SAINTS QB DREW BREES
On what he saw on his late interception: "They played basically a man-coverage and dropped a safety down in there. You call it a robber coverage or a thief, where he's going to read eyes. When I stepped up, my eyes kind of got on Marcus (Colston). I felt like that robber, that safety, was going to go left and then he hung on Marcus for an extra count and then I turned it loose and that allowed him (Glover Quin) to come over and get underneath it."
On if he winced at all when he let go of the ball on the interception play:"Well, I just saw him out of the corner of my eye just as the ball came out. Yeah, that's not a good feeling."
On staying positive after a tough loss:"I still remain positive, that's just my nature. I think what's so hard is, the worst feeling in professional sports is when you feel like you let your team down, and that's the way I feel right now with that interception. Listen, turnovers are going to happen, especially at the quarterback position. You have to throw with anticipation, you have to take chances at times. I guess on the flipside, you have to know when to take a chance, when to try to fit a ball into there or when to throw it away or take a sack, scramble or whatever it might be. You have to make sure the ball stays in your hands. Unfortunately, that was a critical time in the game where a turnover cannot happen. I'm responsible for that. That's on me. "
On how a crucial turnover like that factors into games going forward:"Like I just said, it factors in when you say there are times when they can't happen, at a certain point in a game when you understand momentum and when you understand how the game is being played. You have to understand situational football. But as far as what happened out there, you just have to put it out of your mind and assume that you have to go out there and lead us down into victory, which is where my mind is at. I'm sitting there going through the two-minute drive that will win the game, in my mind."
On if he felt like he was pressing on the drive that resulted in an interception:"No, I was just playing ball. We weren't able to get any significant completions that would put us into position to kick a field goal. That's something where you go back and look at the film and try to see where maybe you try to attack them a little different or where the ball could have gone otherwise."
On why the team has continuously struggled late in games:"We did so many good things today, so many good things, defensively, offensively. When you look at the stats sheet it doesn't really show it other than third-down percentage. But just the way the game felt was that we were moving the football, we hit some big plays. Our defense got two turnovers, which resulted in points for us offensively. We started with the ball inside their 10 on four different occasions. One time we were at the half-yard line and we were able to march it down and get a football. We did a lot of good things and yet, we have to finish. We have to finish, especially today. It's not like this thing was back and forth. We had a 13-point lead with however much time was left. Defensively, we're going to say, 'Well, we can't give up a big play to Golden Tate.' And offensively it doesn't matter, we had a chance to finish the game, end it right there. Get a first down or two, let them use their timeouts and go victory formation."
SAINTS G JAHRI EVANS
On where this loss ranks:"It's pretty tough being up and not being able to put points on the board at the end of the game and finish the game offensively is tough."
On being able to do so many things right and still come up short:"We didn't run the ball effectively early in the game, we had a couple of negative runs that put us behind the chains. That was disappointing. We did do some things well, but at the end of the day those guys on the other sideline, they finished the game in the fourth quarter and we weren't able to."
On if it was a battle against the Lions defensive line:"Yeah, it was a battle all game long. Those two guys inside, (Ndamukong) Suh and (Nick) Fairley, and they came out with a W."
On where this team goes from here:"We just have to put W's on the board for us. I've been down this road before where it's been, win one and lose one, win one and lose one. We just have to go out there and win Monday, win Wednesday, and win Thursday, win in our preparation during the week and come out against Green Bay and execute."
SAINTS FB AUSTIN JOHNSON
On losing the game:"It's a tough loss. It felt like we deserved to win, we were right there and we had it and it kind of slipped out of our hands. We just got to get better next week."
On being able to be productive against the Lions defense: "Yeah, we had a good game plan coming in. We were able to execute the game plan but we just fell a little short."
On if the Lions defensive line imposed their will on the Saints' last drive:Yeah, I mean it's a long-fought game. I'm sure guys were getting tired out there and we just weren't able to come through at the end."
On if being 0-4 on the road is disappointing: "Yeah, it's something that sticks out. We feel like we can win on the road, we just have to prove it. We just have to keep working hard and keep fighting and hopefully we can get that road win."
SAINTS S KENNY VACCARO
On his impressions of the defense:"We just have to finish, we can't give up a 75-yard bomb or whatever it was so late in the game. We just have to take the positives from it. We're 2-4 right? You have to build on that. I thought defensively we grew as whole unit. We have to stop those big plays."
On what went right in the game:"We aren't in a losing mentality. We haven't been playing good all year. It's just like, go out there and just ball out. We really didn't have anything to lose. We're ranked last in almost everything. We're just trying to progress on that."
On losing the game late:"Yeah, but when you watch the tape you're going to see a lot of good things. We have to fix it. We're not going to give up now. We're 2-4, so (it is) early in the season, got to keep going."
On what happened on Lions WR Golden Tate's touchdown:"I have to get the guy on the ground. I'm coming from deep middle, we had the pick. He undercut him, I don't know. It was a cover-three, you can see on tape it was a cover three. We had three deep and the guy made a good move and just down the sideline."
SAINTS CB COREY WHITE
On what he saw on the Lions' game-winning touchdown drive:"They ran a good route for what we were in."
On if he was surprised that Lions WR Golden Tate was able to run up the sideline and score: "Tate's a good player, he's going to make a lot of plays. He's been making plays since he was with Seattle and now he's making plays with Detroit. I'm not surprised he can do that, we have seen better plays from him. I got to make that play and we got to get him down."
On if he had a beat on the touchdown play that Tate scored on: "Yeah, I had a beat on it but he just did a good job coming back working towards the ball and stepping in front of me."
On if he would react differently on Tate's touchdown "I would try to do the same thing, go for the pick but try to work towards the ball more like he did."
