LIONS HEAD COACH DAN CAMPBELL QUOTE SHEET October 21, 2022 Opening Statement: “Alright, last full day for Dallas. It’s been two good days for us, good days of work.” On his evaluation of Wednesday’s practice in full pads: “Yeah, really good. Really good and the intensity was there, the focus was there, the competitiveness was there, and that’s what we needed to get back to, so I thought it was really good. Now, certainly, there’s always things you’ve got to clean up from a detail standpoint, but man, it’s been a spirited two days, so that’s good.” On what the payoff is from high intensity practices with pads: “It’s just to be able to get your pad level down. You bend in your stance, you come off, you hit on the rise. I think the other thing is, I mean, sometimes the pay – you think of it as you’re creating problems. You’re actually protecting yourself when you wear pads, so I just think it tightens the body a little bit. You can’t always do it, but I think it was something we needed to get back to, especially out of bye. And then there’s a number of guys, (Lions DL John) Cominsky’s coming back and (Lions DL Josh) Paschal’s been working, and so they need to get that stuff. It helps those guys as well.” On if he saw the team come back with urgency after the bye week and what the ‘spirited’ mindset means: “Yeah, I mean it – highly competitive. We did a lot of one-on-one, we did a lot of – not a lot, but enough O-vs.-D, good-on-good. We would have three or four plays a day where the first O went against the first D, and so with that, what you get it is you’re working against the opponent, but now you’ll get the unscouted looks, right? These are the plays you’re running for Dallas, yet you’re going against your defense. And so, you have to be able to react because the opponent will give you things inevitably that you may not entirely be ready for, which is great. And it’s good-on-good, and so, I think when you’re able to do those things, these are prideful guys, and they’re competitive. And if you get beat and you hear about it a little bit, it makes you step your game up. And the practice has become that then, right? There is more intensity to it. There is more urgency. And I think the comment that (Lions RB) Jamaal (Williams) made was urgency to get the details done, the mental side of the game. So anyway, it was good. It’s been a good two days.” On if he prepped the players for the higher intensity practice prior to Wednesday: “Yes, I mean I had mentioned something over the bye, but then certainly Monday when they came back to the building, they knew what they were coming back to. And they were good. I mean they were ready to go.” On if Lions DL Josh Paschal and Lions CB Jerry Jacobs are ready to return: “Yeah, they’ve been working, and I feel like every day, they’ve gotten a little bit better, so we’ll see. See where they’re at tomorrow.” On what he has seen from Lions T Penei Sewell and how big the matchup is between him and Cowboys LB Micah Parsons: “Yeah, certainly, he’s been very steady for us, man, and steady at a high level. I mean, that’s the thing. You can say steady, but he’s been playing at a very high level and been steady doing that. And so, I appreciate Sewell, just the way he works. It’s like – you talk about this talent, but it’s the ones that separate the good ones from the great ones are guys that work. They work, and Sewell works. He works at it. He works his craft. He’ll stay after practice. He does those things, and so, anytime you’re a guy like that, the sky’s the limit. And so, I’m looking forward to that matchup. We know how gifted Parsons is over there, but Sewell’s having a good season right now, and he’s had two really good days of practice. He’s been locked in and ready to go.” On if Lions RB D’Andre Swift is looking like he will be able to play: “Yeah, he’s another one. We’ll see, but he’s done a little bit more every day, and see how he is and where he’s at today, and then we’ll take it from there.” On if he thinks there were unfair expectations put on the team due to the national attention from ‘Hard Knocks’: “Look, there again, yeah, I get the question, but look, none of that is in my control, and I knew where we were at last year. I know where we’re at right now, and I know where we’re going to be, and I know this, we should have more wins than we have right now. I do believe that. And so, man, everything’s about finding a way to win this first one. We’ve got to get this Dallas game, and then we work from there.” On how long he plans to conduct padded practices with the number limitation from the NFL: “Yeah, I don’t know the exact rule. I want to say once you hit Week 13, somewhere in there, then you’re out of them. But no, look you gauge it. I mean, look, one of the reasons we haven’t is because of where we’ve been when we’re coming out of these games on Wednesdays. You don’t – you’ve got to be smart in that regard. But I know coming off the bye, we’ve got – there was enough bodies to be able to practice, legitimately practice, so. And I just – I know that that’s been good for us, and look, that doesn’t guarantee you win, but I do think when you don’t practice with that kind of intensity, it’s almost a guarantee to lose.” On Lions FB Jason Cabinda being named the Week 7 NFLPA Community MVP for the work he does: “Yeah, listen, he’s one of those guys since we’ve been here – I told him this last year, I made this comment again because I do believe this. He’s the type of guy that can change a world, man. He’s all heart. He puts his time, his focus, his money where his mouth is, and he’s very dependable. And he’s somebody that just – man, he wants to – if he can help somebody better themselves and give them a better road, he’ll do that. And he doesn’t do it just to – he doesn’t for recognition. He does it because he truly cares, and when you have people like that, good things happen, and it’s for the right reasons.” On what traits differentiate a good offensive tackle from a great tackle and if he has seen it from Lions T Penei Sewell: “Yeah, I think you nailed it. I mean certainly to be that at that position, you need to be a phenomenal athlete. Those usually go hand-in-hand, which he is. But the feet, but I do think the attitude and the work ethic. The attitude and the work ethic because that really can lift you to levels that are rare in this League, and he’s got both of those.” On what he has seen from Lions T Penei Sewell so far in his career: “I see a player who continuing to improve and is working to improve, and that’s encouraging being that he’s only in year two and he’s very young. He’s got a young body. That’s what I mean by that, and that’s great. So, I love where he’s going. I love where he’s trending.” LIONS ASSISTANT HEAD COACH/RUNNING BACKS DUCE STALEY QUOTE SHEET October 21, 2022 On how Lions RB D’Andre Swift has looked this week in practice: “Good. Last couple of days been out there working, been looking pretty good.” On how they will balance Lions RB D’Andre Swift’s workload with the rest of the running back room to ensure he stays healthy: “Yeah, just taking it one day at a time. That’s where we are now with him and each day he has made progress. So, I will say that. And every day we’ll continue to check, the doctors and everything will continue to check and I talk with him. So, he’s making progress and once we get to that point, that’s something that (Lions Offensive Coordinator) Ben (Johnson) and myself make sure that we’re on top is balancing those guys out and we will.” On his point of emphasis for the running back room coming out of the bye week: “One of the things that I looked at is just making sure that the running backs are turning cracks into holes. That’s one of the things, I go back and look at all our runs. And it’s very easy to look at the runs with gaping holes, holes that you and I can run through. It’s very easy to look at those, but what about when it’s a little hairy in there and the hole is developing. Did we hit it? Did we find it? Did we expand it? So, that’s one of the things I definitely go back and check.” On if there is a theme concerning the short-yardage situations that the offense has been struggling with: “Yeah, it’s all about execution. It’s all about going back – and I start with the running backs first of course and I kind of just touched on that a little bit, turning cracks into holes and the running backs know I’m big on that. And then, it goes from them to the line, to the tight ends, it’s everybody. And collectively as a group we talked about it and it’ll be different.” On how frustrating it has been for Lions RB D’Andre Swift to deal with nagging injuries: “I would say it’s very frustrating for the kid, definitely. We all know this is a violent game. We took the precautions back then of course. Practicing, two practices, three practices or whatever it was. One practice off and that was during training camp and that did work. But you know just as well as I do, man, as soon as you hit those lines anything can happen and unfortunately of course the shoulder, the ankle has really been nagging him, been bothering him and you can see it in his eyes. It’s a passionate kid, man, he wants to be out there on the field. He’s asking questions left and right. He’s working hard trying to get back, doing extra, so it really means something to him. So, I see the frustration. I’m not frustrated at all because I’ve played the game, I know the game. You just can’t injury yourself twice as I say. You can’t – of course the injury is what it is and then mentally, you can be so down in the dumps where you feel like this is going to happen again and you can almost hurt yourself.” On what gives him the confidence he has in the offense when it comes to improving in short-yardage situations: “Everything. Everything. Just the conversation, the conversation with the running backs, the conversation that (Lions Offensive Coordinator) Ben (Johnson) had with the whole offense. Just everybody doing their job and when you sit there and you go back and watch the tape, ‘the big eye in the sky don’t lie,’ as we say. We’re able to point out some things to some guys and they took it which was good.” |
