TAMPA, Fla. -- Overheard in the locker room following the Detroit Lions' 24-21 win over Tampa Bay to push the franchise to 7-6 and keep it in the playoff hunt.

Quarterback Matthew Stafford on his injured hand after completing 36 of 44 passes for 381 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions: "It was a process throughout the week. I don’t miss any practice reps for something that isn’t bothering me. I love to practice. I love to be out there. It was a little bit of a process. Our guys on the training staff did an unbelievable job helping me out, getting me feeling me as good as I possibly could and our guys did a great job keeping me upright. Allowed me to kind of sit in there and throw the ball around and make the game feel pretty good."

Stafford on his two interceptions: "Just two bad decisions. Went into the game going not going to let [Brent] Grimes wreck the game and I just got too aggressive. I bet you if I checked that ball down to Theo [Riddick] we get a bunch of yards and still moving and I got a little bit impatient and really the same kind of thing on the second one. We got the field goal, we’re in range, just take the 3 or 4 yards and let’s kick it, let [Matt] Prater do his thing. Poor decisions that pissed me off there for a little bit but the rest of the game our guys did a great job making plays."

Cornerback Darius Slay on his sliding interception: "What I saw was rolling out my first guess is the post or some type of out route. Just made a play on it, jumped it, used my football IQ to make a play."

Defensive tackle Akeem Spence on Ezekiel Ansah's game-ending sack: "It was over. It was over. I was so ecstatic, so happy. First one, Matt [Prater] made the kick and I was like, ‘All right, we got the W.’ Now, Jameis [Winston], he can throw the ball God knows how far but just to see him get him on the ground, just a sigh of relief and let’s get out of here, man. Happy, just happy. Can’t even explain it."

Tight end Eric Ebron on a career game: "Just playing football, man. Targets come. Catches come. Just making plays."

Ebron on his fumble: "He made a great play. He caught me in the middle of transition trying to move the ball from him because I knew where I had him. He just made a great play. First fumble. Hopefully my last fumble. Ever. I mean, you live, you learn."

Lions coach Jim Caldwell on winning close games: "It's always kind of been a hallmark of ours to battle at the end. Our guys show great resilience and they don't get nervous in tough situations. At the end of games, they find a way to win. It might not always be pretty. We've always been like that. But we lost quite a few this year, just the opposite side of that. Atlanta and Carolina, close right there until the end and just haven't been able to finish them. We have been uncharacteristic the middle portion of the season, so we'll see if we can continue to do that and be a little bit better."

Safety Quandre Diggs on hit that caused fumble that was initially called a defenseless receiver hit: "It's crazy. I don't know if you guys know but me and Mike Evans kind of grew up together so Mike came up to me and said, 'Man, if you was a little taller, you might have hit him in the helmet but you ain't hit him in the helmet but I'm glad they called it.' So I kind of knew I didn't hit him because I knew I didn't hit him in the chest or in the face area. I kind of aimed for the ball. I knew it was kind of a bogus call but they got it fixed and that's the great referee crews that they get things fixed."