LIONS HEAD COACH DAN CAMPBELL QUOTE SHEET
January 3, 2025
Opening Statement: “It’s been two good days, red zone work today, guys are locked in and we’re going to be ready to go. So exciting, man, exciting, and I already talked about it earlier, this is why you’re in this business. Players love it, coaches love it, great for the organization and it’s great for football.”
On how the Monday Night Football game at San Francisco condensed the weekly prep for them: “Just pushed everything by – call it a day and a half. You lose the day obviously, but the west coast, trying to recover a little bit from that, just to have – you get a little bit of sleep to where you can get your brain going, get a little creativity back. So, that’s all, and then it’s really just on the front end of it, man, is that first – call it 24 hours, is really pushing hard there, and we did that. Our guys are great, coaches are great, we’ve got a great plan, and once we got through that then you – OK, you’re back into the normal flow of it.”
On his emotions throughout the week and if he is energized for the game against Minnesota: “Yeah, I think as you go through the week and you build the plan, you get the work in and you tweak what needs to be tweaked and you start getting a vision for how you want to play and how you see the game going, it helps, it just helps everything and you get more and more excited the closer you get. So yeah, I mean, it’s – I think that’s a normal progression. You don’t entirely know early in the week where everything’s at, where you’re at, where they’re at, how they’re going to play, how you want to play, what you’re going to need to do, what you think they’re going to do, and as the week goes, you begin to – I think it comes into focus.”
On if he has ever been a part of a regular season game as a player or coach with this much riding on it: “Not that I can think of, not like this. Not like this, no. I mean, this is – no, not like this.”
On if playing in a lot of big games in the past few seasons helps the players be prepared for a game like this: “Yeah, I do think that helps. I do because it’s like anything else, man, if it’s shock-and-awe and it’s the crowd and it’s the media attention and it’s the record of the opponent, division game, all on the line – if you’re not used to that, it can be a little overwhelming. It can be overwhelming for some players and teams, and so we’ve been in that, and I think – look, we – I think we embrace that, I really do. I think we embrace the challenge of it, we embrace the bright lights of it, we respect the opponent that’s coming in here, and we love competition, and this is going to be one of these all-out, come to the end of the line type games, so we know what we’re getting ready to play and what we’re getting ready to face. So, we’re looking forward to this competition.”
On Lions T Dan Skipper’s role on this team and when he realized he had found something valuable in him: “Yeah, Dan is very valuable and he does a lot and it’s hard to say, ‘OK, define that role.’ I would say going into the season it was, ‘Hey, he’s our swing tackle and he’s competing to be the swing tackle.’ It’s not like he’s your third tackle, he had to go into training camp and – but we also knew he could play the jumbo tight end. Well, he earned the third tackle position – he earned that spot, and I felt like this year in camp was the best that he has performed, the best that he has played since he’s been in the League, since I’ve been around him. That’s a credit to him, it’s not like he just walked in the door, I mean, he’s had to battle and he’s been at different teams, and so we lose (Lions T Taylor) Decker for a little bit, he’s got to start for us and he did well, he played well for us, he played winning football. And then when it’s not there, he’s a valuable asset in the jumbo tight end. He’s tough, he’s smart, he’s gritty, he’s got hands, he’s a finisher, I mean, you name it, he just fits everything that we’re about. So, when? I don’t know, probably three years ago, there’s something about this guy that – you just want this guy around and you can use him in a certain capacity, so he’s very much a part of what we are. He’s one of those guys I think about – how many guys are here from the 2021 team that we had? There are about 20 guys and he’s one of them (former Lions WR Tom Kennedy) TK’s one of them, some of these guys you don’t think about, the Draft class, Decker, (Lions C Frank) Ragnow, (Lions LB Jalen Reeves-Maybin) Germ’s back, (Lions LB Anthony) Pittman, some of these guys you don’t think about, but they were all here in the beginning of this and we’ve got a lot of faith and trust in those guys because they’ve earned that, and that’s why they’re still here and they’ve got a great perspective on things.”
On how Lions LB Alex Anzalone looked in practice on Thursday and what benchmarks he would have to hit to be able to play in the game on Sunday: “He’s earned enough to be able to practice today. So, I thought he looked good enough to be able to practice today, and so no setbacks and he’s going to go out there and move a little bit. And so, that’s good, he’s passed the handstand test, the jumping jack, inverted jumping jack. It’s just – we’ve got to go through today, and it’s really about him getting comfortable, and so much of it is – what we really like to do is get these guys worked in before you throw them into the fire. We try to do that with as many of our guys as we can, is get them comfortable with a week of practice, then you – then they’re ready for the following week, so that’s kind of the phase we’re in, we want him, would love to have him, but we want to be smart, too. We’ve got a playoff game after this, so just trying to be right by him and by us.”
On if he has to monitor Lions LB Alex Anzalone’s mentality surrounding his trust in his body in his return from injury: “Yeah, that’s tough, and really the only way to trust it is to do it – is to use it and do it and bang away in there, and that just takes – you’ve just got to rep it. You’ve got to rep it a little bit, get comfortable, like, ‘Man, that was a pretty violent hit and I didn’t feel anything.’ Or, ‘Oh, that wasn’t what I thought it was going to be.’ And that’s – that becomes a mental thing. But I feel confident – listen, if he’s going to play, it’s because we know he’s going to be able to go full-tilt and he’s going to be able to help us and he’s going to be able to protect himself, play at a high level, and we can trust that and we’re not putting him in harm’s way. And if we don’t feel that way, we’re not going to play him, it’s not worth it.”
On if he tries to tap into the energy of players playing against their former teams like Lions DL Za’Darius Smith : “No, I mean, I think you’re going to use some of those. That’s why some of these guest captains you have, they’re going to go out for the coin toss against an old opponent. Now, Za’Darius has been at Green Bay and he’s been at Minnesota. But I think it’s always special when you play one of your old teams, when you were there before you just – I don’t know, it just brings a little extra something to it. And so, we know that’s there, he knows that’s there.”
On if he tries to project how prospects will perform in big games when meeting with them in the Draft process: “You’d like to. You’d like to, I mean, I think that’s part of the process of, ‘How do they do in big moments, how do they do in critical situations, can you find those, are they in there?’ But those aren’t always easy to find, and you could say, ‘What about –‘ You know, it’s one thing to see that in the national championship game, but what if it’s a team that’s not playing for a championship and it’s, ‘Can you ever really find that out?’ So yeah, certainly that’s – if you can see it and find it, that’s great, but I can’t say that it’s something that we’re – that’s one of the top priorities that we’re looking for.”
