Duron Harmon is a team captain for the Lions and a strong leadership presence in the Detroit locker room despite just coming to the team in a trade this offseason. He demonstrated the leadership by taking some of the blame off beleaguered head coach Matt Patricia and instead placing it on himself and his fellow players following Sunday’s 35-29 loss to the New Orleans Saints in Ford Field.
“We’ve got to be honest with ourselves,” Harmon said in his Zoom session with reporters on Monday. “We’re not playing the way that we need to play. And it’s not on coaching — it’s on us as individuals, as players. We’re the ones getting paid millions of dollars to play football.”
Harmon extrapolated on that concept a day after the Lions allowed the Saints to score 35 straight points despite missing star WR Michael Thomas.
“Like you’ve got to think about that. We’re paid millions of dollars to play football, to play at a high level. And if you’re not playing at a high level, you’re not doing your job. And we have to have more accountability to play better football, especially in got-to-have-it situations,” Harmon said.
The veteran safety is also not happy about having the by week come after such an uninspiring loss. He would rather work out the kinks and the negative energy on the field.
“I want to be better and I know the guys in this locker room want to be better, too,” Harmon summarized.
