Tom Leyden and Jim Schwartz
Copyright 2012 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Posted: 11/19/2012
Lions head coach Jim Schwartz shared his thoughts on the heated exchange between Scott Linehan and Shawn Jefferson that was caught on tape and broadcast during the Lions loss to Green Bay.
To watch entire interview - CLICK HERE
"In a course of an NFL game, there's a lot of emotions," said Schwartz in our weekly "Coach Schwartz Sez" interview segment.
"It's not unusual for coaches to get heated, but what's regrettable about that is that it happens in public for everybody to see.
"When one guy's in the box and one guy's on the sideline, it's just over the headphones and it goes on in just about every single game, but that was regrettable that we put it on display for other people.
The exchange between the offensive coordinator and the wide receivers coach occurred immediately after the Lions were forced off the field, failing on four straight pass attempts to gain a first down and continue a potential game-winning drive with less than two minutes to play, trailing 21-20.
"Ironically, they were both on the same sides of the argument," said Schwartz. "They were both arguing the same thing, but in the heat of passion, in the heat of the game, it was coming across a different way. There's no problems there. They're both on the same page. We regret that it happened on the sideline, but it's an emotional game.
"We were very disappointed after not being able to get a touchdown to seal the game away and then also going four-and-out when we had an opportunity to possibly go down the field and kick a field goal to win the game.
"That's a time when we have to keep our composure and we didn't do a good job of that."
When I asked Schwartz if he could clear up what Linehan and Jefferson were arguing for, he said, "No."
The entire "Coach Schwartz Sez" segment will air tonight on Action News at 7.
Copyright 2012 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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