Downes' hard-running has been a highlight for Saints so far this season.
He said: "I'll give everything for the team. I'll die out on that pitch, you know what I mean? As cliché as it is.
"As much as I love the running stat, I feel like I need to adjust my game a little bit because every game I'm just leaving everything out there.
"Then for the whole week, I'm shattered. Don't get me wrong, it's a great stat to have but I think it would be good for my game wherever I play.
"I feel like I should sometimes take a step back and see the game before I start sprinting about. That's something I want to bring to my game."
On today's clash, Downes also stated: "I think we just have to take each game as it comes. We've played against Man City and Arsenal and done really well.
"We have been in the game for the whole 90 minutes. So I think if we play how we have been playing against them kinds of teams, I can see us getting points.
"I don't know what it is. I wonder if when we play with a bit of fear that a team can hurt us, we seem to play a lot better. We seem to be a lot more solid.
"I don't know why that is, but it's kind of the same last year, even when we played Leeds. We'd go like, we'd play, for example, Rotherham, maybe not play as well.
"When we knew it was going to be really tough we'd step up. It's really weird, I can't put my finger on why, but that's just the case with us at the minute."
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