Darius Slay wasn't having it.
The notion that it must have been a frustrating day prior to his game-winning interception, given the penalties and all the plays he couldn't seem to make, put a bemused expression on Slay's face.
"Hell nah," he said.
Sure, Keenen Allen got the better of Slay a handful of times in their one-on-one matchup, finishing with eight catches for 98 yards. But that's bound to happen, Slay pointed out, when Allen's targeted 15 times. Through it all, Slay kept lining up and looking toward the next opportunity.
"I got to," he said. "Because if I lose myself, I’m failing the team. I can’t do that. I have to stay on my grind, stay competing, because these boys look up to me and expect a lot out of me. I just go out there and try to give them what I got."
Slay knew he was going to be busy. Unlike last week against the Cardinals when he was hardly targeted, the Chargers weren't afraid to throw in his direction. Before the game, Slay said Philip Rivers approached him on the field and told him to be ready.
"Slay," said Rivers, as if pulling out his pistol, "it’s gonna be early and often.'"
And that it was, with Rivers firing bullet after bullet to his favorite receiver. Allen, often shedding Slay with his hard breaks and crisp routes, snatched the majority of them. Twice, Slay was flagged for holding, and on one of them Allen still made the catch. It's rare to see Slay so consistently outdueled, but the sight was hard to mistake on Sunday.
"He’s top five, one of the best in the game," Slay said. "We were battling, back and forth, back and forth. It was a good battle, man, good friendly battle. We already knew what time it was. I was looking forward to this matchup as much as he was."
The thing about Slay is he never wants a breath. Even if he's under duress, he wants to keep taking his opponent's best shot. So when the Chargers offense took the field trailing by three late in the game, Slay was right there waiting for Allen.
Rivers threw him a deep ball down the right sideline on the second play. Incomplete. On the next play, Rivers scrambled for a first down, and Slay was injured during the action. He lay on the field in pain for a minute or two. Eventually Slay got back to his feet, and Rivers went right back at him, this time aiming for Allen deep down the left sideline. Incomplete.
Slay was starting to rally.
Then Allen got him again, shaking free deep in Detroit territory to convert a big third down. Another fourth-quarter letdown was staring the Lions in the face. And then Rivers was staring down Allen a few plays later, heaving a pass toward the endzone, going for the win.
Slay wasn't having that, either.
"I saw that sh*t, I said, 'Ohh, this sh*t mine. I gotta have that,'" he said with a grin.
So Big Play Slay went and got it, cutting in front of Allen and taking the touchdown away. He fought off Allen in the air, then secured the catch to secure Detroit's first win of the season.
Where does this pick, the 18th of his career, rank among his personal favorites?
The grin spread back across Slay's face.
"That one against Minnesota was kind of up there, because that was big time. It was in the division and it was rocking," he said. "So (this one) is probably the second, just because of the fact of who they are. They’re a high-powered offense, playoff team, great quarterback, so probably my second favorite."
It came on a day Slay wasn't at his best. But it came at the right time, erasing everything that happened prior. If Slay didn't make all the plays on Sunday, he made the one that mattered most.
"That’s me being a veteran, seven years in," he said. "PI's and all that stuff don’t distract me. I’m just going out to play ball. I go to the next play. That's what makes me more of a leader in my group. I'm older. Penalties don’t phase me. I just go out there and play ball and try to do the best I can for this team."