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Detroit Lions' Terrion Arnold confident in development using playoff loss as motivation
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- Detroit Lions' Terrion Arnold confident in development using playoff loss as motivation
A day after the Detroit Lions season came to an unceremonious end, the second-youngest player on the team insisted the Lions would still be alive if it weren't for the self-inflicted mistakes.
Rookie cornerback Terrion Arnold said the only reason the Lions ' season is over is because they couldn't get out of their own way in Saturday night's 45-31 loss to the Washington Commanders in the NFC divisional round.
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The Lions spent most of the night trying to catch up but a five-turnover offensive performance coupled with being unable to stop Jayden Daniels and the Washington offense, who ended Detroit's 15-2 season.
"We beat ourselves," Arnold said Sunday when asked about the team's mistakes. "They did nothing special. And it's one of those things when you look in the mirror and you say, 'okay, if we play them today, we come out victorious.'"
Instead, Arnold delivered that message as he and his teammates cleared out their lockers at the team facility in Allen Park to start preparing for the upcoming offseason, and eventually the 2025 season. The 21-year-old rookie said listening to the Commanders celebrate the upset win in the locker room postgame will serve as all the motivation he needs entering his first offseason as a professional.
"Seeing them celebrate when they knew that they had won the game over there on the sidelines and then just hearing them in the locker room next door, like that's all the motivation you need going into next year."
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Different than college
The Commanders' celebration could clearly be heard in the morose Lions locker room on Saturday night as Lions players tried to find the words to explain how their season just ended. The Lions spent most of the season as a top contender before clinching the NFC North and the playoff's top seed, but all of that work was washed away in Washington's dominant 60-minute performance on the Lions' field.
Now, instead of preparing for a potential game at home against the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC championship, the Lions will be home watching the Commanders and try to add motivation into 2025.
The Lions return most of their core players and have some money to work with in free agency plus six draft picks to try to find a way over the hump heading into next season. One of those players is Arnold, the Lions' first-round pick in 2024 who is under contract through 2027 with a team option in 2028.
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"The hardest part is just knowing like the room is going to be different," Arnold said. "Even in the locker room after the game, we took time to say, 'guys, really cherish this moment in the locker room' because it's going to be different.
"And that's been the hardest part about being in the NFL. Normally in college and stuff like that, you go back and you normally see everybody but the NFL is a business."
Arnold appeared in 17 games, playoffs included, with 16 starts at outside cornerback. He played more than 1,000 snaps as a rookie, including 699 in coverage, as one of Detroit's top corners along with Carlton Davis and Amik Robertson . Arnold, still 21, is the second-youngest Lions player ahead of just rookie defensive tackle Mekhi Wingo and turns 22 in March.
"I learned a lot," Arnold said. "I feel like coming into this role it was a lot. I got better as the season went on. Started to find myself. It's just one of those things where (I'm) really looking forward to next year."
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Arnold steps right in
Arnold immediately stepped into a starting role on the defense alongside Davis at cornerback. According to Pro Football Reference , Arnold was targeted 90 times as the primary coverage defender and allowed 50 completions for a completion percentage allowed of 55.6%.
He ranked middle of the pack amongst Lions secondary members, ahead of players like Robertson (61.4%) and Brian Branch (60.7) but behind Davis (55.3%) and Kerby Joseph (44.3%). On the season, Arnold finished with zero interceptions, 10 passes defended and 60 combined tackles.
Arnold said he's eager to get back to work to wipe away the pain of the loss and improve individually.
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"The only way to ease pain and this type of heartache is to get back to the drawing board and get back to work," Arnold said.
He showed some growth during the season after hitting the ground running as one of the most penalized players in the NFL. Arnold was flagged seven times for pass interference and three times for defensive holding as a rookie, with eight total penalties called against him in the first four games of the season. From November on, Arnold was only flagged three times in three separate games in Detroit's aggressive, man-coverage-heavy scheme.
"A lot of teams sit back and play zone, like I had to go out there and challenge wide receiver ones and I'm young," Arnold said. "So I know I'll be the best corner in the league pretty soon. Very confident. ... And then just at the beginning of the season, just the PIs.
"It wasn't a matter of like if I was beat, it was a matter of just turning your head, locating the ball, and those are things that you can fix. Like it was never a talent thing as far as lining somebody who was better than me. It was just things from my inexperience."
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Lions' Terrion Arnold ready to 'get back to work' after playoff exit
