LIONS HEAD COACH DAN CAMPBELL AND LIONS QB JARED GOFF QUOTE SHEET

LIONS HEAD COACH DAN CAMPBELL QUOTE SHEET

October 26, 2022
On building trust with the defense after its improved play against the Cowboys: “Anytime you play like that, certainly the way we started, most of that game they bought into what we were doing and you begin to trust each other and the system and what we’re trying to do with it. So, that certainly helps. Look, we still have a long way to go there. I mean, there’s still things that we have to – we get back to what we were doing. I mean, we are kind of changing the style at which we’re playing. But it was pretty good. So, we’ve just got to build off of it.”
On what the carryover can be on defense after their performance against the Cowboys: “Yeah, I mean it’s – it’s carryover, what you just said is carryover. We’ve got to build in this week, and we’ve got to have another good week of practice because there again they practiced well last week and get better at what we’re doing. And then, inside of that, the game plan for these guys has got to be spot on. I mean, this – these guys present quite a challenge. They’ve got a couple of guys on the perimeter that can go.”
On if he has had conversations with Lions Director of Football Compliance/Lead Football Counsel Jon Dykema on how to fix in-game clock management hiccups from happening in the future: “Yeah, we talked about it. We sat down and had a nice cup of coffee together, and so we’re good. It’s all – everything’s good. It was a malfunction is what it was, so. But now we’ve got to answer that, how we clean that up to where we won’t let – we won’t let that happen again. So, it’ll be fine.”
On lessons he learned from being the Dolphins Interim Head Coach that have carried over to the Lions: “Yeah, I mean look it was just – yes and no. There was so much about it that – I mean it was a different time and place and the way that I took over and where we were at. And so, if anything it just – having done it, that was my first time to actually do it was in-season. So, you just – you take that experience with you and there’s a lot of things you learn on the fly there, just – I mean, I think I’ve said this before, but I’ll never forget my first game out there was Tennessee. And we got to the first – we did pretty well, but our first punt of the game, it was fourth down and I’m standing there like this, and I just feel these eyes on me. And I realized that the call’s on me whether we punt or go for it. So, but anyway, come a long way since then.”
On the technical malfunction that happened in the game against the Cowboys: “Yeah, just headset didn’t work. Could hear but couldn’t talk.”
On the stylistic changes with the defensive backs in the run game and what that unit is doing differently: “Well, I just think it’s what you saw in the game. A lot more of it is – like I said, we’re kind of – we’re creating these bookends and then there again, we’re funneling it inside to (Lions DL Alim McNeill) Mac and (Lions DL Isaiah) Buggs and then, our two backers. And so, the only space that’s left is that kind of C-gap area. And so, you’re putting that – if you’re going to make that cut as a back that’s – the run support now is in a phone booth and that helps those guys. There’s nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, you just – you come up and make the tackle now. So, that just – I believe that’s helped our guys on the perimeter, the safeties and corners.”
On Lions DL Aidan Hutchinson playing wider and how having more space to rush helps with his skillset: “Well, I just think being up, sometimes can help someone. I mean, there is a trade-off and it’s the get-off at times, pad level, things of that nature. But if having the ability to see and then react to that, everybody’s a little bit different. And really that’s originally what we did last year that was kind of our scheme. That’s what (Lions DL) Charles (Harris) thrived in. It was – so we just – we felt like it was the right move, really across the board including him. And there again, we were trying to do things in the offseason that we felt like was really going to cater to what we had. And we’ve just – we needed a shift from that because now we know what our strength is much more than what we were hoping our strength was going to be with what was on the roster.”
On how good it would be if he sees the same defensive effort that was showed against the Cowboys this Sunday: “Yeah, it will be good. That’s the – that’s what’s hard, right? You lose another game and it’s – there’s a fine balance between understanding the frustration of losing, and man, we cannot continue to let this happen. But also understanding, man, you’re – you play that close and you’ve got five turnovers, they have one. I mean, it’s – who really did what to who? I mean, we shot ourselves in the foot. So, you play that way and when you’re playing an opponent like we just played and you have a gameplan designed to – this is how we must play this opponent, offensively, defensively, special teams, and then something like that happens, it’s hard to overcome, I mean that’s why you’re playing the way that you need to play against that opponent. And so, once you – we get those couple of turnovers, particularly the one going in the endzone, it just – it changed everything. Now, there again to your point you’re hoping that defense we need one more turnover. Yeah, you’ve got put in a tough spot, but you’ve got the hot hand and you’ve got to get us another stop or you’ve got to get us another turnover.”
On what is leading to Lions QB Jared Goff turning the ball over: “Yeah, I just think there’s a number of things – I think we’ve got to refocus him on awareness in the pocket a little bit. Just continue to hammer it home. Sometimes, it’s just – and it’s not just him. There’s quarterbacks that will begin to drift a little bit where they feel certain things. You start moving, and you don’t realize you may be moving deeper than you need to or you’re moving into something else. And I really do – we just have to continue to stress it, coach it, show it because he understands. He responds to it. He sees it. He knows it. And there again, we just have to get him in a rhythm, and it doesn’t matter what quarterback you are. You don’t want to be put – when you’re facing a team that’s got very good rushers like what we just saw, you don’t want it to be where you’re one dimensional, and their rear’s this high in the air, and they’re in a track stance. That’s tough. That’s tough on any quarterback, but it certainly – it makes it difficult. We’ll keep emphasizing it. Play with rhythm, stay in the pocket and make the throws. He sees it. He’s aware of it.”
On if he believes Lions QB Jared Goff’s issue with turnovers is fixable: “Yeah, I believe that. I believe that. We just – look, there was a couple of those snafus that showed up certainly early, the Philly, Seattle, but those are – now it hurts because those were big ones, right? It hits and it goes back for a touchdown, but yet, those were one of a couple maybe, where it was ‘Ahh.’ The other was really good and he got in a rhythm, and he was playing hot and he was sitting in the pocket. So, he can do this. I mean, he’s done it. We’ve got to get him back to it. He will.”
On the status of Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown and Lions RB D’Andre Swift and if they will practice today: “Swift will practice today, and then Saint is moving right along. He’s good. He’ll out there running around today.”
On if Lions WR Jameson Williams will play this season: “There’s still hope. There again, he’s put together a pretty good month, a real good month. And so, we feel like we’re going to have him before this season’s out. It’s hard to say when that’s going to be. I mean I would say at least probably another month, but I do feel like we’re going to get him before this is said and done.”
On the challenges of defending two speedy receivers on opposite ends of the field like Dolphins WR tandem Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle: “Yeah, it is challenging, and when there’s one that’s that way, you can use some resources to help over there. Now, by doing that, you take away from your run game a little bit, your run defense, and so now you’re asking a lot out of your front, but when you’ve got two, you’re going to get spread pretty thin, so we’ve got to be on – we have to be on point. Everybody’s got to be where they’re supposed to be. We need to find a little bit of disruption. I’ll tell you what makes it difficult, it’s one thing that they just have those guys that do what they do, but they do a ton of this fast-motion snap, and so now they’ve already built up speed snapping it on the run, and (Dolphins QB) Tua (Tagovailoa) gets rid of the ball very fast. That helps him get rid of it fast. You’ve got speed, and you’re already motioning with tempo into your routes, so it’s a challenge, but I like what we have up. Our guys are – they’re excited about the challenge.”
On if the rebuild is where he would like it to be: “No, listen, there again I’m not discouraged. I’m discouraged that we don’t have more than one win like anybody is. But I’m not discouraged, like ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe this is – this has been – we’re just not going anywhere.’ I just don’t believe that. I’m not going to make excuses. We should have more than one win, but I’m not discouraged. I know we’re still making progress, and we’re getting a good look at these guys on the roster. We have a lot of guys left to get a good look at. I mean I’d love to find a way to get (Lions LB James) Houston up at some point, (Lions RB Jermar) Jefferson up. So, we’re looking for guys that, man, want to play football. They’re hungry and can help us win, so we’re just going to keep working through this.”
On Lions LB Derrick Barnes’ progression as a player: “He’s coming on. He’s gotten better. I mean he’s better than he was last year. Every week he’s continued to grow, and so we get him in there in some packages. He’s helping us on special teams, but he’s really our next MIKE to go in the game, but we’re not discouraged with him.”

LIONS QB JARED GOFF QUOTE SHEET
October 26, 2022

On if there is a theme with the turnovers that have happened in the last two games: “Yeah, you always look at it. Every week you look at it, what can you do better? And for the most part this year – I had a tough game last week in that regard. But for the most part I’ve been taking care of the ball and just need to put an emphasis on it and just be a little bit more focused on it and take care of it.”
On what putting more emphasis on pocket awareness looks like: “It’s just stepping up a little bit. I think in the last – again, like for most of the season I’ve done a good job with it, developed maybe a bad habit in the New England game. And just sliding back a little bit and just need to step up and help those guys out. Be up in the pocket a little bit more and those tackle jobs are hard enough and when I get too deep – we have a yard mark and when I’m past that it’s on me. So, just make sure I’m within that and just do my job that way.”
On performing at a high level at the beginning of the season versus now and how the team moves past this: “Yeah, we’re 1-5 man. It’s – no point in this season have we been too high or what not. We’ve just got to find a way to get a win and be the same guy I am everyday to answer your question. Just try to be the same guy and show up, do my job, come to work and be ready to play. And specifically in my part, the last two weeks I wasn’t at my best and need to find a way to be at my best and continue that through the rest of the season.”
On how he makes sure he stays even keeled in high pressure situations: “I just am who I am. I’ve never had an issue with it. I’ve just always kind of been that way and it’s – maybe it’s genetics, maybe it’s just how I grew up. I don’t know, I’ve just – I’ve had a good ability to just be the same guy consistently. And at times it’s hard, right? Adversity is hard, but that’s when your true character shows, like I spoke about and it’s no different for me.”
On what it would mean for the team to get Lions RB D’Andre Swift back this week: “Yeah, it’d be huge. It’d be huge. I know he’s fighting through it and trying to get himself ready to go, but yeah, it’d be huge. He’s a great player and somebody we’d use.”
On if he reviews film from the first four games to see what he was doing well: “I don’t know if I need to look at it. We know. Yeah, like it’s just pure execution, and I think it’s our whole offense. It’s eliminating mental mistakes. It’s being on time. I spoke about me stepping up in the pocket, doing my job and everybody else doing their job, and I think it’s a cumulative effort to get back to where we want to be.”
On him drifting out of the pocket instead of stepping into it: “I think it happened twice last week, and it was just a – it’s a bad habit. It’s just like – I think it maybe – it happened in New England. Maybe I had to get out, and some cases I didn’t have to get out, and I think in the Dallas game, I probably didn’t have to get out, and I probably got out two more times than I should have.”
On breaking out of the habit of drifting from the pocket: “No, it’s just a – it’s like anything else. It’s like, you rep it, you practice it. If I’m inaccurate, I’m going to practice accuracy. If I’m slow, I’m going to run and try to get faster, and it’s the same for every other position. It’s something that I didn’t do successfully last week, so I practice it, and I should do it successfully this week.”
On if drifting out of the pocket was something he started doing earlier in his career: “No, no, it’s always something – yeah, no, it’s like a – I think about when I was back in LA, and those tackles are constantly talking to you like, ‘Hey man, once you get past that spot, you’re on your own.’ And I think as you get older, you’re like, ‘OK, I’ll be on my own and see how it goes.’ And no, that’s not the right mentality to have like, move up in the pocket and again, not to make light of it, but yeah, move up in the pocket and do my job, and again, I don’t see it as something that I’ll continue to do.”
On where the spot where the tackles would not be able to protect him is: “It depends on the play.”
On how much responsibility he puts on his shoulders for the 1-5 record: “All of it. Yeah, you always do. I think I can only control what I can control, and I have to focus on that, but the same time, it’s my job to win games and to lead our team to wins and lead our offense to points, and in some cases, we led our offense to points but not wins, and it’s not enough. And I’ve been on teams where it’s been both ways, where it’s high scoring affairs at all times, and you have to score more than the other team, and I’ve been on teams where it’s control the ball and win by three points, and so whatever it may be, do your job, and get the ‘W’ is most important.”
On Lions Principal Owner and Chair Sheila Ford Hamp expressing her confidence in the leadership of the team and if he has confidence in the leadership: “Yeah, very confident. I appreciate when she’s able to speak in front of you guys like that. It takes a lot from her, but very confident. We’ve got the right guys in place, and I just need to execute. I know it’s redundant. I know I’ve said it every week, but if we execute what we do in practice on Sundays, we will typically have good results, and we have at times this year. We have certainly at times done it right and executed, and our leadership has been as good as we want to be, and then there are times we haven’t executed, so it’s about doing it on Sunday.”
On what he sees from the Dolphins secondary: “Yeah, they’re good. I know they’re a little banged up right now, but obviously (Dolphins CB) Xavien Howard’s as good as it gets in this League and being aware of him, and all those guys can play, man. I think they’ve got some young players, but they can fly around and lot of energy. You see that on film and are constantly looking for the ball.”
On how he manages throwing to receivers when the top corner like Dolphins CB Xavien Howard is matched up against them: “Totally depends. It totally depends. There are some weeks where you will, like you said, kind of just go the other way, and there are some weeks where you won’t. And it totally depends. He’s a great corner, and we’ll have a game-plan for him, but yeah, it totally depends on the down-and-distance, the play and how you feel about what you got going on.”