Reggie Bush Talks Road Losing Streak, Bears and Baseball With Stoney And Bill
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
Another week, another rivalry, another lengthy road losing streak to try to vanquish.
Such is life for the Detroit Lions, and new Lion Reggie Bush, who spoke to Stoney and Bill of 97.1 The Ticket on Wednesday, has quickly adjusted to the questions. Sunday the Lions head to face the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field, a venue in which Detroit has not won since 1991.
Ending a string of losses in a particular place, though, does not really matter to players other than the fact it means they won another game.
"I don't know if we can focus on that too much because again, just like when we were going to play in Washington, we hadn't won in there in, it was like 75 years," Bush said. "It's still a football game. It's still 100 yards, it's still a football field. Nothing changes. We still have to focus on doing the little things right. Obviously we want to win. That's the main reason why we're going there is to come away with the win, so if – granted that we do get the win, obviously that'll be great that we got the first win in a long time, but as of right now, I don't know if that has too much bearing on this game. We're focused on a lot more things than that."
Despite the history of losing at Green Bay, the Lions can be confident after last week's win over the Chicago Bears, which had a close final score that did not reflect what a blowout the game was in favor of the Lions, who at one point held a 40-16 advantage. Head coach Jim Schwartz complained after the game about the Bears holding and about one of their players spearing Lions wide receiver Kris Durham on an onside kick.
Tuesday at a charity event, Detroit vice chairman Bill Ford Jr. followed up by calling the Bears a "bunch of thugs," a remark that a Lions spokesperson said was a joke.
Bush does not seem to care about the characterization. Mostly, from the sound of it, he noticed that Detroit won – and won big.
"I didn't feel like they played dirty," Bush said. "I didn't see anything out there on the field that they were doing extra that might have made me think that they were playing dirty. I felt like we were able to control the line of scrimmage up front. They're known for creating turnovers, and we knew that going into the game. That's kind of their MO – they create turnovers. So we tried to do the best job we could, and obviously we fell short of that a little bit, so obviously the next time we play them, we have to be a little bit more conscious than we were and put a little bit more emphasis on protecting the ball.
"But yeah, I didn't feel like they were playing dirty at all," Bush added. "I really felt like we dominated that game as an offense."
Perhaps the only offense in Detroit being talked about more than that of the Lions is that of the Tigers, who begin their playoff series with the Oakland A's this Friday. Bush, a baseball fan, said he will be going to one of the games in Detroit – either Monday or Tuesday, game three or four of the series – and that it will be the first Tigers game he has attended.
"I look forward to going to the game and seeing those guys knock some out of the park, see the pitchers do their thing," Bush said. "I'm excited. I think they're going to play well. Hopefully they go all the way."
Growing up, Bush did not enjoy such a prosperous baseball franchise. He said he was unfortunately – his words – a fan of the San Diego Padres.
"We didn't win anything," Bush said, laughing. "Growing up as a kid, the last time they were good is when they had Tony Gwynn, even going back before him Fred McGriff. It always seemed like, like that the Padres had good players but they would like let them go to other teams and that those guys would go on to be great players, so the Padres, we struggled, they struggled for a while."
