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 that 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 displaying a large whiteboard with two phrases written on it: "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 try to create change.
Afterward, multiple Lions players posted messages on social media about their decision to protest, saying that they would no longer be silent on issues that matter to them.
Defensive end Romeo Okwara said Wednesday that most of the messages he received after the protest were positive, although "you're going to get both sides. Everyone has an opinion on social media from behind a screen." But what stood out to Okwara was how the team came together through their conversations.
Linebacker Jahlani Tavai said Wednesday that hearing his teammates speak was "really awesome." He said he hopes that people can hear their message.
"It was unbelievable," Tavai said. "It felt like a movie.
"It was so awesome that we stood united together and I'm really grateful that coach Matt Patricia gave us that platform to step out and bring awareness to what's going on in our world and I'm glad that we have leaders in our locker room who stood with us and just been a major blessing for us."
Patricia said he heard from people around the league about the Lions' actions 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.