LIONS HEAD COACH DAN CAMPBELL QUOTE SHEET
October 21, 2024
Opening Statement: “Kind of like what we talked about, I think there was – our team’s ability to keep their composure and just hang in there. Nobody got frazzled, go to work, and I think the – like we talk about all the time – the team really played off of each other and every unit had a big moment in that game to finish it out for us. You start with we get a fumble, they run it back for a touchdown, take the lead, defense comes right off the bench and a critical two-point stop. I mean that was big, that was big. We handled it well, sudden change in that moment, and then offensively come back out, have to go three-and-out and it was a sack, and (Lions P Jack) Fox just delivers a huge punt that flips the field position. (Lions CB Khalil Dorsey) Dorse did a great job getting down there, a 63-yarder, and special teams steps up. And then our defense holds them, goes three-and-out, big-time stop. Offense gets the ball back and just methodically, we chew the clock, we convert, (Lions RB Jahmyr) Gibbs, (Lions WR Amon-Ra) St. Brown, (Lions QB Jared) Goff was outstanding. And then (Lions K Jake) Bates and I think the other thing, (Lions LS) Hogan (Hatten), he’s a young rookie in that moment, and Fox had another great hold, the protection, but then Bates. So, for those young guys, that was big time. So, all three units, when we needed it, really stepped up and delivered. Some guys that really played well – look there’s a lot of guys that played well, but obviously Gibbs, St. Brown, we talked about Goff. Goff was just steady as a rock. He was unbelievable. Really saw the field well, got us in the right play, just big-time ball. And (Lions C) Frank (Ragnow). I thought that was the best Frank has played in a long time and he’s played good football around here so that’s saying something. (Lions T Penei) Sewell really delivered, (Lions WR Kalif Raymond) Leaf, and then (Lions WR) Tim Patrick did some really good things. Defensively, I thought we played hard, we were physical, we challenged. I thought the end of half and end of game on both sides of the ball was big. I thought we handled both of those situations really good. Four-minute defense is outstanding. I thought we challenged on the perimeter, I thought our attitude was on point. We didn’t start the game or the second half great, but we bounced back, and we hung in there and we just kept fighting. So that whole backend, (Lions CB) Amik (Robertson), (Lions S) Kerby (Joseph) and (Lions DB Brian Branch) BB, (Lions CB Terrion Arnold) TA, they really challenged back there, and they really took a big part of the load for this game plan. To have to cover, they knew they were going to need to do a little bit there. I thought (Lions LB Malcolm Rodriguez) Rodrigo played outstanding, we did a lot to him. He kind of had to play the nickel, he played inside backer, we asked him to do a lot. I thought (Lions LB) Alex (Anzalone) played really well, (Lions LB) Jack (Campbell) played really well, (Lions DL Josh) Paschal showed up, made some plays for us. So, it was good in that regard. I thought (Lions DL Alim McNeill) Mac did some good things as well. But all in all, it was right on the money. It wasn’t perfect, we have a lot to clean up. That’s the thing, at the end of the day, you go back and look at the tape and we had some self-inflicted wounds in there that could have cost us, but they didn’t. And our guys hung in there and bounced back and it’s a good win.”
On Lions RB David Montgomery’s in-game knee injury at the Vikings and if there is any long-term concern: “No, he’s good. It was really one of those that obviously he had pain, and he knows it’s in that area around the knee, and it’s kind of in the back. So, you’re trying to figure it out and it’s painful and once they got him off and they tested it, looked at it, he started feeling better. And then you kind of are trying to look at it on the monitor. We don’t have the TV copies like you do. We’ve got these little – you can’t see anything on them. But he got kneed in the back of the knee, just kind of the meaty part, so it was more like a bruise or contusion, which is great. He bounced back, he’ll be good. Nothing should come from this. So, we’re thankful for that, I know he is too.”
On if he has ever been around a more unselfish offensive group: “It would be hard to say that yes, I have been. We had some unselfish units when I was coaching at New Orleans. It was one of the reasons why we won a lot of games there. But this crew here, production slash team mentality, all in, whatever you ask me to do, it’d be hard to match this crew. Because they are. One of the reasons our run game is so productive, and I bring it up every week, because our receivers, they block on the perimeter and they finish at the second level and they are trying to block support, irritate support, whatever you want to call it. But they also – it was big, they helped us on the perimeter on the outside linebackers, the D-ends when tackles were blocking them or tight ends. To your point, (Lions WR Tim Patrick) TP, he was going to start it and we put him on the end and (Lions RB David Montgomery) D-Mo was going to help him, but he really didn’t. Ball was out, but he handled his responsibility and it’s big. I’ve said it before, Tim Patrick has been an excellent addition for us. That guy, we desperately needed somebody like him, and he fits the mold of everything we’re looking for. He rounds that receiver room out.”
On former Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie’s comments about him last week: “No, it’s – the only thing, the last time somebody called me classless, I was drinking wine out of a bottle. But no, it’s all good. I’m not worrying about it.”
On when he knows to take the foot off of the pedal in a game where the scores get high: “Yeah, I think you just have to go with the feel of the game, really. Where you’re at, how much time’s left. I know that you have to be careful. You just have to be careful. I remember when I was interim at Miami, and it was really the second game that I coached, we got up on Houston big. We were up three or four scores early in the game and I remember going into the fourth quarter and we still held a pretty big lead, and I started pulling starters, and they started roaring back. They started coming back and they scored a couple of touchdowns and all of a sudden, you’re sitting there, and we had to go and get our starters back in. Once you let off the gas, it’s hard to get them back going and accelerate again. It’s just kind of the mindset of – so you just have to be careful and it’s the same way – you go too conservative too early and teams in this League, they’ll come back on you and all of a sudden you turn the tides and you get in a funk you can’t get out of. So, you just have to be careful.”
On the big-picture implications of defeating the Vikings: “Yeah it meant a lot and I said this last night. I didn’t want to call it a must-win, but our guys know how important it is, and we’ve said it all the time. When you talk about the end game and where you want to be at the end of this season, then you have to work backwards and what are the steps to get there? You have to win your division. That’s where it starts because if that’s really what we’re saying, everything needs to run through Detroit. And to do that, you have to win your division games, and then you get a home game in the playoffs if not more. So, it was big. That team, they played a good game, and we knew they would. They’re flying high, they were five-and-oh, playing outstanding defense, complementary offense, they got weapons, (Vikings Head) Coach (Kevin) O’Connell’s coaching the hell out of them. And so, to do all that and that’s the most hostile environment we’ve been in this year by the way, and probably really for a while. Those fans were bearing down on us, it was loud, I mean it was great. So, that was big for us.”
On what fell apart with the fake punt on the opening drive: “We didn’t – the look was there, there’s just a couple of things that we can do a little bit better with it. And so, like I say, you want every one of them to work and you believe they’ll work and if you don’t have the look, you check out of it and it’s all good. So, the look was there, we just tweak a couple of things execution-wise and it’s there. So, look, I’m disappointed it didn’t work just like anybody is, but that’s not going to deter me from – if the look’s there, the look’s there and we’re going to keep looking for it and keep coaching it up and put it on our guys.”
On if the selflessness of the team ranks at the top of the reasons why he loves this team: “Yeah, with any team, when you find unselfish guys that have ability and then they’re the right type of guy – I always think of when I played in this League, ‘Who were the best teammates you’d ever had?’ And that can play football because it’s one thing to have a great teammate but he’s not going to be able to do much on Sunday or whatever that is. That’s great but it’s another thing when you have these really productive, athletic, competitive type guys that endear themselves with their teammates. I think that’s rare and that’s what (Lions Executive Vice President and General Manager) Brad (Holmes) and I are really looking for, is to find those football guys that are willing to put their pride in the backseat for the guy next to them. And that’s not always an easy thing to do. It’s human nature to, ‘Man, I need more, give me more, give me more, I want,’ and to say, ‘You know what, I’ll do this for you,’ that speaks volumes. We’re really loading the locker room with guys like that. There’s little things that come up, that’s the emotion of a game. It’s every week because guys are competitive, a bunch of Type A personalities, but that’s what you want. These guys, they want to go after it. But absolutely that’s what endears you to them.”
On former teammates of his that stood out as selfless players: “(Falcons Wide Receivers Coach) Ike Hilliard would be one. (Former Giants WR) Amani Toomer, (Former Giants RB) Tiki Barber, (Former Giants TE Jeremy) Shockey, (Former Cowboys G) Stephen Peterman, I can go down the list. (Former Cowboys G) Marco Rivera, I can go a million places with this. (Former Cowboys WR) Terry Glenn, (Former Cowboys G) Larry Allen, (Former Cowboys S) Darren Woodson, (Former Cowboys LB) Dexter Coakley, (Former Cowboys DE) Greg Ellis. All unselfish – (Former Cowboys DT) La’Roi Glover – good players, but they love ball and are willing to do whatever they needed to for the guy next to them. (Former Cowboys LB) Dat Nguyen.”
On what he thought of the pressure from the edge players in the game and if it makes him comfortable in the players he has or more open to changing the room: “Let me start with this, and I’m glad you brought this up, I thought the coordinators did an outstanding job. All three of them. I thought they were on top of their game. I thought (Lions Offensive Coordinator) Ben (Johnson) had a great game plan, and I thought he was on it the whole game. I thought (Lions Special Teams Coordinator Dave) Fipp developed a great plan. Those guys were humming. And lastly, I thought (Lions Defensive Coordinator Aaron Glenn) AG, I thought everything that we went in in this game that we said we had to do and the way we had to play, it wasn’t perfect but my God those guys competed and it gave us a chance. They executed at a high level. An area where we can be better is there were some things where our coverage really had to – we asked them to do a lot, and they had to hold on a little bit. So, there was a number of things where we fabricated some rush, we got there a few times. To answer your question, we need just a little bit more. There was a couple of them that did get long, a couple of these plays that you like to believe that we can get somebody there just a little bit sooner. So, we’ll keep working with them, AG’s going to keep developing a great plan, he’s a stud as a defensive coordinator. He just maximizes everything we have, and we’ll figure it out. But I was proud of the way they battled.”
On bringing stats with him to post-game locker room breakdowns: “Well that’s just so I don’t miss when somebody’s had a perfect game. It’s really what that is. I don’t necessarily need them but for that.”
On at what point he recognizes that Lions QB Jared Goff’s stretch of great games is not a heater and it is the quarterback that is putting together a good season overall: “Yeah, it’s interesting. I guess I’m just not surprised, I guess is the best way to say it. I hear these numbers and I’m just like, ‘Yeah, he’s playing good. He’s a good quarterback.’ So, I don’t really see this like I’m blown away. I expect that from him. He’s playing at a high level and there’s so many little things that he does. We put a ton on his plate this week. We put a ton mentally. We asked him to do so much, particularly on third down, because this is such a unique defensive scheme that we faced and the amount of pressure, and he handled it so good. Because of that, that helps the rest of the team, that helps the rest of the offense perform at a high level. But I just – to me, that’s him. He’s playing at a high level, he’s a damn good quarterback, he’s competitive, he’s tough, and he’s very accurate. Once again, when it’s crunch time, the guy just – his heart rate just levels out. He doesn’t get frazzled, and he makes big time plays for us. I’m glad he’s with us. I’m glad he’s ours.”
