LIONS HEAD COACH DAN CAMPBELL QUOTE SHEET
November 6, 2024
Opening Statement: “So, really good opponent. I’ve got a lot of respect for what (Texans Head Coach) DeMeco (Ryans)’s doing over there and this team, man, they play hard, they’re physical, they’re violent, aggressive, finish on the ball, they’ve got explosiveness on offense, defense, special teams. This is going to be a really good test for us Sunday night, out at their place, one that we’re looking forward to. You respect the brand of football they play with. So, it should be a good matchup.”
On if the Browns’ bye week will affect Lions DL Za’Darius Smith’s availability: “Yeah, we gave him a couple of days off, so he’ll be back Friday and then we’ll see where it’s at there.”
On if how much of the playbook Lions DL Za’Darius Smith can absorb will impact how he is used on Sunday: “Yeah, I mean there’s certainly a place to use him. We’ll see what it is when he gets back here on Friday. I thought that was important, I mean, he’s been in this League a while and they were actually just going on their bye week when he got the call from us, and everything got done. So, let him do what he needs to do, refresh, get back here Friday.”
On the process of trading for Lions DL Za’Darius Smith and how excited he is to have him on the team: “Yeah, I mean, that was – like I say, I was able to put eyes on him a while back. Certainly like the player, feel like he fits us, will bring something that we feel like complements the other players in that room. He’s going to play the run, he can get an edge still, he finishes on the football, he’s tough, violent player, so we’re excited to have him, he’ll be good for us. But yeah, I mean, there’s – I can’t tell you the number of calls and inquiries that there are, and the bottom line is, it’s hard to find a pass rusher, especially in the season. Most teams aren’t going to give them up, they don’t care what you say, which is smart. And there’s lessons learned, (Lions Executive Vice President and General Manager) Brad (Holmes) and I were talking about it, there’s always lessons learned. We learned them in ’21, ’22, ’23, ’24 – and as many of those guys as you can have, it helps because that’s just – injuries happen, and we happened to get hit at one position worse than anywhere else.”
On if Lions DL Josh Paschal will return this week: “I believe he’ll be good to go this week.”
On if Lions DL Za’Darius Smith is the ‘one player away’ for Detroit: “Yeah, you don’t ever know that, and that’s why I think you’ve got to be careful with the ‘one player away.’ I don’t think that exists necessarily. Now, can it help, and can it balance things out everywhere else? Absolutely, it can. But it’s – you do the one player away and then all of a sudden, the one player away got hurt and you’re like, ‘Oh, well, shoot.’ But I do think it can balance things out and it does alleviate pressure in some areas, and I think it helps us spread the load through that defense.”
On what it tells the team when they go out and acquire a player at a position of need: “I thought you were going to ask me, ‘Was I the one player away when I played?’ Absolutely not. Yeah, I think it – look, I think our guys are pretty good about – they trust us enough to know if we’re making a move or not making a move, it’s for the best of the team. They know where we’re at. The core of this team, we’ve been together four years, and so I think they’re good with, ‘Hey man, if we’re bringing somebody in, we need him, he’s going to fit. If not, then we’re good with what we’ve got, and these are our guys, and we go to war.’ So, I know they’ll embrace (Lions DL) Za’Darius (Smith), he’s going to fit into what we are, what we do, I know that. The guys are going to love him, and I think it’s going to be a good fit.”
On the lesson learned about acquiring players at a position that has been hit with injuries and what other lessons were learned for the team at the trade deadline: “Well, I think that’s just the biggest thing. You know injuries are coming, you always do, but when you get hit at one position, really, between (Lions DL Marcus) Davenport and (Lions DL Aidan Hutchinson) Hutch and (Lions LB Derrick) Barnes, (Lions DL John) Cominsky back in training camp, that’s really your starters and your depth. So, it’s just, when you’re in this position, trying to acquire pass rushers is a different deal. It’s not like a receiver or a running back. It just is because there’s a premium on it. Teams don’t want to give them up.”
On why he is confident that Lions DL Za’Darius Smith will be a good fit with the team: “Yeah, we’ve got enough people that speak highly of him that I know, players and coaches, and they all say the same thing about him. Team guy, hard worker, tough, loves the game, and then you watch the film, and it backs it up. So, I can’t imagine that all of those guys would lie to me.”
On if he has had a chance to talk to Lions DL Za’Darius Smith after the trade and what he had to say: “Yeah, I did. He’s fired up. He’s fired up, he’s excited to be here, he’s ready to go. He said everything that you would want to hear. He’s going to give it everything he’s got, and he want to help us win and whatever we ask him to do, he’ll do.”
On if there were any other transactions that were close to happening: “I don’t want to get into that.”
On which qualities about Lions Defensive Coordinator Aaron Glenn have made him successful: “Yeah, I mean, there’s a number of things. First of all, he’s salt of the earth, he’s an unbelievable human being. He’s a man of high character, he’s a grinder. Nobody works harder or longer than he does. He’s a student of the game. For a guy that has learned so much, he wants to learn more and more, he’s just constantly looking up better ways to do things, other ideas. I think he’s strategic, the things that we go into the game with to attack opponents, I think it’s some of the best in the League, and then when you start losing a couple of pieces here and there and now you’re still trying to attack them but you’ve got to use what you have on the roster, I think he does an outstanding job. He doesn’t have bad days, he’s not one of these guys. Doesn’t mean he doesn’t get – he can get pissed off, believe me, he’s a fiery guy, but he just doesn’t live like that. Everything is, ‘Hey, you tell me what it is, you tell me what we’ve got and we’re going to make it work and we’re going to make the most of it and we’ll be good.’ And it’s – he’s just positive, upbeat, grinder. I can’t say enough great words about him. Everybody respects him and those guys play – they play hard for him.”
On if he sees similarities between Houston and Detroit with how they have built their team: “Yeah, I do. I mean, look, they’ve got a lot of young talent that they hit on, and it’s funny because most of those players over there are all players that we really were high on too. And so, when you see that and you see some of these players, you’re like, ‘Man, that was a good one. That was a good pick they got there.’ And you see how hard they play and the type of football players they are, and so I do think there’s a lot of similarities. There again, I think they’ve drafted well, I think (Texans Head Coach) DeMeco (Ryans)’s done a hell of a job going in there, and just the style of play that they have. I think the quarterback’s played well, they’ve got one there. And they’re like anybody else, they’ve had to go through some injuries and stuff this year and they’re battling through it and they’re still one of the top teams in this League, so they’re finding ways to adapt and continue to win. So, it’ll be a challenge.”
On what he believes Lions WR Jameson Williams learned from being out for the past two weeks: “I think any time you don’t get to play this game I think you’ll always reflect and it just helps you to look at it – different vantage point, because it hurts, it hurts not to play, and when you don’t have anybody to blame but yourself, it makes you look at yourself a little bit harder. And so, he’ll be fine, I really believe that, and I do believe he’ll learn from it. I think he – I mean, he was just out there today, in our walkthrough we had. He’s locked and ready to go, so I think he’s going to come right out of this on top.”
On what the plan is for Lions DL Al-Quadin Muhammad going forward because he has one elevation left: “Yeah, we’ll see. This week will be a big part of that, if he plays or if he doesn’t play. But, to your point, we still have an elevation and if not, then he’s on practice squad for now.”
On if there are injury updates from walkthrough today: “No, I mean, not really. (Lions LB Jalen Reeves-Maybin) Germ, he really didn’t do anything today, (Lions LB Malcolm Rodriguez) Rodrigo’s about – he’s better. We’ll have to see what he looks like tomorrow, if he’s able to go out there and practice, but really, other than that, I think that’s about it. I feel pretty good about (Lions DL Josh) Paschal, obviously (Lions WR Jameson Williams) Jamo’s back. Oh, we are going to start the clock on (Lions CB Emmanuel Moseley) E-Man and (Lions S Ifeatu Melifonwu) Iffy.”
LIONS QB JARED GOFF QUOTE SHEET
November 6, 2024
On what jumps out about the Texans defense: “Yeah, they’re good. They’re really good. They’re really well coached. They remind me of San Francisco, no surprise – back when I was in L.A. in the division, San Francisco, when (Texans Head Coach) DeMeco (Ryans) was there, it was similar. Very good defense and good upfront, good at the linebacker position, good at the defensive backs. Really well coached, sound, they do a good job.”
On Jets QB Aaron Rodgers’ praise of his play as of late: “Yeah, it’s cool. I appreciate it. Aaron’s a guy that I grew up watching and grew up a big fan of and any time guys like that who know what they’re looking at say good things, it’s awesome. But yeah, I appreciate it and wish him the best.”
On what he has seen from Lions DL Za’Darius Smith and how big of an addition he is for the defense: “Yeah, it’ll be big, it’ll be big. We’ll see how quickly he’ll catch up to speed with us but he’s a hell of a player, he really is, and he’s always given me trouble and I know offensive lines around the League trouble, so yeah, we’re happy to have him and he’ll help a ton.”
On if their offense reminds him of the Rams team that went to the 2019 Super Bowl: “I don’t know, I mean yeah, both offenses were pretty good. I don’t know if the scheme is all that similar, but the offenses are both pretty good.”
On the comfort level he has with Lions WR Jameson Williams returning: “Yeah, he’s a weapon and we know that and teams around the League know that. So, he’s a guy that they’ll certainly be planning for and will help us in a ton of ways, not just catching the ball but with blocking and all the other stuff that he can do. So yeah, we’ll see how we can get him involved this week and get him back out there.”
On if he has to filter out a lot of noise right now as he continues to play well each week: “Yeah, I think you do. I think, who cares what – who thinks we’re any good right now, it doesn’t matter. You’re just trying to find a way to stack Ws and I think you get caught up in sometimes not only the bad stuff but the good stuff at times. It can be dangerous. So yeah, you just try to keep stacking wins, people are going to keep telling us how good we are now and then if something were to go wrong, they tell us how bad we are. So, it’s how it goes and just try to keep doing the work, put your head down and go in a hole and keep stacking Ws.”
On if he expects to see his comment about the team being chameleons on a t shirt and how much it really embodies who they are: “Yeah, I don’t know, you guys can put it on a t-shirt if you feel like it but, yeah. We talk about adjusting like no one – we say no one adjusts better than us, in the weather, in a storm, indoors, if it needs to be a throwing game, if it needs to be passing game, if it needs to be special teams against the Titans, we find ways to win and it’s signs of a good team when you can win in various ways and we’ve had a good way of doing that.”
On the beauty of winning in other places and if it can help secure playoff games happening at home: “Yeah you have to. If you want to make that happen then you have to win a lot of games and we’re only about halfway there but we’ve done a good job to this point and if we want to find a way to have it come through Detroit, we have to keep winning.”
On the personal satisfaction of killing old ghosts: “They’ll never stop, they’ll be there forever, and it’ll be something new and we’ll try to defeat that next and we’ll see what that is. Right now, we’re doing a good job.”
On how much he appreciates that no one is bothered about who gets the ball and if that is who they are: “That’s who they are. That’s who they are, and I think it’s the culture we’ve put in place and (Lions Executive Vice President and General Manager) Brad (Homes) has a good way of not bringing in guys that aren’t that way. So, it’s kind of just organic and those guys know that winning is most important and obviously, yeah, everyone wants the ball, everyone wants the ball more and we’re doing our best to get it to everybody, but as long as we’re winning and scoring points, it’s all good.”
On if anyone ever asks him for the ball more: “No. No, I’m lucky. Those guys are very unselfish, and they love blocking as much as they love getting the ball and of course – but yeah, do we want to get everyone the ball more? Of course, you always do, but that’s the challenge for (Lions Offensive Coordinator) Ben (Johnson) and he’s done a pretty good job of it.”
On why he thinks Lions RB David Montgomery and Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs work so well together: “Well they’re obviously very good in their own right and would be a starting back on any other team in the League. I think it’s so hard for a defense when you get a fresh one of them, it seems, every other drive. A lot of these guys that are carrying the ball 25, 30 times, they aren’t fresh the whole game. These guys are coming in the third quarter and they’re fresh. It’s Gibbs then it’s Montgomery, then it’s Gibbs and then it’s back and forth and it’s tough. It’s tough for a defense and I think they kind of get pigeonholed at times like, ‘Gibbs is the fast one, D-Mo is the tough one.’ It’s like no, they both kind of do it all. They both can run away from you, they both can catch the ball, they both can run you over and that’s really hard for any defense.”
On what NBA point guard he would be: “Just because I’m a fan of his, (Stephen) Curry, and I grew up in the Bay and he’s the best. I love him.”
On how his three-point shot is: “Not as good as his.”
