Calvin Johnson denies feud with Matt Stafford

The Associated Press

ALLEN PARK, Mich. — Lions coach Jim Schwartz says there's no feud between Calvin Johnson and Matt Stafford.

During Sunday's game against Seattle, television cameras caught what appeared to be uncomfortable exchanges between the receiver and quarterback.

Stafford threw five interceptions in the 32-20 loss. Johnson had two catches for 27 yards after missing the previous two games because of a knee injury.

"There's no issue there," he said. "You always want to be winning games and happy and cheerful, but goodness gracious, if you had a camera on every person on every play, you could try to read between the lines on a million things. There are times you need to talk things out, but there's no issue here with the players, and I don't understand why people are trying to create one."

Stafford didn't appear during Detroit's media availability, but Johnson was equally adamant that there wasn't a problem between the pair.

"I haven't seen the TV replays, because there's no reason for me to watch them — we're fine," he said. "People are blowing this way out of proportion. Trust me, no one is going to be happy during a game like that. If you win, all this goes out the window."

Seattle turned the ball over on its first two plays, and the Lions took advantage by building a quick 17-0 lead, only to be outscored 32-3 in the final three periods.

Detroit had the ball with 35 seconds left and trailing by 5, but Stafford's fifth interception was returned for the clinching touchdown.

"After watching the tape, it's hard to believe that we had a chance to win that game at the end," Schwartz said. "That was a game filled with errors on offense, defense and special teams. Based on the number of errors, it is amazing to me that we even had a chance at the end of the game."

The quick start and bad finish had Schwartz confused.

"Honestly, I don't know whether to look at it as glass half-full or glass half-empty," he said. "We took a cross-country trip, played in a loud place under adverse conditions and were up 17-0. There's positives there. The fact that we were up 17-0 and let it slip away, there aren't many positives that you can look at there."

Linebacker Ernie Sims, who pulled a hamstring, didn't have any mixed emotions.

"I'm sick and tired of losing," he said. "We couldn't have asked for a better start than that, and we still lost. It's really tough."

NOTES: Sims was unsure of the severity of his injury, and was scheduled for more tests Monday evening. "I've never had a hamstring pull before, so I don't know how to judge it. I'm hoping it won't keep me off the field." ... S Louis Delmas, who injured his right knee late in the game, said he was fine. "I just twisted it a little — I'm OK today," he said.

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November 09, 2009 08:40 PM EST

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