| LIONS HEAD COACH DAN CAMPBELL JOINT PRACTICE DAY TWO QUOTE SHEET August 6, 2024 Opening Statement: “So we’ll have a couple of guys down today, minor things. (Lions LB Malcolm Rodriguez) Rodrigo won’t practice today, (Lions G Kevin) Zeitler won’t practice today, (Lions CB Emmanuel Moseley) E-man had – it could be an injury that’s going to knock him out for a while, we’re still looking at that, working through it, but we’ll see where that goes. (Lions CB Terrion) Arnold will be back out there today, he cleared protocol with everything that he needed to get done there. And I think that’s pretty much it. Thought it was certainly a spirited practice, there’s a ton of good tape to learn from our vets but also the young guys. I just bring it up again, just to get a different look at different types of players that have different skillsets than what you’ve faced for two weeks now is really beneficial. So, it was good, man, a ton of good stuff. (Giants Head Coach Brian Daboll) Dabs and I talked, just a couple of things there that – we’ve got a couple of guys who go rogue and do some things that start something, but honestly not a big deal, a lot of it was guys just breaking things up. So, we need to compete again today and just keep some of that out of it, makes practice go long.” On if he suspects that Lions G Kevin Zeitler being out today will be a long-term issue: “No.” On how much of a relief it is that Lions G Kevin Zeitler will not be out long-term: “Yeah, I mean, I don’t want anybody hurt for a long period of time, I don’t care who it is. So, any time that you hear something – (Lions Director of Player Health and Performance) Brett Fischer comes to me with a player that’s been injured in practice, you’re always holding your breath a little bit because you don’t want that for anybody. I don’t care if it’s the 90th man on your roster or it’s one of these guys you’re going to count on during the season. I don’t want that for any player, so it’s always a relief.” On how much it hurts to see Lions CB Emmanuel Moseley injured for the third-straight year: “Yeah, it’s tough. That’s tough, and certainly – he’s the one that has put so much work into coming back from two ACLs and it’s frustrating, but he knows. Look, you’ve got two decisions, you either – you rally one more time or you say, ‘You know what, enough’s enough.’ And my gut’s going to tell me that he’s going to rally again, and nothing says that he may not be ready by the end of the year. I mean, we’re still trying to figure all those things out, so you never know. Everything happens for a reason, and you don’t always see it in the moment, but this could be one of those to get the legs where he needs them to get to, by the end of the year it was part of the process. I don’t know but we’re going to work through that, and we all love E-man, respect the amount of work he puts into it, the type of teammate he is, and he’ll come back from this.” On whom he anticipates will bridge the gap at nickel with Lions CB Emmanuel Moseley injured: “(Lions CB) Amik (Robertson)’s working out there, I could see (Lions CB) Ennis (Rakestraw Jr.) taking some reps, (Lions S Ifeatu Melifonwu) Iffy – oh, that’s another one, Iffy will be down today, he’s got a little bit of something, it’s minor as well, but I think those are kind of three of the guys you’re looking at. Certainly, we know (Lions DB Brian) Branch can go and play that position if needed – I’m talking about kind of down the road, not today. So, we have options, we’re not stressed, we’re just going to keep working through this and we’ll find the guy and the best combination that’s going to help us defensively.” On if there is a particular area where Lions CB Ennis Rakestraw Jr. has impressed him: “Yeah, he continues to grow. He’s a pretty instinctive guy, he’s got length, I thought his coverage has continued to get better and he’s showing up on special teams. I mean, some of those things we did yesterday, the gunner drill, it showed up at our place and it showed up here. The gunner, jammer work. He’s competitive, he’s highly competitive and has the ability, so we like his trajectory right now.” On what he thought of day one of joint practices and some of the skirmishes that happened: “Yeah, certainly too much. When you have to stop practice that many times to reset the drill and load it, it’s a waste of everybody’s time. Look, I don’t want those, that’s not what it’s about and I know (Giants Head Coach Brian Daboll) Dabs doesn’t want it. We’ve talked about it, addressed it with the players and that’s part of the balance. It’s, ‘Man, how do you really, really push yourself to compete at the highest level, but you’ve got to keep your composure?’ So, we’re good, we’re going to have a great day today.” On what he liked best about what the team did in practice yesterday: “Well look, I bring it back up again, like for us defensively, it’s the first time we’ve faced – this year – a significant amount of gun. Gun action, gun runs, some of these things where they’re creating some two-back out of 11-personnel, it’s just a little different. And (Giants Head Coach Brian) Daboll’s got some wrinkles here offensively that are really good for us. Some of it are things that we’ve kind of seen from our offense but they’re different. There are different wrinkles on top of things that they see every day with us, and any time you get those looks it’s good. There’s a little bit of RPO in here that we haven’t run a ton of, we have it but certainly, they do more of it. And I thought we handled that well. I thought some of our adjustments we handled really well. I thought our pressure package looked pretty good. I thought we were able to apply a little pressure in areas, win some one-on-ones, so that was good. And then offensively, there again, any time you get to go against a different scheme and different types of players, you learn to react in adjustments and it’s good for your quarterbacks, right, getting us into the best play on some of this stuff, and so, there again, it’s invaluable. It’s invaluable.” On what he saw from Lions WR Jameson Williams against yesterday’s competition: “Yeah it was good to see him bounce back from his scrimmage the other day. It felt like he got a slow start at our scrimmage and came out and really made some plays for us. Look, we’re always going to want more out of him because that’s just the nature of it, we expect a lot, no different than we do those receivers back there with (Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown) Saint and (Lions WR Kalif Raymond) Leaf, all our weapons, (Lions RB Jahmyr) Gibbs and (Lions RB David) Montgomery, we have high standards but it was good to see, it was definitely good to see.” On how valuable it is to not have to worry about contract extensions during training camp: “Yeah, that always helps, I mean it eliminates distractions and you’d always love for that to be the case, but that doesn’t necessarily mean – look we may have one at some point, every team does go through this and it doesn’t mean that one side is being ridiculous or the other side, it’s just part of the way it goes. So yeah, it feels good, it helps, it does eliminate those distractions, but it also, if it does happen and it happens down the road, it doesn’t mean that’s a – we’ll get it worked out. We’re pretty transparent on our end and as long as the agent is, we’ll figure out a way to get it done. It may take longer than you want, but – so it’s all good.” On if he has a plan for the preseason game in terms of starters and workload: “I’ve got a little bit of an idea, I’ve got a little bit – certainly some of the guys we know we’re going to count on during the season, I don’t see them necessarily playing and if they do, not very many reps. But our young guys are going to get a lot of these, and developmental players are going to get a ton of these reps.” On if Lions TE Sam LaPorta is out of practice today: “Yes he is.” On if Lions QB Jared Goff will play in the preseason opener: “I don’t see Goff playing in this one.” On what injury Lions TE Sam LaPorta is dealing with: “He’s got a little bit of a hammy.” |
