple of weeks: “Yeah, we just try to stay focused on what is happening here, inside these walls. That’s what we focus on — like I said, try to answer it the best way I can, but honestly, I just get around the players. I get around the other coaches, and I do what I love to do, which is go coach football. That’s really where I stay.”

Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford on if he’s sick of the franchise’s continued struggles: “I love playing this game. I hate losing. I love the guys in the locker room. I love this organization. I love playing for it, so that’s not my style. I’m going to keep fighting, keep doing everything I can do to try and help us win. Obviously I wasn’t good enough today because we didn’t win the game, so I have to be better. I hate losing, frustrating, disappointing, all of that. But I’m going to continue to work and try and get better.”

Stafford on any thoughts of playing elsewhere: “No, I just put my head down and go to work. It’s on us as players. We have to go out there and make plays. It doesn’t matter what uniform you’re wearing. The team that makes more plays is going to win the game. And we didn’t do that and haven’t done it consistently enough this year. We understand that. We work every day to make sure that it is us who is making the plays to win the game. So we have to go out there and make the plays when they’re available.”

Stafford on if he’s noticed any changes with Patricia: “No, he’s the same guy every day. (The) guy comes to work, grinds, and he wants to win like all of us. He’s a passionate football coach. He loves the game, loves the X’s and O’s, loves the players, all that. He just wants to win like the rest of us. I’ve had a lot of respect for how he is, just, continued to come to work and try to put us in the best position to succeed.”

Watson on J.J. Watt’s Pick-6 touchdown: “That was dope. It brought me back to the old days. He’s not getting old as we look at it. He’s still got some athletic ability. I knew sooner or later, especially after last week’s game, he was going to get one of them. So, it was good.”

Watson on how he feels operating under Crennel: “He’s just letting us play ball. Letting the coaches do what they do, let them call the plays, and not interfere with that. Let us go out there and try to make plays as much as we can, and that’s the point of the game. Of course, we want to make sure that we’re being conservative in certain spots, but at the same time, we’ve got to go out there and get our points and let our guys, let the talent take over. So that’s what they’ve been doing.”

Lions RB Adrian Peterson on Detroit’s struggles protecting the ball on Thanksgiving: “That’s one thing we talk about each week is protecting the ball and not turning it over. One was a pick-six, and the other two came at critical times. I think one was closer to the red zone, a little outside the red zone, and I think the other one was across the 50 as well. I felt like we were moving the ball, and we did things that hurt ourselves. Credit to Houston defense, of course, but it’s the National Football League, and when you turn the ball over three times, it’s hard to come back from that, especially when you are giving away points as well. So, it was very critical for us. We went into the half down by nine and came out, was able to create a drive and it just kind of halted towards the end and had to settle for the three. I felt like that kind of bit us as well.”

Patricia on the bigger picture here in Detroit: “Yeah, I’m just focused on right now. I just got done with that locker room. I love those guys. I know they’ve played really hard, they’re hurting, and we know that we’ve got a lot of work to do. So, that’s my focus right now. It’s on today.”

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