'I feel bad for them': Retired Lion Glover Quin sees bleak road ahead for former team

Justin Rogers
The Detroit News

Allen Park — It's been several months since the Detroit Lions released Glover Quin and the former All-Pro safety subsequently retired, but he still keeps close tabs on the team and remains in contact with former teammates, remaining on a group text with several of Detroit's defensive backs. 

So while he's no longer in the building, he has a finger more closely on the pulse than the typical outsider. And in an interview with "The Pat McAfee Show" on Wednesday, Quin offered a bleak assessment of the Lions' season. 

Glover Quin

"Right now, they're struggling," Quin said. "It's not a great situation and it's not a situation where I don't know if they can fight out of it right now because I don't know if the love and the like for Patricia's style makes the players want to fight out of it.

"I think they're to the point where 3-8, it's cold out here, we've got four games left. Let's just get this thing over with. A lot of guys are injured. Stafford is hurt. You know, they're playing a third quarterback. There's just a lot of stuff going on."

Quin certainly didn't embrace Patricia's style in the one season the two were together. The safety requested his release from the team before the 2018 season and when that wasn't granted, he stayed away during the voluntary portion of the offseason program.

When he did join the team for training camp, he was unable to recapture the form that made him one of the league's best safeties the previous five years. He finished with a career-low three pass defenses and didn't record an interception for the first time in seven years. 

"I love those guys out there, man," Quin said. "I feel bad for them because I know how much they put into it, how much effort they put into it. You know they put so much into it and to have a season basically over like that, it's so difficult. I just don't. They're in a bad spot right now."

Quin couched his comments at the end of the interview, noting Patricia is a "very nice guy," suggesting there's no lingering personal issue between the two. 

In relation to Quin's comment that the team might lack fight down the stretch, that hasn't been a factor to date. Despite the growing number of injuries, the Lions haven't rolled over at any time during their current five-game losing streak. 

That's something Patricia highlighted during the opening comments of his news conference after the Thanksgiving loss to the Bears and again on Wednesday when asked about Quin's comments. 

"I think they fight really hard and I don’t think there’s really any question about that, whatsoever," Patricia said. "I really appreciate this group, I appreciate how hard they work. I think everybody that’s in the building right now knows those guys are engaged, they’re working as hard as they can to get better, and we’re a few plays away from being a lot different right now.

"But the fact is we have to make those plays, that’s really the bottom line. We talk about it all the time, whether it’s coaching or playing, we’re just going to keep fighting through all of that and get better and break through that as soon as we can."

jdrogers@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @Justin_Rogers