LIONS HEAD COACH DAN CAMPBELL QUOTE SHEET

LIONS HEAD COACH DAN CAMPBELL QUOTE SHEET
September 12, 2022
Opening Statement: “Yeah look, I think really nothing to speak of as it pertains to pretty much all the same stuff. I know you guys will – you’ve got your questions that you want to get answered. But just didn’t complement each other very well, which we have to do a better job of. And I think we really dug ourselves in a pretty big hole early that we tried to fight our way back and did. We just – we kind of ran out of time there. But there was a lot of encouraging things on the tape. And I’ll be honest with you, it was better – after watching the tape, it was better than I felt after the game which is – that’s always a good thing.”
On if he was able to diagnose some of the run defense issues after watching yesterday’s game on tape: “Yeah look, it’s the – man, gap responsibility. We have a couple of things where it just – we have an issue where we’re running a stunt and one guy’s not running the stunt, that one shows up. We have about three occasions of we need our force defender on the line of scrimmage, he should be down there fitting, he’s 10 yards off and now it rolls back, everybody’s doing their job. So, it’s always one guy. We have a guy, we’re in the hole, we stop our feet and lunge at the ball carrier and then certainly, the quarterback. I mean, he was a huge part of that, everything runs through him and we didn’t do a great job of bottling him up.”
On what he attributes the tackling issues to in yesterday’s game against the Eagles: “Yeah look, I think a number of that is there again I go back to the quarterback and it’s – I think there is a little bit of – well first of all, we can’t stop our feet on the guy and it doesn’t matter that he’s the quarterback, like you have to finish on the quarterback. If he’s running with the football you can’t worry about, ‘Is he going down? Is he not? How is he going to run this?’ Like treat him like a running back. With some of it, if you haven’t dealt with in – we really haven’t seen. I’m not trying to make excuses, but I think it’s something that now we’ve seen it, we’re going to be better for it. First game out of the gate, but a number of them, man we’re in great position. Just run your feet, there’s no – we don’t have to lunge on the guy, we’re in position. So, no I was hoping it would show up better than it did yesterday.”
On if the run game yesterday was their first look at how effective they expected it to be this offseason: “Well look, we have a lot of faith in the O-line, which it all starts there. To have a good running game, you have to have a lot of different things have to work for you. But one is the O-line, two is obviously (Lions QB Jared) Goff, getting us in the right play or the right check depending on what we have because there’s enough of by look is how we’re running it or where we’re running it as any offense does. And then, obviously the running backs. The running backs have to be able to finish those things off. You’ve got to have vision, you’ve got to be able to make some people miss, the extra yards comes up to you or it’s up to you. And then lastly, receivers blocking downfield which we have that. I mean, those guys showed up now. Across the board too, man, I thought those receivers did a good job on the perimeter which that gets you – that’s what gives you the explosive runs. So, it goes without saying (Lions RB D’Andre) Swift is a – he’s special and we know that. And so, just getting him his touches and – because he’s the one, he’s kind of the secret sauce there. He can turn routine plays into explosive plays that will hurt you if you’re the opponent.”
On what he attributes Lions DL Aidan Hutchinson missing some tackles to yesterday and if it is because he is adjusting to facing NFL-caliber athletes: “Yeah, there was some stuff in there that – the takeaway I had and I think we all had was, ‘OK, this is what’s like. This is it. This is the true taste of the NFL.’ And just, man, adjusting to that caliber athlete, a full game. Now, there’s certainly some things to where it looks like, ‘Man, he’s got to make that play.’ But he needs a little help too. If we rush and close the edge a little bit, then it boxes in that space between where he’s at and the quarterback. So, there’s a little bit of that too. But yeah look, he – honestly, I’m not even worried about him. He’s going to adjust from this. He’s prideful, he’s a pro, I already know that about him as a rookie, I think we all do. So, he’s going to want to better himself. He’s going to learn from this and he will be better.”
On what he saw on the fourth-and-1 play against the Eagles when Lions DL Aidan Hutchinson had a chance to get a stop: “He just stopped his feet. Just keep running your feet through it. There again, he wasn’t the only one that could’ve been better on that play.”
On his assessment of Lions LB Malcolm Rodriguez’s play yesterday: “Listen, all-in-all I thought he did a nice job. There’s a couple of plays I know he wishes he could have back, but for a rookie who went in there and a played a substantial role for us, I thought he did a nice job. He was physical, he was aggressive, zero MAs, I mean he was on top of it now. So, that was good to see. And so, now it’s just, man, we need more out of special teams from him, which we’ll get. But first time out of the gate, defensively he did some real good things.”
On Lions LB Malcolm Rodriguez’s pass coverage yesterday: “Listen, I thought he did a good job, I really did. Majority of the stuff we had him do was – it wasn’t man, it was zone. But he played it well and man, I thought he was on top of it. I really did.”
On what they need defensively to handle mobile quarterbacks and different offensive looks they may face: “Yeah look, I’ll be honest I really feel like if we played that opponent again, we’re going to be so much cleaner on it than we were. That doesn’t – I’m not saying we’re – but we would handle it so much better. Because there and now, like our guys are watching it right now and they’re seeing everything that we talked about and preached, and man, just do your job. Man, ‘You fit on the back, you fit on the back. I’m surfing off the edge, I’m surfing off the edge. I’m responsible for quarterback. Don’t even look at the running back.’ You just – and literally just the trust and just hone in on your assignment. Look, it was really what we did a hell of a job of last year against (Ravens QB) Lamar (Jackson) when Baltimore came in. Man, we were on it. We were on every little detail to it, but we had also gotten beat. We lost the week before, it was a point of focus, man, those guys were – and not to say we weren’t locked in, but I just think this gets you refocused, man. We’ve got one under our belt and man, this is a different style of offense that you just face and I think there again, I just think we’re going to learn from this and be better. That being said, I have to do a better job of getting them prepared and better looks for that. I’ve got to do a better job of fabricating a quarterback that can give them that. We did a couple of things, but it wasn’t enough in my opinion. That falls on me.”
On if he regrets calling an onside kick yesterday and if he believes they should be less aggressive given the youth of the team: “Yeah, I mean look, obviously hindsight is like, ‘Well, it didn’t work. Well, hell, we shouldn’t have done that.’ So, because that is the easiest thing to say, it’s like, ‘Well, just kick it away.’ But I just, man, I felt like it was the time to do it, and I wanted to see if we could get one, and we wanted a little bit more to the sideline, a little shorter, but I put that on me. Hell, you keep working that for a little bit and feel like it’s there, maybe you put it on the shelf and – but I just, I felt like the time was right to do it. Because I was willing to give up and say, ‘At the very least, man, our defense is going to hold, and they won’t have the ball very long, and OK, we give up a field goal.’ We’re still down two scores. Our offense is starting to cook now, and I just felt good about it. My fear was that, man they’re going to hold the ball for eight minutes. Even if – when we do get a stop, and they’ve chewed up eight or nine, 10 minutes, and even with a stop, now you’re getting forced to have to be in two-minute mode earlier than you want to be. So that was just kind of the thought. Look, I know – I’m very aware of what you do to your defense when you don’t get one of those, but I have a lot of faith in them that they’re going to find a way to get a stop.”
On the drops that occurred Sunday night and what he would attribute those to: “Yeah, well, I don’t know, but I do know this – it’s like fumbles, they’re contagious. They really are, and when you get one or two, all of a sudden, it’s like somebody’s got to stop it, somebody’s got to make a big play, somebody’s got to make some pretty good catches. But I felt like it really started to spread around and it did become contagious. One guy drops, another guy drops, because they were spread out through everybody. And that was something that we’ve really been pretty good at. We’ve made those catches, and so that was a little discouraging, but that’s another area where I feel like I don’t foresee that being an issue for us. It shouldn’t be. Our guys – all of our guys have pretty good hand-eye coordination. It’s really never been an issue so, I’m guessing that maybe a little bit of the jitters, first game, ton of energy – by the way, I needed to mention this. Man, our fans were unbelievable, unbelievable. And I don’t that to get overshadowed by a loss because that was one of the reasons we were able to get back into this. I mean, that place was freaking booming, and they keep doing that, that gives us a great chance for our defense.”
On his assessment of Lions QB Jared Goff’s performance against the Eagles: “Yeah look, obviously, we had the turnover early in the game. We were – man we came out first drive, we’re moving it. And then, we have a communication error, which isn’t on him, and so we lose rhythm, we’re three-and-out, then we come back the next time and then we don’t ID a protection very clean, and now he feels like he’s under duress, so that doesn’t help him get in a rhythm. And then obviously the turnover, not being on the same page, and so there were some rough moments early, but I love the way that he responded in the second half to get us back into it. I thought he settled in and did some really good things and gave us a chance there at the end. I was very confident when we get this ball back, we’re going to go down and win this game, like I felt very good about where we were at offensively and with him. Because I thought he was pretty good right there at the end of the game.”
On Lions DL Levi Onwuzurike being placed on Injured Reserve: “Yeah, just it’s still the same issue, and it’s just – there again, it’s just slow-going right now. So, we don’t feel like there’s a setback, but yet it’s just not progressing the way that we would hope.”