LIONS HEAD COACH DAN CAMPBELL POST-GAME QUOTE SHEET
Opening statement: “That was fun. So, proud of our guys. We knew what we had to do today and we did it, really in all three phases across the board. The minute it felt like something may go the wrong way, we were able to tilt it back into our favor. I was proud of those guys, golly. We showed up and next-man-up mentality. The next man up did a good job today across the board. But as a team,
man, I was proud of them.”
On the importance of CB Amani Oruwariye’s interception after the fumble by RB Godwin Igwebuike: “Huge. Huge. I felt like that was one of those like, ‘OK, come on, man.’ And for Amani to be able to—and that defense—that’s also a product of the way we were playing. We were hitting them and playing aggressive and so that was another product. That was just a great drive by him too. Huge
play by Amani. And so that I felt like tilted it back in our favor and then certainly the next play we score. That was huge.”
On if he credits the team’s resilience to everything they have endured this season: “Yeah, I do. I do. I think that’s what you’re trying to get. I mean, that’s what we’re trying to build around here and I do think that those guys have bought into it. I felt like they bought into it all year, it’s just been, what gets us over the edge? What’s going to get us to that point where we start figuring it out
and we can keep the momentum in our favor? And so we did it today. We executed the game plan perfectly. It was a great job by our coaches putting it together and then obviously just those players stepping up and just not—they don’t care. Like, they don’t care. They don’t care who we’re playing. It’s like, ‘Let’s go.’ They’re ready to go, they believe, they have. Shoot, man, that’s all you
can ask for as your players as a coach. Just guys who want to come back, go to work and they don’t give a crap who we’re playing. So I was proud of them.”
On the defense’s performance today and Defensive Coordinator Aaron Glenn’s game plan: “Yeah, listen—look, you’re not going to—going to be hard for me to find the right words to speak of AG (Aaron Glenn). Got a ton of respect for him, but he’s once again put together a great game plan. We knew what we had to do. We needed to hit this guy, we needed to bottle him up, we needed to
be aggressive on these receivers and those guys did it. But AG once again—he is. He knows, he understands what we have to do every week. And his staff too. I think we have a hell of a staff defensively and those players know exactly what’s expected and what’s going to give them the best odds to win or to shut down an offense or give us a chance to win. They did it.”
On the mentality the defense must play with to bottle up a player like Cardinals QB Kyler Murray: “That was—throw caution to the wind. That’s one of those you either win or you lose by 50. Fortunately, it worked in our favor, but we knew we needed to be aggressive. You know you can’t go timid against these guys and you had to force them to play your game. If you play their game,
you’re going to be in trouble, and so we did that.”
On QB Jared Goff’s performance today: “He made some outstanding throws today. My gosh, the first one to (Amon-Ra) St. Brown was unbelievable. Just how he had to step up, release it quick, it’s there. That’s a heck of a play. The throw to (Josh) Reynolds right before halftime. Huge play. He got us in the right play, I thought he maneuvered well. He took some hits, he bounced back. I thought
he played outstanding.”
On if he was worried about Goff when he was down with a possible injury: “No, he’s pretty tough. I told him I appreciated the sacrifice to get us some personal fouls. Way to sacrifice for the team.”
On S Will Harris playing cornerback today and his versatility all season: “Well, at first it was—that was before we thought we were going to get Iffy (Ifeatu Melifonwu) back. Like, you don’t even know what’s going on. You think we’re going to get A.J. (Parker), A.J.’s our nickel. But you’re trying to maneuver some of these. This is—as the game plan is being put together, that’s when you learn that
you just lost all your other corners. We just lost Nickell (Robey-Coleman), you lost (Parnell) Motley, you lost all of these guys. So, now you’re like, ‘Alright, what’s going to give us the best opportunity?’ And we felt like, ‘Hey, let’s give Will a shot.’ Will, safety to nickel, and for what we were going to try to do defensively, we were like, ‘You know what? We can—this will be good for him gameplan wise. Let’s see if he can go out there and play a little bit and let him be aggressive.’ It’s a credit to him, and by the way—he is like, ‘Coach, what do you need?’ AG (Aaron Glenn), AP (Aubrey Pleasant) talked to him and he’s like, ‘Coach, I’ll do whatever you need.’ And that’s a credit to him.”
On if this team is playing for pride: “I think it’s—you have to go there. When you’re where we’re at this point in the season and you kind of know you’re out of the hunt. When you appreciate and respect the guys you’re around and your coaches and what’s being told to you—and just knowing that this is where it is and these are the circumstances, you make the most of the opportunity. You
make the most of it. It is what it is and those guys are—there again, it goes back to—we have the right guys. We really do, as far as guys that you want character-wise and what they’re made of. Because we don’t have guys that are worried about themselves, or complaining about this or it’s somebody else’s fault or we don’t have those guys. We have guys that are like—they just want results
and ‘how can I help?’ That always gives you a chance.”
On if this was a statement win and what message he thinks this win sends to fans: “No. I mean, look, I don’t see statement win. Here’s what I see. We knew we could win this game and we feel like that every week. But we knew we could, but we knew we had to play a certain type of game. Like any week, if we can execute the game plan. So, no, you don’t always—nobody thinks of it as,
‘We’re going to win by 12.’ No, we knew to win this game it would be a dog fight. It was going to come down probably to the last possession. Well, it didn’t this time. But I don’t see it as a statement. In this league anybody can win, anybody can lose. But I know this, our guys were prepared, we were ready to go and that was a good win.”
On RB Craig Reynolds’ performance today: “Craig has done a good job. Craig since day one, he’s come in and just done his job. It’s all about intensity. It’s all about focus and he’s just done a great job on scout team and just waited for his opportunity and he’s gotten two now back-to-back and showed up.”
On the decision to stay aggressive all game: “Well, because look, that was one of the things we said we had to do and we needed to do. You don’t want to back off the gas. When you said you were going to do something, you’ve got to do it and that’s an explosive offense. And so, even there before halftime, it’s important that we get seven and not three. I just felt that way and those guys knew
it going into it and we did. We had to be that way against this team.”
On playing a complete game today: “It helps. We stayed in rhythm. Look, we got some third-down conversions offensively. That keeps us on the field. Those were huge, particularly early. That’s something we haven’t been very good at. We were today. We were able to do those things. So, we stay on the field and kind of make it our game, and then to be able to push the ball down the field,
get some throws, those were big. When you’re able to get in a rhythm, get your quarterback in a rhythm, convert on third downs, offensively you’re going to open up your playbook. It will help that. And then defensively, for what they did, we already talked about it. Those guys were aggressive, we were able to bottle them up, pin them in, good coverage, and special teams did exactly what they
needed to do today.”
On the performance from LB Jalen Reeves-Maybin and OLB Charles Harris today: “It was good to get 44 (Jalen Reeves-Maybin) back. It was real good to get him back. But yeah, Charles has been a relentless player for us all season long. He’s a nuisance to quarterbacks, but he plays the run as well. He’s a well-rounded defensive end, outside linebacker, if you will. He really showed up
and I’ll tell you what, to do what we had to do today, you have to be unselfish as a rusher. You have to be because if you’re all about
yourself and going after this guy, that’s when he can make you look silly. He rolls out of the pocket, he breaks contain, and so those
guys worked hand in hand. That’s a credit to everybody up front, everybody involved in the rush plan.”
On who he credits for the success of the running game given the personnel changes week to week: “Well, look, I give that to the Oline. It’s a credit to them and our tight ends and (Jason) Cabinda. I mean, that’s huge. And (Matt) Nelson, our jumbo tight end. That’s a credit to all of those guys. When you have guys like that and they play the way they play, it makes our job easy to scheme it up, a
lot easier I’d say. It makes your life a lot easier when you’re calling plays, I know that.”
On FB Jason Cabinda scoring his first NFL touchdown: “It was good. Cabinda is one of those guys, like, he deserves one. He deserves a bone for all of the dirty work he does, the special teams player that he is for us, and it was good. I’m proud of him. He is, he’s a work horse. Just does what he does and doesn’t say a word, doesn’t complain.”
On if this game showed his vision for what he wants this team to be: “I’d say so. I’d say it was a lot closer here. Yeah, certainly to be able to control it and feel like you have control of the game. Like, I felt like that was more they were playing our game. We weren’t playing there’s and that’s what we needed to be able to do.”
LIONS FB JASON CABINDA POST-GAME QUOTE SHEET
On his first-career touchdown today: “It felt great. I hadn’t gotten on the box since like high school, so to go out there and get a touchdown for my team and to help us win and finish with a win, it was awesome.”
On if QB Jared Goff saved him the ball from his first touchdown: “Yeah, I do have the ball. I do have the ball. I wanted to spike it, but I was conscious in that moment like, ‘I know I need this.’ I did my little dance after.”
On what went through his head pre-snap before the touchdown: “Amani (Oruwariye)’s pick was huge. He’s been a freakin’ ball magnet for us. I think he has five, six interceptions for us this year already. He just keeps that ball rolling. Obviously, he returned it down into the red zone and we got down here, and I was able to get into the flat and get open. Jared was able to hit me and the rest
was what it was. It was awesome to see.”
On if today’s win was a culmination of the aggressiveness on both sides of the ball Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell is trying to establish: “No doubt. I think today was really a complete effort. We played well on special teams, we went out and covered punts, covered kicks. Our defense held up so well. That’s an explosive offense. You guys see how many points they put up week in and
week out. They got in the red zone and had to kick field goals, that was huge for us. We kept them off the field because our offense was churning out first downs and keeping the ball, keeping possessions. We were running the ball really well. Craig (Reynolds) was running his freaking butt off. It was just a really good combination of a great team effort.”
LIONS T TAYLOR DECKER POST-GAME QUOTE SHEET
On if today’s performance is how he envisions the team playing to its potential: “I mean, how we played the game today is how we talked about playing it all week. You know we’ve had spurts of where the defense will do what they need to do but then maybe the offense doesn’t, or the offense will, you know whatever. Special teams has been pretty damn good all year. But we just played a
complete game. We wanted to dictate how the game was played. When we were able to start fast, we were able to do that. That’s a team with a lot of firepower, a lot of playmakers on both sides of the ball. So, you have to – you have to play really well. There’s not a lot of room for mistakes. And then when we actually did make mistakes, we were able to overcome some of them which was huge.”
On how much pride he takes in the consistency of the plays this year: “I mean, I think when you set a standard, any guy that steps in and plays is expected to play up to that standard, no matter who it is. You know, Tommy (Kraemer) started his first game at right guard, he played today at left guard. I must say, he did a great job. He didn’t bat an eye. He went out there and played his ass off.
Last week we had a center out and we were on our third center. That guy is going in there, he has to run the show. He has to make MIKE points and know what all of the defenses – if they’re in base, if they’re in nickel, how do we ID this front. So, I just think we have a standard that we’ve kind of established that it – it’s just not going to change. As you guys all know, in this league you’ve got
to be able to run the ball. You’ve got to be able to do it, sets up the play action pass. They can’t just sit back in coverage. There were plays today where it seemed like there were nine guys in the box, we’re going to try and run it anyway. So yeah, it’s been fun to see, and we’ve got a really good group. I think the biggest thing with any position group that’s kind of clicking is you just love each other.
Everybody is friends, everybody wants to see each other succeed. Everybody’s got each other’s back. So hopefully we can continue to do that because I don’t think as a line, we’ve played our best game. We’ve played well at times, but I don’t think we’ve played our best game.”
On where the team has found resilience: “I just think – you know as a player in this league, no matter what your record is or no matter what your chance of making the playoffs are, you want to play against good players, and you want to play well against them and you’re going to have pride about that. I don’t think you’re going to see many guys that are going to be on any team if they’re
just going to quiver up and shy away from competition, and there was a lot of competition for us out there today. We had moving parts at every position. I should’ve said this when you asked your question, I mean Craig (Reynolds), last couple weeks he’s been unbelievable. I just told him out there, I cut him in line actually, but I told him, I was like, ‘You deserve it, you deserve the recognition, you deserve to play well because you’re running the hell out of the ball. I know you’re going to be sore as hell tomorrow, but you deserve it,’ because he’s been working all year. And he got an opportunity, he’s taken advantage of it.”
LIONS QB JARED GOFF POST-GAME QUOTE SHEET
On the team’s performance in today’s win against the Cardinals: “It was a full-team win, a full-team win. All of the times we’ve talked about it this whole year, what it looks like, what it looks like, that’s what it looks like. We make a mistake, we have a fumble, Amani (Oruwariye) makes an interception and almost takes it back to the house, we score on the next play. That’s how good teams
win in this league and we put it on display in all three phases today.”
On the drive in the second quarter where he missed a play due to an injury and came back in and led the offense to a touchdown: “It was important for us to win the game. It was cool to be able to come back in and finish that drive. I think up to this point I’ve learned you can’t play quarterback in this league if you aren’t going to be able to fight through a little bit of – not injury, but pain I guess. Especially for this team and this city, it’s important to be that guy. Knee hurts a little bit, but I’ll be all right.”
On Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown: “He’s a stud. He’s a stud. I’ll say it again, he’s a stud. He’s a stud. We’ve known it since training camp. Finally getting him involved quite a bit now. I thought the route on the touchdown was just so perfect. It’s such a unique route that only some guys can run, and you have to have a good feel for the space and the game. He has all of that. We had him on a
few choice routes today and we’re constantly talking on the sidelines. He’s really starting to learn. He’s really starting to pick it up and understand coverage, and understand where the holes are, and it’s really fun to play with him.”
On if he has become more comfortable in the offense after his oblique injury and Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell took over playcalling: “I think so and our offense has as well. Obviously, I’m able to be a product of that, but a lot of the stuff that’s been going on behind the scenes and a lot of the game-planning, a lot of the ideas and just the practice habits that we’ve developed over the last
however many weeks, handful of weeks. I hope you guys have seen it’s different. It looks different. It should be a little bit crisper. It should be a little bit sharper. The details are emphasized quite a bit now and it’s been fun to be a part of the change and to hopefully be at the forefront of that and leading that.”
On what the biggest change was for the team over the last few weeks that has led to more success: “It’s practice habits, it’s game plan, it’s who is getting involved in the game plan, it’s what we want to do. And again, at the same time though, we don’t score 30 points if our defense doesn’t play like they did today. We did do good things on offense today, but we had short fields. We had the interception down to the five-yard line. We had a consistently short field. We had three-and-outs and that’s complementary football and typically leads to wins in this league.”
On the performance of the offensive line this season despite injuries to the group: “The next man up thing, it’s true. It really has been true with those guys and obviously Evan (Brown)’s been in there for a while now and I feel great with him. I thought he had a great game. I thought Tommy (Kraemer) played well. I thought (Taylor) Decker had one of his best games. Chandler Jones is a hell of
a player and he played well, really well all day. Penei (Sewell) obviously played well and (Halapoulivaati Vaitai) Big V played well, too. It was a full team effort and I think all year those guys have kind of taken it upon themselves to be the engine for us and today they were. Specifically, in the run game, you guys saw it all day long. Craig (Reynolds) making plays and those guys working together well.”
On how CB Amani Oruwariye’s interception after RB Godwin Godwin Igwebuike’s fumble helped shift the momentum of the game: “That’s what winning teams do. That’s what good teams do. If you look around the League at teams, you call it points off turnovers, is a good stat to look at. Do you score when your team gets a turnover and vice versa do you stop the team when your offense makes a turnover? We had the best of both worlds there. Unfortunately, Godwin (Igwebuike) had the fumble, but Amani having the interception and bringing it all the way back down there, that’s how you win games. That’s how you shift the momentum, that’s how you make big plays and Amani’s kind of been making them all year. It’s been exciting to see him grow, too.”
On FB Jason Cabinda’s first-career touchdown and giving the ball back to him: “I’ve had a handful of first touchdowns this year, which has been fun to go grab that ball and bring it back to those guys. We had talked all week, we had a lot of stuff up in the red zone for him specifically and we’re like, ‘Man, you’re going to catch your first one this week. You’re going to catch your first one.’
And sure enough, that got called and it was him scoring and he kind of, I think he spiked it and did his little dance and all that. I thought, ‘We need to get that ball for you.’ But it was fun to see him get his first one. He’s been so consistent all year, he’s been kind of that energy guy and that relying factor on fullback that we can rely on. Also playing a little bit of tight end and doing so many things for us on and off the field, being able to be that leader that we’ve needed.”
On if this type of season has maybe caused him to love the game of football even more because of the challenges: “It tests you. It really does. You say you love it until you lose however many in a row we lost, right? And then it’s hard to continue to. But you do because you do love it. I think it does test you and in that way, it has strengthened it (his love for the game). You learn how hard it is
to win and then you win a game like today against arguably the best team in the League. On paper we don’t match up with them, on paper we don’t. We don’t have the—on defense, we had Will Harris playing corner. And I don’t know what they did on him, but I imagine that it wasn’t much. Brady Breeze just got here, playing safety a little bit. You have (Alex) Anzalone goes out and he’s one of
our better players. You have Craig Reynolds playing running back, you have Jermar Jefferson playing running back, Tommy Kraemer playing guard. It’s next man up and it’s the idea of it doesn’t matter who’s out there. We have a good coaching staff that we believe in and a good fight to us that allows us to win games like this. I don’t know if I answered you question or not, but that kind of
thinking there.”
On if today’s win is evidence of his comment where he stated he believes he is tougher than he originally thought: “Today is the fun part about it, for sure. But you have to fight through some of those dark times to get there. It’s been obviously a long year for all of us with the Lions, but days like today make it all worth it to put that extra time in and do all the right things. And what would
make it even more worth it is if we were able to finish these last three games off the right way and go into the off season going, ‘OK, we did some things there.’ And we can have a little bit of confidence coming into next season.”
On the Lions fans cheering for him after he came back into the game after missing one play in the second quarter due to injury: “That was cool for sure. I definitely heard them, but it was more important to finish that drive with a score. And to get the touchdown to Josh (Reynolds) there I thought it was a great catch, I thought our guys blocked their tails off all day and it was fun to
finish that off there in the first half and get another score.”
LIONS OLB CHARLES HARRIS POST-GAME QUOTE SHEET
On his level of disruption today: “Man, just taking the coaching and just doing the details, doing the small things right. Other guys around me just making it happen as well, everybody doing their job. Everybody is just being together out there. There’s a comradery within the team, within the defense, and it’s definitely paying off.”
On how hard it is to finish a sack of Cardinals QB Kyler Murray: “Yeah, he’s real agile. That’s a credit to him. He’s also on the shorter end of quarterbacks, no disrespect to him. He’s just very, very agile. Guys just did a great job of containing him as much as we could and just tried to come away with tackles.”
On how to get a pass rush on Cardinals QB Kyler Murray while still containing him: “Yeah, it really is a matter of getting off the ball and then reacting to the tackles, trying to read their sets. Then also, just knowing how to contain and come back. It’s called contra rushing, meaning getting to the level of the quarterback. You come back in and try to fold the pocket. Guys in the middle, guys up the middle definitely have pressure on him and try to keep him floating back. It is hard to rush and contain him, but we did the best we could tonight.”
LIONS CB AMANI ORUWARIYE POST-GAME QUOTE SHEET
On how the team and coaching staff have kept fighting through the season: “Even from the beginning of the season when we were 0-0, we were never built like that. We have a job to do. We’re going out there, we’re not just going to lay down like the season’s over. I know everybody’s always talking about, ‘Oh, the Draft.’ Man, when you’re on the field, you’re competing. We’re grown men.
We work our tails off. We’ve got to compete against them, and that’s what we did.”
On their sense of satisfaction after today’s win as an underdog: “That’s the best part. When your backs against the wall and they don’t give you a chance anyway, what other choice do you have but to ball? Just trust the coaches and trust that they’re going to put the team in a position to play and to execute. That’s it.”
On what has impressed him about S Will Harris playing cornerback today: “Mr. Do-It-All, man. We call him Mr. Do-It-All. There’s nothing he can’t do. He knows the system like the back of his hand. He’s just a plug-and-play guy. I thought he competed well. I’m so proud of him.”
On how his turnover production has felt on a personal level this year: “It’s been a dream. It’s been cool. But obviously like I’ve always said in interviews, I like winning. I came from college winning. We won a little in high school. But the feeling of winning like we had in that locker room was unreal. So, any plays I can make to get a win I’m happy about.”
LIONS RB CRAIG REYNOLDS POST-GAME QUOTE SHEET
On how great of a feeling it is to get a 100-yard game: “I mean, first off, I have to thank God for sure, wouldn’t be without him. He’s been along with me this whole time on this journey. My teammates, I love those guys, man. They have my back since day one, when I first got here. You know, everybody’s asking my name and stuff. I appreciate those guys. I love this team, man. And I definitely
wouldn’t be here without them. The O-line, tight ends, receivers blocking their tail off all game, man. And that’s what we just wanted to come out and do. We just wanted to run the football, make it our kind of game, tough physical game. And that’s what we tried to do for four quarters.”
On the last time he had a game like this (26 carries): “Shoot, probably like college, which was like three years ago. So, it’s definitely new, but it’s a blessing having the opportunity, and the coaching staff, and my teammates having the faith in me to get the ball that many times. Like I said, I wouldn’t be here without God, my teammates, the O-line. That was just fun, it was a fun game.”
On if it will be a good sore tomorrow: “Yeah, it’ll be a good sore. It’ll be a good sore.”
On when the players figured out what “their kind of game” is: “I mean, it’s been kind of all season, you know. We want to run the football, great defense, our special teams unit is phenomenal, and just play tough, gritty. I mean shoot, we got “Grit” on the wall in our building. And that’s just – it comes down from the Head Coach to the staff to the players, just we wanted to be physical. That’s
really it.”
LIONS WR JOSH REYNOLDS POST-GAME QUOTE SHEET
On his chemistry with Lions QB Jared Goff: “We’re just making plays, man. That’s all it’s about, you know, it’s making plays. I mean you see (Amon-Ra St. Brown) St. stepping up his game. All of the receivers are starting to step up their game. You know, that’s what we need in this offense. To be able to – you know set up the run offense. They’re doing a great job and we’re just going to keep it
rolling.”
On how long he has been waiting for this type of opportunity: “Since I got into the League. You know, I’m more than blessed and more than thankful for this opportunity the Lions gave me. Just have to keep rolling with it, you know, keep putting good stuff on and helping this organization win. That’s all it’s about.”
On what it has been like seeing Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown grow: “Like I said, he’s growing. You know, I mean, the more games he can put on and just get the feel of how the defenses are moving. He’s doing a great job man, he’s growing into a great receiver and I’m proud of him.”
LIONS WR AMON-RA ST. BROWN POST-GAME QUOTE SHEET
On the rhythm he has been finding with QB Jared Goff: “Definitely, like you said, having a game like that and coming out with a big win against a good team definitely feels better than having stats and losing. It’s nice to have catches and what not, but I think the biggest thing for our team was that win against a really good Cardinals team. We knew coming in, high potent offense, they can
score really quick as you saw out there. I mean once they get on a roll, they start moving the ball really quick and as an offense I think we played one of our best games. We didn’t turn the ball over too much. We had that one fumble, not too many penalties stayed on course for the most part and yeah, you see what happens.”
On his touchdown reception: “That was a play we just put in this week actually, basically like a little sneak. I don’t know how to explain it. I’m blocking down on one of the ends, kind of taking the defense off of me when they’re not really paying attention. It works perfect in zone because they carry in zone, so they took that over route on the left side and then I snuck out the side and
Jared (Goff) threw a great ball.”
On how impressive Lions QB Jared Goff is under duress: “That was really impressive. I didn’t know he was actually under that much duress, until after I came to the sideline they were like, ‘You’re supposed to hold it a little longer,’ but you know I was ready to try to score so I kind of left the block a little too early but Jared I mean he stepped up great, made a great throw. I mean, I didn’t even
know he did that until after I got to the sideline, so that was pretty impressive.
