ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- Detroit Lions coach Matt Patricia said he hopes the message his team sent Tuesday by canceling practice will spark continued conversation about the issues of police brutality and social injustice in the United States.
"We all hope that yesterday sticks with all of us forever and hopefully it makes an impact on someone, somewhere and gives people strength and courage, hope," Patricia said Wednesday morning. "I think that's what's so powerful about it.
"Football is what we do and what we love, but in the end we're also trying to make great influences on each other and affect people for long-term and affect families. Hopefully we did that and that's something that won't go away."
The Lions, after an hours-long team meeting and conversations in the locker room, decided they wanted to take a stand and use their voices to try to create change following the shooting of Jacob Blake by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Sunday.
Safety Duron Harmon, one of three players to speak outside the team's practice facility Tuesday as part of the demonstration, called the shooting of Blake by police a "tipping point" for the team.
Harmon and quarterback Matthew Stafford both made it clear Tuesday was not about football, and it was not discussed at all in their building. Instead, it was a sharing of personal experiences and listening to one another.
The Lions converged outside the team's facility with a dry erase board saying "The World Can't Go On," and "We Won't Be Silent."
Then Harmon, defensive end Trey Flowers and offensive tackle Taylor Decker spoke to the media assembled, explaining why they chose to not practice Tuesday and why it was important for them to use their voices to create change.
Afterward, multiple Lions players posted messages on social media about their decision to protest and that they would no longer be silent on issues that matter to them.
Patricia said he heard from people around the league about what they did and also addressed it with his family when he got home.
"The first thing when I go home, my biggest thing is my family, making sure everyone is OK, my kids and my wife," Patricia said. "Certainly I don't see them very much so when I'm around them I just fully immerse myself into being a dad. But certainly there's continual conversation that carries over with this, which is the point, is to be able to go home and have conversation with family and continue that outside the building.
"It was just more of a reset for me as a coach just to remember part of why I do this is that I love football and I love to compete and I love to coach, but the other part of it is to try and influence and help people and build those relationships with young men that I work with every day," he said. "If I can help them in any way and I can do that during the course of the day, then that's what I'm supposed to do."
Patricia and the Lions returned to practice Wednesday morning.
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August 25, 2020 at 11:33PM
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Matt Patricia hopes Lions' protest over shooting has lasting impact - ESPN
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