LIONS HEAD COACH DAN CAMPBELL QUOTE SHEET
November 18, 2022
Opening Statement: “So obviously, Friday, move around, last day of work, red zone work, and get ready for these guys. Got a little snow yesterday, that was cool. Guys liked it.”
On Giants Head Coach Brian Daboll telling a story about his energy interviewing for a job in Miami when he threw a chair: “Yeah, Daboll, he tells that story to everybody. He tells it to me every time I see him, he brings it up again, and I don’t remember throwing chairs through the walls or anything. That didn’t happen, but I did demo on chairs. But he definitely exaggerated it, but I was sweating, and I was out of breath, and I did use the chair.”
On if he was demonstrating blocking with the chairs in his interview with Miami: “Running routes, blocking, everything. It was an hour of technique work, talking through things, then he’d give me scenarios, and how do you handle this? What do you do on this coverage? What if it’s this front? What if you – so I just did the whole thing. That was the best way for me to go through it all.”
On his relationship with Giants Head Coach Brian Daboll: “Yeah, great relationship. There again, I’ve got a lot of respect for Dabs, and he’s a sharp guy. He’s sharp. He can think quick on his feet, really good teacher, and great personality. He’s somebody you just – he’s infectious. He’s someone you want to be around. So look, and his team’s playing hard, and they play smart. There again, they don’t make mistakes, and that’s why they’re winning games.”
On how the team prepares for the short turnaround with a game Thursday after playing Sunday and if how tough it is for the assistant coaches to put more on their plate: “It’s tough. Tough week, it is. And this is the hardest part of this profession is going into the short game, the Thursday games because this is where it’s a grind, and you’re trying to prepare for this, this opponent because this is the most important game right now, but you also have to have enough prepared to when the players come in the next day because we’re going Monday, is to get them ready for the next opponent. So, we have to have some ideas and some thoughts already – we’ve got to have them down on a list and have a few ideas so that’s what today will be a little bit after practice. Coaches will be kind of working through some of that over the next couple days just to have some general thoughts. I don’t like the coordinators doing it, so I don’t want them even thinking about Buffalo, but the assistants will have some ideas ready to roll. It’s tough, this is the hardest part, but they’ve got to deal with it too, both teams. I mean Buffalo’s going to have to deal with it too.”
On if there is a scouting advantage with the Bills and Browns game moved to Detroit: “No, I don’t see that – I mean I guess just for travel for our guys. Our scouting department, they won’t have to go far. That helps, that helps. That definitely helps.”
On if the Bills gain an advantage by playing at Ford Field before the Thanksgiving game: “I don’t think so. I don’t see that. I do know this, everybody that works over at the stadium, like you just talk about the coaches, like this just became very hard on them. I mean this is difficult. We’ve got the holiday show, all this they’ve set up. They’ve got to break it down and get ready for this game, and then get ready for our game on Thursday. So, they didn’t intend on that, spending their whole weekend and really the next week leading into Thanksgiving, dealing with all this. So, they’ve got a lot on their plate, man, so sometimes that gets lost in the shuffle. You forget about all them over there putting in the work.”
On if Lions WRs Josh Reynolds and DJ Chark are trending in the right direction: “Today will tell a lot. It’ll tell a lot. It’ll tell a lot. So they both moved around, I thought both of them looked better yesterday. Certainly, to get Reynolds on the field was one thing, that was good in itself, but Chark looked better than he did the day before as well, so we’ll see what it looks like today.”
On what he has seen from Lions DL Aidan Hutchinson on the road and why Hutchinson has started to excel at playing in away games: “Well, I just think I don’t even know if it has to do with playing on the road as much as it does just playing. And it’s another game, and it’s more experience doing what he’s doing. There again, he’s playing more of the rush end, so he’s getting more comfortable there, but it’s, as with any other rookie that works, puts in the work and is pretty smart, conscientious, he’s just only going to grow. And that’s what he’s doing, he just gets better and better, so I would say it’s more of the experience of playing. And look, let’s call it what it is. The kid – it’s one of the reasons why he like him. I mean he’s competitive now, like he wants to be – he wants to play within the system, do his job, but he wants to be a difference-maker. Like he views himself as somebody like, ‘I can change the game. Like I can do that.’ So, when you get in those critical moments, those high-pressure situations, he’s somebody that thrives in that, like he enjoys that. He doesn’t go the other way and get real tight and tense. He wants to go make a play.”
On if Lions C Frank Ragnow will play Sunday: “Frank took the boot off both feet today. He will be out there running around today, so I’m pretty optimistic. For Sunday, I’m pretty optimistic for Frank, we are, yep.”
On Lions DL Josh Paschal’s injury status: “Paschal, he’s another one. We’ll probably sit him out today, and just see if tomorrow, where he’s at. He’s gotten a little bit better every day, but there again, it’s kind of wait and see with him.”
On if the team is responsible for providing a practice location and facility for the Bills if they were to stay in Detroit after Sunday in preparation for Thursday’s game: “Well, I don’t know, and I’ve heard both. I’ve heard that, ‘Yes, they will,’ and then I’ve heard, ‘No, they won’t. They will go back.’ So, I don’t know, but I think if it is, as far as I know, if they are, it’s on them to figure that out. Now, we give them – they have access to the facility for the game and all that stuff, but as far as the following week, I think that’s on them, but I don’t know all the ins and outs of that.”
On if playing on turf is causing more injuries than playing on grass: “No, but it’s not necessarily something I’m looking for to that extent. There again, we’re in a dome, and we have turf, so I think that’s what we play on right now, and all that stuff, they can figure all that stuff out later so I don’t necessarily see – I don’t see it one way or another, but I’m not looking at every little thing as it pertains to turf either. And I played on the carpet, on this stuff right here.”
On what surface he played on as a player and if he noticed the difference between turf and natural grass: “I mean yeah, I was – towards the end of my career was when the new stuff came in. And look, the turf is always different, and certainly it feels better on your joints. Now, anytime you’re on any type of turf, it puts a little bit more of a strain on the joints, but as far as a difference, I never really saw or felt a difference. But there again, you’ve got to remember, that was all relative to what I knew, and there again, we played on carpet on turf, and so the new turf was like, ‘Wow, this is unbelievable.’ Or grass was always good, so I get all that, it’s all good.”
On how much attention he pays to the Rams wins and losses that will determine the position of the first-round draft pick the Lions acquired from them: “Honestly, zero. I don’t even look at it. I don’t even think about it, and the Rams are – they’re going to win. They’re going to win games. They’ll get better, but I’m not even worried about that. I’m just worried about winning right now.”
LIONS ASSISTANT HEAD COACH/RUNNING BACKS DUCE STALEY QUOTE SHEET
November 18, 2022
On what it would mean for the team to get another win on the road and win three in a row: “Just continuing to build confidence. Every win, every game is important, we all know that. But when you can go on the road and win on the road, those guys, they start getting a little extra juice, little extra momentum and it’s always good to finish a game on the road with a win.”
On what Lions RB Jamaal Williams means to the team: “He’s our leader. Not just offensively, but our team leader. He gets a chance to break them down, he talks to them. He’s out there when he’s not feeling well, he still has juice, energy. Going through the drills, I mean he’s just – he’s everywhere. So, those guys they love him. They love him and they show it out there on the field. They talk to him in the locker room. I mean, it’s just good to see a guy like that, that we got here. This is his second year, being able to build that trust within the team with guys who have been here for a while.”
On how Lions RB Jamaal Williams has responded to his heavier workload over the course of the season: “The body’s holding up. You see the production on the field and the good thing about it, he’s not selfish. He’ll sit right there and he’ll be like, ‘Hey man, just let me know when you need me.’ And he goes out there and he does his job. So, that’s something to hang his hat on.”
On how Lions RB Jamaal Williams’ body is holding up to the heavier workload as we get into the winter: “We’re going to find out. No man, it’s with every good running back especially as it gets colder. You know you may be running the ball a little bit more and as we get into pounding the rock up and down the field. He’s the guy you want to lean on.”
On how tough it is on the running backs to prepare for two games in five days: “Oh, it’s tough for every position. Not just only running backs, you’ve just got to be able to take care of your body, you’ve got to have a plan. And we actually had a conversation about that, just making sure that those hours are going to go by so fast. Once this game is over you’re in recovery mode and we’re moving on.”
On what stands out about Giants RB Saquon Barkley: “A big back, electric, can make you miss, hard to tackle, knee-bender not a waist-bender, has the burst, has good vision. And that’s the thing that as a defensive player you have to tackle him. Hitting won’t work. You’ve got to wrap him up to the ground. So, when you turn on some of the plays and watch some of his explosives, I’ll just watch any of his runs. He may get hit sometimes or stagnated. But if you don’t wrap him up he’ll turn the corner and he has the speed to finish. So, electric back, dynamic.”
On when he saw the switch in Lions RB Jamaal Williams to be a leader on the team: “Well, you know it’s not about the name on the back of your jersey that makes you a leader. It’s all about your actions. So, in vulnerable times he’s sharing stories in front of the group. I’ve seen him shed tears in front of the group. I’ve seen him laugh, joke around, have fun in front of the group. I’ve seen him when he’s having a good practice and someone else is not, walk over there and put his arm around his shoulder and talk to him. So, when you start talking about the definition of leadership it’s all about actions. And that means a lot to us.”
On what he has seen from Lions RB Justin Jackson since Lions RB Craig Reynolds got hurt: “Oh man, being able to step right in, of course pick up where Craig left off and being able to bring some juice and energy to the offense. Like I said, man he’s playing at a high level, he came straight in, was able to learn the playbook fast, was able to understand protections, has soft hands out of the backfield, can catch the ball, has good vision. We’re happy to have J.J.” |
