LIONS HEAD COACH DAN CAMPBELL QUOTE SHEET
September 18, 2024
Opening Statement: “This is a tough, physical team. They’re hungry, they play big boy ball, offense, defense. Special teams, this’ll be one of the best special teams units we’ve played. They do multiple things on offense, heavy under center, gap scheme, in your face, downhill with (Cardinals RB James) Conner, and then, certainly, they’ve got pistol, they’ve got gun off of it in the run game, play-action, boots, keepers, let him break the perimeter, look downfield for his receivers. (Cardinals WR Greg Dortch) 4’s shifty, young guy’s finding his way in a hurry. So, they’re dangerous over there. They’ve scored – first three possessions, first three drives in the last two games. And then, defensively, they give you multiple looks, they fly to the football, they’re aggressive, (Cardinals S) Budda (Baker)’s – man, he is an issue, he’s active player, he is a football-playing dude, and he can smell it, he can sniff it out, and he’s going to find it. They’re physical up front and they play good, they play well together, they play hard. So, this is going to be an outstanding test for us and they’re playing good football right now.”
On what they need to do on offense to account for Cardinals S Budda Baker’s ability to crash down on run plays: “Well, I think we need to try to block him. That’d be the first thing I would do because when he’s making plays he’s not getting blocked or people aren’t really consistently getting to him, and I think there’s a number of things they do schematically where he comes from the sky in such a hurry, it’s an identification issue or it’s a, ‘Man, it got on me so fast, he’s mine but I didn’t quite take the right angle or I don’t want to take the angle because he’s coming downhill like a missile.’ He fits perfect into what they’re trying to do over there. I think they give him a lot of leeway and he’s really good at it. So, they do a nice job over there with what they’re doing. They’re well-coached inside of their system, and so he’s an issue. They try to keep everything up inside, box everything, and try to bring him from the sky or the safety and play off of it and they don’t want you to get anything over the top either, coverage. Corners will play a little softer so that you can’t beat them from behind. Anyway, it’s – this’ll be a good test.”
On what he has seen from Cardinals WR Marvin Harrison Jr. and what the challenge is in preparing for a rookie when there is not much film on him as a pro yet: “Well, I mean, look, certainly we know what he was when he was coming out, so you have an idea of the skillset, and then you go off of what you’ve seen the last two weeks. I know this, he’s improved every week. He’s a talented athlete, he’s long, he’s got good ball skills, and he really kind of did a little bit of everything last week. He came out with four big plays, one of them is a back of the endzone, a 78 concept. It was a good throw, and it was a good play by him, just catching it over the shoulder, keeping his feet in. Then you see him on a one-on-one, just catching a nine-stop, just me versus the corner and (Cardinals QB) Kyler (Murray) threw it, that was on the minus-one. Then you see the one where he breaks out and he takes off and now we’re just – they’re playing ball, like, ‘I’m running over, and then I’m going over the top of the backer,’ there’s nobody back here, he throws it, makes a play, get a touchdown. So, there’s – he’s growing as he goes, and I think you just study what you see on tape, and we know what he is and, look, we’ve got – (Lions CB Carlton Davis III) CD’s an experienced corner. He’s long, he can run, so I like the matchup and I like (Lions CB Terrion Arnold) TA too. So, he’s getting better and hopefully he doesn’t catch fire against us.”
On how much of an emphasis he is placing on coming up with more concepts to beat zones: “Well, I think a lot of weeks we’ll carry – there’s a lot of things that we feel like we can use. Now, you dress them up a little different, but things that we feel like can attack these coverages. It’s just the nature of, there’s different kinds of zones, too, and this team’s zones are different than what Tampa was doing, just the nature of the way they play them, so you have to attack them a little different, but conceptually they may be the same. And so, I think some of that is, man, when you have an opportunity to get the look that you want that, man, we are on the details of it and we protect up front, we see it, we make the throw, we make the catch, great, and if not, man, we’ve got to have – our checkdowns have got to get out and it has to be urgent to get out and we’ve got to catch, we’ve got to knife, get what we can get, and then let’s go to the next play. And you play that game and you’ve got to be patient on offense, you have to be patient on offense. If you do that – I think that’s where some teams get in trouble, when you lose your patience you start making mistakes, and that’s what they want. They want you to have to go the long way to get to the endzone. Everything is, just keep everything in front of you and wait for you to get greedy or want to be aggressive, and you make a mistake.”
On mentioning on the radio yesterday that they are being careful with Lions TE Sam LaPorta and if he is fully healthy: “He got hurt in training camp, you remember he had the hamstring? That he was – he had missed really two weeks. My point with that was that he missed two, two-and-a-half weeks of training camp. We got him back right before the first week of the Rams, and so that began the, ‘Let’s take care of him, let’s be smart, we put too much in and he gets hurt.’ Because we don’t know – we think he’s fully back, but how many reps can he handle. And that bled into last week a little bit, was my point with that. He’s fine.”
On what gives him confidence that Lions LB Jack Campbell can step in for Lions LB Alex Anzalone and lead the defense if needed: “Yeah, Jack’s proven himself. I mean, Jack continues to get better, he understands the defense, he communicates well, he’s gotten better in the pass game, he’s aggressive on the run game, runs coast-to-coast, all-out effort, goes after the football, so I’m confident. Anytime you lose somebody like Alex, if he’s not able to go, that’s going to hurt. I mean, Alex is a hell of a player for us. And so, we’ll just take it as it comes with that, but I’ve got all the confidence in the world with Jack and really all of those guys.”
On what he liked about Cardinals CB Starling Thomas V coming out of college and how he has seen him grow with in Arizona after the Lions waived him last season: “Yeah, good athlete, worked – he was a worker. Grinder, crafty, physical, tough and you just felt this – he was very raw, but you felt this room to grow, and we thought he’d be a heck of a special teams player while he grew into a corner, which – and you see what they’re doing with him out there, which I’m not surprised at all. So, he can run, he is a good athlete, he’s tough and he’s certainly a better player than when he left here. That’s what you see.”
On what he has seen in the development of Lions S Kerby Joseph’s football IQ and not forcing it when plays are not coming to him: “Yeah, I feel a player – a developing player, he’s gotten better. And I really felt like he even grew a lot in training camp. There were some things that we talked about with him, and I know (Lions Defensive Coordinator Aaron Glenn) AG did and (Lions Passing Game Coordinator/Defensive Backs Coach) Deshea (Townsend) just about and (Lions Defensive Assistant Jim O’Neil) JO about being – just, man, let it come to you. Just play within the system, understand where your eyes need to be, and the plays will come. And he is, he’s playing much more disciplined to it, and I just feel like he’s seeing the field really well right now. And, to your point, I feel like he’s doing his responsibility, he’s not going rogue on us and he’s making a lot of plays, he’s got a lot of production. Now, you don’t see these – he had that one last week, which was big, but he’s active back there and I think, man, between he and (Lions DB Brian) Branch, I mean, you’ve got to love our safeties right now.”
On if Lions DL Marcus Davenport is trending toward potentially practicing today: “Yeah, I mean, we’re going to have him out there, running around today. So, we’re hopeful for him.”
On the growth he has seen from Cardinals QB Kyler Murray: “Yeah, well, I really like what they’re doing with him, and I think so much of his game when he was coming out of college was, ‘Hey, he’s in the gun, put him in the gun, that’s what he’s done.’ And you’re playing the spread game, which, there’s nothing wrong with that, but this unit comes in and the approach is a little bit different. Certainly, they’re taking a portion of that, but they’re a little bit heavier in the run game with it, 12-personnel, 13-personnel. And the fact they’ve incorporated under center with it and the heavy runs with boots off of it, really hard action, get him out of the pocket completely, let him see the field and if it’s not there you see what he can do with his feet. So, I just think it’s good, man, it’s allowed them to really control the game. They can control the game if you let them, and I think it’s been good for him, it’s right up his alley. I mean, look at last week, 17-of-21, I mean, 17-of-21, 266 yards, three touchdowns, I mean, he got a perfect quarterback rating. So, I just think it fits him well, I think they’re still using the things that he can create problems out of the gun, the read run, the zone run stuff, but then they can just downhill beat you up if they want. So I think it fits him well and they don’t want to ask him to do everything, but if the opportunity presents itself to where he needs to run around and make somebody miss and – I mean, I don’t know how many missed sacks, missed tackles he avoided last week, I hadn’t counted them up yet, but that’ll be a project for me tonight because it was unbelievable. I mean, it’s just time after time after time. So, he’s dangerous, man, he’s dangerous.”
LIONS QB JARED GOFF QUOTE SHEET
September 18, 2024
On his frustration with the red zone offense when watching the tape on Monday and if he could put his finger on what it was that caused issues: “No, I wish you could, it would be a lot easier to get that right in game. It was just they played well on defense, we didn’t play well enough on offense and got down there seven times, which I think was the most we’ve gotten down there since (Lions Offensive Coordinator) Ben (Johnson)’s been calling plays, but ultimately we didn’t capitalize on it and they did a good job on defense.”
On the confidence he has in the team to bounce back this week: “Yeah, a ton. That’s kind of what we’re built for, is responding, and we’ve got another really good team we’re playing again this week with Arizona. On the road, it’ll be a tough environment, it’ll be a tough game to win, but we’ll be geared up and ready.”
On if he has concerns about the offense not being able to finish drives: “No, I think that’s uncharacteristic of us, I really do. Like you said, we were able to move the ball. We had quite a few yards. I have to do a better job of taking care of the ball on some of those situations and keep us on the field, not put the ball in harms way. But overall, we did move the ball pretty well and I think building off that will be the way we want to go this week.”
On how many times he threw the ball in Sunday’s game: “Yeah, I think that was the plan this week, and that was the same plan we had against them last year. We played them twice, we beat them twice and we had the same plan. So, it wasn’t like we were going to reinvent the wheel this year and they did a good job on defense, and we didn’t make it up to cut on offense. Of course, I think in a regular season, of course you don’t want to have that skewed that much, but in that game it called for it.”
On if it puts anything in his head when one player is not receiving as many touches: “In my head, zero. Not even a little bit. I’m sure (Lions Offensive Coordinator) Ben (Johnson) is aware of who’s got touches throughout the year and he’s game planning up there and getting things ready, but zero in my head. Like you said, we’ve got – if you put the 11-personnel out there, you’ve got (Lions WR Jameson Williams) Jamo, (Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown) Saint, (Lions WR) Kalif (Raymond), (Lions TE) Sam (LaPorta), (Lions RB David Montgomery) D-mo, and then (Lions RB Jahmyr) Gibbs, that’s like five guys, six guys that you want to get the ball to a lot, all those guys, and there’s only football. So, yeah, there are going to be weeks where – like this past week, Sam doesn’t get as many touches, and the week before with St. Brown, and you hope that rotates throughout the year but typically the cream rises to the top and the guys who deserve the touches will get them.”
On how long his frustration after a loss simmers and when he focuses on the next game: “The next day. You watch the film, you move on. Just like you would if you win, you treat the both of them the same. Of course, frustrating and there’s a lot to learn, like I said I think I have to do a better job of taking care of it in some of those spots and not trying to do too much in some ways, and just being a little bit more disciplined on my part. But you watch it, you learn from it, and you move on.”
On their history of not losing two games in a row and why they are so resilient: “I do think it’s part of our identity and part of who we are. It starts with (Lions Head Coach) Dan (Campbell) and hopefully trickles down through all the leaders and the captains, but we do respond. We always do, we always do, and you never hope to lose two in a row, but I think what we’ve done over the last two years, like you said, is respond in those situations and hopefully do it again this week.”
On Cardinals S Budda Baker and what he does to defend the run and pass: “Yeah, he’s a great player. He’s great at both. He’s one of the top safeties in the League and a guy that I’ve played since college and have a ton of respect for. I’ve seen him flying around the field for almost 10 years now and he’s a hell of a player and a guy that will be out there that we will be aware of.”
On what it is about his game that lets him bounce back after a loss: “I hope to have a short memory after a loss and after a win. I don’t know what the numbers are after a loss, but it sounds like they’re OK. But, yeah, I have a short memory, I have to. You win, you play well, you come back Monday, you watch it, you learn from it, and you move on. It’s the same thing with a loss. I know externally it tends to stew more when there’s a loss and it bleeds into late into the week, but for us, it’s truly gone on Monday.”
On if he feels like opposing defenses are treating them differently in certain ways: “No. We’ve only played two teams and both teams we were their last game last year. I don’t know if they treated us differently because they played it similar to what they played it the year before and same with Tampa. So, no, I don’t have a great answer for that yet. In about eight weeks I’ll have an answer for you.”
On how concerned he is that the Cardinals lead the League in tackles for loss: “Yeah, we’re aware of that for sure. They’re good at it. They hit the gaps well and I think (Cardinals S) Budda (Baker) is a big part of that when he comes downhill and makes those plays. But, yeah, I think this is a good team. This is a really good team. I think they’ve kind of rebuilt who they are over the last couple of years. They’re well coached, they’re disciplined, they play hard, they’ve got a good scheme, they’ve got good players. It’s a challenge for us and we’re ready.”
On how well he knows Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa: “Loosely.”
On the decision that players have to make to play after they have suffered multiple concussions: “I’m sure he’s going through a lot and I don’t want to comment on anything with him, but I wish him the best.”
On if he would ever wear the guardian cap in a game: “Personally I don’t think I would. Today? No. If I had some issues down the line, potentially. But I don’t know.”
