LIONS HEAD COACH DAN CAMPBELL AND LIONS QB JARED GOFF QUOTE SHEET

LIONS HEAD COACH DAN CAMPBELL QUOTE SHEET

October 19, 2022
On his conversation with Principal Owner and Chair Sheila Ford Hamp going into the bye week: “Yeah, I told her everything that I saw, things that we needed to be better at, offensively, defensively, special teams, myself, and moving forward, practice. So, really, everything. Everything that I had looked at our team and felt like we needed to be better at. I shared all of those thoughts with her and where we were going moving forward and that was it, so she’s been informed.”
On Principal Owner and Chair Sheila Ford Hamp’s thoughts about the team after the bye week and if she is understanding: “Yeah, I would say that she understands. She’s very supportive, but she’s frustrated, I mean, and she should be. We all believe we should be better than where we’re at. But I do know that she’s all in, and I know that she believes in what (Executive Vice President and General Manager) Brad (Holmes) and I are doing, and so, yeah, that’s pretty much it.”
On what it is like for the players to go through a losing stretch: “Yeah, no, look, I think that in some regards, they understand the hard times and what we have to do to get through them and stay the course, go back to work, and there again, I kind of said it last week, but man, we’ve got to be better today than Dallas is today. And I mean that’s really where it starts, everything, the urgency, the focus, the intensity, the – that’s where we have to really win is during the week, and so that’s why I mentioned we’re going to get back to some of the things that we were doing in camp because those things have been good for us. So, but the team’s good. The guys are back, the energy’s good. We just finished our walkthrough, and they’re in it.”
On an injury update for Lions WR DJ Chark and Lions RB D’Andre Swift: “Yeah, I would just say they’re both a little bit better, and that’s about as good as I can give you right now. There again, we’ll see it – I see Swift doing some practicing today. I don’t see Chark practicing today.”
On the level of concern about Lions WR DJ Chark’s ankle injury after getting surgery on the same ankle last year: “Yeah, there again, we’re looking into everything. I don’t know if it’s – certainly, we don’t want anything to rear its head again, but I don’t – I think it’s like anything else. It’s something that’s bothering him, and we’ve just got to get him to where he feels right and get it back to where it needs to be.”
On if Lions WR DJ Chark not practicing is a pain management tactic: “No, we’re still getting things looked at, and so no, I think there’s probably a little bit more than that, but there again, we’re kind of working through it.”
On the offensive line’s matchup against the Cowboys’ rush this week: “That is the biggest challenge for us will be that rush, and not just handling it, but as much as we can to stay away from it, which means you’ve got to be good on first and second down. You have to be real good. But they do, they present a challenge. I mean (Cowboys DE Dorance) Armstrong, he’s come on. It’s not just that, you watch him on punt rush, I mean, he’s a menace. And (Cowboys DE DeMarcus) Lawrence has still got it, and (Cowboys LB Micah) Parsons we all talked about. We know what he is, and (Cowboys DE Dante) Fowler off the edge, and so they can do it multiple ways. I mean, they can still bring (Cowboys LB Anthony) Barr too. But yeah, they present a challenge, but there again, I like our O-line. I like our tackles. We’ll have a plan. We can’t let those guys wreck the game, but yeah, that’s an issue, and it’s caused a lot of teams problems. That’s why this is one of the better defenses in the League.”
On Lions CB Saivion Smith’s status: “Yeah, he’s doing good. Alright, he’s doing good. However, we’re getting some things looked at with him. Actually, we’re sending him to the doctor tomorrow, but we don’t see residual head effects, things of that nature. He’s clear. He’s in good spirits other than being frustrated that he’s not going to be able to play, so from that regard, he’s good. He has his feeling, all that stuff, but there’s some other things we’re looking at with him.”
On the timetable for Lions WR Jameson Williams to return and if it is affected at all by injuries in the wide receiver room: “Well, I would say this, we really felt like he’s turning the corner over the last month. He’s really – we feel like he’s really coming on, and so, I would say we’re pretty optimistic he’s going to play this year. Now, that being said, the injuries are not going to have any bearing on when he plays. We’re not going to let that affect us. When he’s ready, then we’ll get him up and ready to go, but we don’t want to press that just because we have a number of injuries in the receiver room.”
On if he plans to lean on the strength of the offensive line or plan around the strength of the Cowboys defensive line: “Yeah, well, I think it’s a little bit of both, and I know that’s not giving you the answer you want. I think you’ve got to do a little bit of both. You’ve got to take advantage of some areas that they have not been hit on yet that you think you can exploit potentially. And then you’ve got to limit what they’re able to do. And there again, the easiest answer is to say, ‘Hey man, stay out of third down.’ Well, that’s an easy one. But certainly man, third-and-manageable. I mean, we’ve got to – to be able to stay out of third-and-7-pluses would be really big this game because they’re really good in that area, and that’s where if they can get ahead a little bit and then they put you behind the sticks and man, it’s all out now. And I don’t care how good your O-line is, that’s tough. That’s tough on them, and that’s tough on the quarterback. So, but I think ultimately, if you’re holding my feet to the fire, we’ve got to do what we do well and we’ve got to play to our strengths. Certainly, we’ve got to be able to run the ball. We’ve got to be able to run the football. It all starts there for us.”
On if he is surprised about how impactful and versatile Cowboys LB Micah Parsons is after scouting him while he was going through the Draft process: “Well, I wouldn’t say that I’m necessarily surprised, knowing the athlete that he is and was coming out. Now, there was a little bit, exactly where do you use him, how do you use him, per se because there’s – he did have a skillset that’s, ‘Well, do you put him on the edge and let him rush a little? Is he really a stackbacker? Is he a stackbacker that blitzes? Do you – I mean he’s certainly athletic enough to cover.’ So, there’s all these things. It’s just honing in on what he does best, and I think Dallas has done – (Cowboys Defensive Coordinator) Dan Quinn and them have done a great job with how they’ve used him. There again, he’s a rare talent. He’s got rare ability, and he’s dynamic now off the edge. He can do multiple things, but you put him on the perimeter and let him go, that’s where he really, really excels.”
On the difference between the Lions and similar young teams that have seen early success recently: “Yeah, I don’t believe that and look they – the bottom line is we haven’t won those close games. We had a chance to win the Philly game, we had a chance to win the Seattle game, we had a chance to win in Minnesota. When it came to – there at the end of the game, man, that one play, we didn’t make that one play. And so, we’re right there. We’ve got to figure out how to make that one play now when we get in those close games. The key is, man, we can’t let this be like New England was for us when we’re not even in the game. We’ve got to give ourselves a chance to get back in it. You’re in it the last two minutes of the game, you’re either in two-minute or four-minute. And then, you’ve got to come away with those wins and that’s what we haven’t done. But we’re close.”
On if it is special going back to Texas and playing in his home state for the first time as a head coach: “I mean, it’ll – yeah, it’ll be good because I’ll have family there. That’s pretty good and I did play for Dallas. I didn’t play in that stadium, but that’s kind of cool. But other than that it’s really another game and it’s a – I think more than anything it’s a very good opponent and it’s a chance for us to go and see what we’re made of against a team that’s playing pretty well. It’s about to get their starting quarterback back, they’re playing good defense and really kind of exciting. That’s the way you want it.”
On if Lions DL Charles Harris is practicing today: “No. He’s not practicing today.”

LIONS QB JARED GOFF QUOTE SHEET
October 19, 2022
On if they are putting an extra emphasis on staying on schedule and not getting into bad down-and-distance situations against the Cowboys pass rush: “Yeah, always is but like you said these guys have a couple of guys up there, more than a couple that can really go and can get after the quarterback. And we’re aware of it, but we like our guys and feel confident in who we have pass blocking obviously. But yeah, we’d like to stay on schedule for sure.”
On if Cowboys LB Micah Parsons is a player he has to identify pre-snap: “For sure. For sure. Yeah, he’s pretty good.”
On the offense coming out of the bye week: “Yeah, I think (Lions Offensive Coordinator) Ben (Johnson) did a really good job with us in those couple days we were in here, kind of detailing a lot of that, this stuff that we need to be better at, and then the stuff that we were doing well and the stuff that we can kind of build upon and kind of create more of our identity with as we enter our sixth game now and it’s more than past time to go. So, the sense of urgency is absolutely there and I thought today was a great practice for it.”
On how difficult it will be to prepare for Cowboys LB Micah Parsons who plays all over the field: “Yeah, I mean that kind of typically happens every week with a guy like that. They want to move him around, they want to get him in different spots, they want to get him on different guys, running games and he’s good at it. He’s a really good player and a guy we’ll be aware of. But like I said, we’ve got confidence in the guys that we have blocking and it’ll be a good matchup for both sides. It’ll be a challenge, but we’ll be ready.”
On how often he checks in with Lions WR Jameson Williams during his rehab process: “Yeah, quite a bit. He’s been doing a good job as far as I know with his rehab and staying engaged on the field. He’s asking good questions and he’s as talented as I’ve seen he is on YouTube and whatnot. I know that’s about as much of experience as I have with him. But he’s a very smart guy, very inquisitive, very interested in what we’re doing at all times and has done a good job.”
On if he would like to see Lions WR Jameson Williams at some point this season: “Absolutely. What do you mean? Yeah, tomorrow. But I don’t make those calls.”
On how much he has thrown to Lions WR Jameson Williams in practice: “None. Play catch with him every once in a while, but he’s on his own program.”
On how long it will take to develop a connection with Lions WR Jameson Williams: “I don’t know. That’s not the question for me unfortunately, but I know they’re being careful with him. But I know they’ll do their best to get them on the field as soon as they can.”
On if he can play his game and not have to modify it in preparation for the Cowboys pass rush because of his confidence in the offensive line: “Yeah, that’s a good question. Yeah, I think so. I think we’ve got faith in those guys upfront. There have been years or teams that I’ve been on where there are injuries or some shaky positions that you want to help and you want to do some things. But we’ve got a lot of confidence in our guys. I’m sure we’ll have something for them as far as how we want to protect and how we want to do it. But for the most part, we like our guys upfront and know they’re going to be coming. But we like our matchups.”
On where the confidence that the high-powered offense can bounce back this week comes from: “Yeah, just the body of work we’ve done. We’ve done a good job putting points on the board for the most part. We haven’t done a good job of finishing games and winning. But moving the ball and putting points on the board we’ve done a decent job of, so we just get back to that and treat New England as hopefully an anomaly, and that doesn’t mean we ignored it. We’ve got a lot of things to fix in that game that I believe were addressed, and we’ve kind of moved on for now, but it was a good learning experience. Hopefully, we can look at it like that, and look back on it as something that kind of ignited something in us and allowed us to move forward in the right direction.”
On the opportunity for the offense to bounce back against a team with a good defense in the Cowboys: “Yeah, I think it’s a good team. It’s a road game. We need one, and it would be a great one to have.”
On if the practice today was more intense than it had been the past few weeks: “Yeah, it was definitely more intense. It was fun. Those guys were flying around, and when their intensity raises, so does ours. So, it was a fun day, it was a fun practice. I thought it was a really good practice for both sides, and it was good.”
On if he feels like the criticism against him has died down a little bit after his performance the first few weeks of the season: “No, no. I’ve got – every week, do my job, and do the best I can, and in my position, it’s going to be, ‘If you win, you’re the hero. If you lose, you’re the worst.’ Right? So, got to start winning and not really worried about what the narrative may be.”
On the improvement Lions T Penei Sewell has made from his rookie season to this season: “Yeah, he’s been great. He’s been really good. He’s obviously extremely talented, but I think he’s starting to really settle in and really start playing the game within the game a little more, and some of the stuff he does athletically is – he’s the only guy in the League who can do some of it. Maybe (49ers T) Trent Williams and some of those guys who can move at tackle like that, like he’s pretty special in what he can do, but yeah, he’s settling in really nicely and has done a great job.”
On what Lions WR DJ Chark brings to the table and what the team misses with him being unable to play: “Yeah, we miss his speed obviously. That’s something, but we do have guys that can run behind him. I think, personally, he’s a good one-on-one guy, and when he’s out there, he’s a guy that if he gets single-high coverage, and he’s got a corner on him, kind of no matter what route he’s running, you like your matchup, you like your chances on it. So we do miss a little bit of that with his size and his speed. With that being said, I think (Lions WR) Josh (Reynolds) can do it. I think (Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown) Saint can do it. I think (Lions WR) Kalif (Raymond) can do it in some ways as well, so all these guys are more than capable.”