LIONS HEAD COACH DAN CAMPBELL QUOTE SHEET
November 24, 2025
Opening Statement: “OK, Green Bay. Here we go. We’ve got three days. They’re playing good football. They’re winning. Finding ways to win, really good defense, a potent offense. (Packers Head Coach) Coach (Matt) LaFleur’s done a good job out there. I mean those guys are – they’ve been playing at a high level, and they’ve got a good roster. (Packers DL Micah) Parsons and (Packers DL Rashan) Gary coming off the edge, (Packers DL Devonte) Wyatt in the middle and (Packers DL Colby) Wooden. The backers – I know (Packers LB) Quay (Walker)’s hurt right now but (Packers LB Edgerrin) Cooper’s coming on. And (Packers CB Keisean Nixon) Nix got hurt last week but he’s been playing at a high level. (Packers S Xavier) McKinney’s a good safety. I mean they’ve just got a really good defense. (Packers Defensive Coordinator Jeff) Hafley’s got them humming, scheme is difficult. Those guys rally, they run, they hit. It’s disruptive, they make you earn everything you get. And then offensively, it starts with (Packers QB Jordan) Love. I mean he’s just dynamic, gives his guys a chance, plays with poise, processes defense pressure quickly, sees the field very well and gives his guys a chance to make the play. And we’ll see if (Packers RB Josh) Jacobs plays – probably will. So, we know what kind of back he is. He’s a hell of a back. O-line’s playing good together. And then these receivers – they’ve got a whole crew of receivers out there. (Packers WR Christian) Watson, (Packers WR Jayden) Reed is probably going to be back. He’s a dynamic receiver. We’ll have some big play threat down the field, speed and (Packers WR Romeo) Doubs. So, it’s a good crew. It’s a really good team. But we’re looking forward to this. We’re looking forward to this a lot. And short week, our place, Thanksgiving and division rivalry and here we go, man.”
On if Lions CB Terrion Arnold will be able to play on Thursday if he clears concussion protocol: “Yeah, he can come back as long as he cleared today, which he cleared the first hurdle of that. And then we went out here, we went full-pad practice earlier today and got after it just for him. But no, he cleared and we did some stuff with him. And so, it’s a checkmark for day one. We’ll see how he feels tomorrow and see where it’s at and go from there.”
On if Lions CB Terrion Arnold is still in concussion protocol and just cleared the first step to returning: “Basically. I mean that’s probably the best way to say it.”
On how difficult it is to live in the world of the short passing game when playing a defense like the Packers: “Well, you’ve got to be patient. You do. That’s what this defense forces you to do. They’re going to force you to be patient. And really the teams that have had trouble are the ones that don’t stay patient, and they start trying to do things that get out of the norm. Or that offense takes off on you and you feel like you’ve got to play catch up and you start trying to force the ball down the field. That’s when the sack-fumbles, the turnovers, the picks, the fumbles, that’s where a lot of teams have gotten in trouble. So, you’ve got to be careful, you’ve got to stay efficient. There’s nothing easy about it. But it’s also, look, you play some of that game, at some point when that opportunity arises, we’ve got to hit on that. And you don’t know when it’s going to be, but you’ve got to be able to hit. And then you’ve got to get some YAC. Some of these underneath throws, you’ve got to get some YAC. And that’s what our guys will be charged with. Our players on this team, our playmakers, they’re going to have to put it in their hands, tuck it away and go make something happen and then get ready to get in the huddle and let’s do it again.”
On if the Thanksgiving game feels different than other primetime games and how cool it is to play the Packers on Thanksgiving: “Yeah, well I would say yes, it is cool. It’s very cool. I think by the end of the week, you’re in such a haze that you don’t – from this point, you’re just trying to get everything in, check all the boxes, make sure you’re on point with it. But as far as knowing that you grow up, everybody’s watching this game and you grew up as a kid watching it. I always say watching Detroit play and watching Dallas play. But Detroit, Green Bay, Thanksgiving, I just think it’s – everybody knows what that is and everybody for the most part grew up with that and our guys know that too. And so I think that’s what makes it special, to know that – it’s one thing for everybody to see primetime games but most of the time, all of the family’s together. Most of the family’s together and they’re watching these games, these two or three games that go on now. And so, it feels special in that regard.”
On having a Sunday game followed by two Thursday games for the past two years and what he has to think about when going into a stretch like that: “Yeah, this is great. Well, it’s what I told the team last night. First of all, everything is about the mental. They’ve got to come back in and really we jumped right into Green Bay. There was a couple things we hit, but I mean literally you have to go right into this game and it’s the next gameplan. And you’ve got to – everything that was in your head about that defense, about the way they played, about those matchups, you’ve got to take that right out. And now you’ve got to focus on this and as fast as you can digest what we’re getting ready to face, the person that we’re getting ready to face, why we’re attacking what we’re attacking, what they’re going to try to do to us, the better off we’re all going to be. So, it – and it’s hard and they’ve got to deal with it too. It’s hard. You’ve just come out of a game and you’re fatigued, you’re tired, the body’s a little beat up, but that’s what you’ve got to do. And you’ve got to get your recovery. And then we start hitting Wednesday. They’ve got to start ramping back up and mentally, they’ve got to get locked in and ready to go for 60 to 80 plays, full-tilt. And it’s a mindset. So, you do that and then you worry about the next one after that. You worry about the seven days or whatever after that. But this is – it’s about this week and it’s about their recovery.”
On how much getting back on the field against the Packers has been on his mind since the Week 1 loss at Green Bay: “Yeah, I mean we – look, I mentioned it, nobody likes losing. We don’t like losing and we don’t like losing to anybody. But you open the year and we go out to their place and they gave it to us pretty good and a division opponent, you don’t want to start that way. So, I think any chance you have to – you get another opportunity. That’s one of the blessings of playing somebody in your division twice, you get another opportunity. And so, we’ve got another opportunity in front of us at our place on a short week and we’re looking forward to it. It’s a good team. And this division’s good, I mean we’ve said that. It’s a good division – it’s been good for a while. So, this is good.”
On if he feels like the team is improving at the rate he anticipated and wanted: “Well, I think it’s – the easy thing to say is I wish we were cleaner in areas. Yeah, I wish we were cleaner altogether. It’s like you play good on one side and then the other side you’re sputtering a little bit or then the other side you do some things right and then maybe one of the units isn’t as good. And you just want to feel like all three are good. But it’s also, maybe this is this year. As we continue to clean things up, just find a way to win. Just find a way to win, kind of like what happened yesterday. And then along the way, let’s just get our confidence up, let’s get a little momentum, let’s feed off each other. Because you can say what you want, yesterday at the end of the day, the best thing that happened was we did complement each other. And it’s like when we couldn’t score, they found a way to get a stop and then once we get put out, they go score, then we go score. And we ended up – that’s what got us back in the game. When we absolutely needed a stop, our defense made a huge stop. Because it’s going to be very difficult to get back in that game fourth-down stop down there inside the 10-yard line. And then to force it into overtime, (Lions K Jake) Bates kick – that’s a clutch kick. So, at the end of the day it’s like you take it the way it comes and you just try to improve along the way. And you just never know. I mean 15-2 felt great last year until you get booted right out. Then it’s like maybe we’ve got to go the hard road and just win. Let’s just win and find a way every week and grind it out.”
On what he thought of Lions EDGE Aidan Hutchinson’s overall performance yesterday: “Yeah, I mean look they did a lot to him. They doubled and they hit him. No, did he have six sacks? He didn’t. But I did think he was productive. I think he would like a little bit more. Would I like a little bit more? Maybe in areas, but I also know he’s a productive player and there’s a lot of resources that go his way. So, if you’re going to tap that many resources, then we’ve also got to win somewhere else at times. But I know that guy gives us everything he’s got, every play. And he’s a smart football player and he hustles and he runs and he hits and he’s versatile.”
On if he expects Lions OL Miles Frazier and Lions EDGE Josh Paschal to be activated this week: “I don’t know. We’re still deciding on all of that.”
