LIONS HEAD COACH DAN CAMPBELL QUOTE SHEET October 10, 2022 Opening Statement: “So, watching the tape, defense played much better. I feel like we stopped the bleeding from what we’ve been going through the last couple of weeks. We were good in the red zone, good in third down and good for the run aside from two runs they popped. We didn’t fit the gaps right, but we gave ourselves a chance, and really for what we were getting ready to play and the style that they were going to play, I thought we did what we needed to do. The late touchdown, it’s tough. We had (Lions CB Chase) Lucas playing safety. He’s never played safety, and then (Lions CB) Bobby (Price)’s out there at corner, and they got us. Those guys will learn from it, but they got put in a tough spot so – particularly Lucas. But we got a turnover, which we desperately needed, and had a third-and-1 stop so it was better on defense. Not saying it’s good enough, but it’s better, and so that’s encouraging. And I feel like we go in that game, and we play half as good as we have on offense with what we did defensively, and we have a chance to win that game, but we didn’t. We didn’t execute. Third downs were not good enough. Three-and-9, 0-for-6 fourth down. One-of-three on third-and-1, or short yardage I should say, so. And then the two turnovers, one of them being for seven points, so that’s not a recipe to win. Special teams really, for the opportunities we had, (Lions WR Maurice) Alexander had a nice return, that unit did, and then we had two punts. We pinned them in the 13-yard line. One of them was because of a personal foul, but – and then defensively, the other thing that hurt us was we had those three penalties. Those were critical. They hurt us. One took away a sack, and the other two out there on the perimeter with (Lions CB) Jeff (Okudah), so, but that’s where we’re at.” On Lions QB Jared Goff being under pressure more than usual and if there was something the Patriots did in particular to make that happen: “Yeah, they started with it, did a lot of things internally, internal stunts with those guys. I think their plan was to go after – my guess is their plan was to go after our guards. That was probably before they knew (Lions G) Jonah (Jackson) was playing, but they felt like that was where they needed to go, the interior of our offensive line as a starting point and really push the pocket on Goff. And then, (Patriots LB Matt) Judon, he did, he got us a couple times on the edge, but that got us, their stunt games, which is that, and then a little bit of the odd front, but I felt like more the most part, we handled that in the run game. They just kind of widened everything out and played two-gapped everything. And they mixed a couple of things up in the red zone, but it wasn’t anything exotic. We just didn’t – we just could not get in a rhythm, we could not, and Goff was uneasy early and just could never – we could never get him going. And everybody’s got a hand in that.” On if replacing Lions G Logan Stenberg with Lions C Evan Brown mid-game was an adjustment or if it was a pre-planned rotation: “Well, Evan was not a hundred percent, and he hadn’t gotten any of the practice reps going into the game, and Logan had had them, and we just felt like physically, Logan was going to give us our best shot early. And really Evan was going to be more ‘if needed,’ reserved, man, if something happens injury related, but it kind of forced our hand once we got an MA early. We just felt like we needed to go with Evan.” On if he regrets some of the fourth-down decisions he made in the game: “No, I don’t. I don’t. Just with where it went, look, I wanted to be patient in that game, but I also know this – shoot man, the first fourth-and-1, that was less than half a yard, and we’re running behind (Lions T Penei) Sewell, and it was (Lions G) Logan (Stenberg), and I just – and we’re giving it to (Lions RB) Jamaal (Williams), I didn’t – I didn’t second guess that one bit, I would take that every day of the week, and we got stuffed on it. And then, just knowing where we’re at on the other fourth downs where it was playing out, I feel like that’s what we needed to do.” On the mood of the roster after starting the year with a 1-4 record: “Yeah look, I think everybody is in the same boat here. Everybody is upset. Everybody is frustrated. Nobody likes losing here. I think everybody knows we’re better than 1-4, but we haven’t showed that collectively. In pieces we have, but I also know what kind of group of guys we’ve got in this locker room. (Lions Executive Vice President and General Manager) Brad (Holmes) and I built it that way, so these guys aren’t going to lay down, they’re not going to give up. It’s a good group of guys, and we’ve got to regroup. We got the bye to do that. Make adjustments. Figure out what we can do better. How do we use our personnel – what do we do to maximize the personnel? Do we need to make a shift in some of the things that we do defensively, offensively? Do we need to calm things down even more? Do we need to – and look, I’m looking at practice. How do we practice? What do we need to do – we need to do more one-on-one, I know that. That’s a – to me, that really pops off the table – one-on-one route running coverage, one-on-one rush, all of it. So, that’s just one little thing, but there’ll be other things that come with it, but yeah, you look at all of it.” On if his second season has been tougher than he had imagined: “Yeah, I would say – I did not anticipate us being 1-4 going into the bye. I did not. I did not see that, but I also know, man, it’s a long season, and I know the kind of guys we’ve got. I know what we’re capable of when we get it right. I like where our defense is headed now because I think we’ve got some clarity on some things, and I know how we need to proceed moving forward, and I know that our offense is going to be better than what they portrayed yesterday. And we’ve got a pretty good unit in special teams, and it’s like I told the team, ‘You’ve just got to find a way to win against Dallas.’ All resources, everything goes into that one game. And that’s all that matters because you’ve got to get the first one before you can rack up a second one, and before you can rack up a third one, but I’ve just – there again, just for me personally, like I’m not going to get down. I don’t get frustrated like that. I mean, yeah, I’m upset, but I also – I’ve, coach and player, I’ve just seen it too many times. I mean things – you get a little momentum, things will turn in a hurry, and then you could be the hottest team going, so. But we’ve got to clean our stuff up. We’ve got to get better.” On if he believes there is enough talent on the roster to be able to make a turnaround: “Yeah, l do. I do. I think we do. I think we’ve got plenty here to win with. On this roster, on the practice squad, we’ve got plenty. And man, there’s a number of combinations we haven’t even tried yet. So, we’re going to look at everything, we’ll take a peek at everybody. There again, we’ll adjust what we need to as coaches. But yeah, I think that across the board, our FBI has got to become much more important, and I do think that’s got to be an area that we really focus on moving forward with our guys.” On if he uncovered a challenge he did not expect to since becoming a head coach: “I don’t think so, not that I – I would say – look, everybody has injuries, but I do know that they usually come in waves and I feel like we’ve been riding this wave for a year and a half and I didn’t anticipate that. You always anticipate that you’re going to get them, and so – but like I said, one of our goals this year was, man, we’ve got to – just because you don’t have guys in like any other team, we have to find ways to win. That can’t be an excuse like last year. So, and look that’s why we kept some of the guys we did, right? The backups, the guys that are on practice squad because they’re guys we feel like we can trust, and then go in there and function for us.” On if he sees Lions DL Aidan Hutchinson being double-teamed heavily in games: “Man, I don’t – yeah, I don’t know – I don’t know if I necessarily felt that way. But I know that he gets nudged a little bit. I wouldn’t say it’s anything – I don’t know. I guess that surprises me a little bit to be honest with you. But I do know that he’s dealt with – he is getting some chips and nudges and things of that nature. We moved him to the rush end yesterday with (Lions DL) Charles (Harris) being out and he did some real good things, particularly in the run game. There’s some things, certainly he could be better at, is all of them. But being on that open end, it was good to see him out there. He’ll grow from that experience. I would say this, (Lions DL Alim McNeill) Mac and (Lions DL Isaiah) Buggs played really well again, man. And (Lions LB) Alex (Anzalone) probably played his best game. I thought (Lions S) Kerby (Joseph) played a heck of a game. That was good to see. So, just in regards to those guys on defense.” On how much more he needs to see from the defensive line in terms of pressuring the quarterback: “Yeah, well that’s – look, that’s one of the areas we’re looking at is, how do we help our guys generate more pressure? And there’s a number of ways you do it you either pressure, pressure, right? So, you’re bringing five or six-man pressure. You either just stunt or you let them just fan it out and let them go. Go win a one-on-one or you guys that have it, straight rush. And so, we kind of tinkered with everything, but we’ve got to hammer down on some things that we think we can help them with. And we – certainly we need more rush. Now, that being said, I think we can help a little bit with the way we practice. More one-on-ones, a lot more one-on-ones. I think we’re going to need to pad up for that stuff, we haven’t padded up in three weeks, so we’re going to need to do some of that. And then I think we look at our personnel. We’re hopeful for (Lions DL Josh) Paschal, we don’t know. He just started practice last week. We get him, let’s see where he goes, see if he can help us there inside. (Lions DL John) Cominsky’s coming back at some point here, hopefully by Dallas, but we’ll see. And then, hopefully (Lions DL) Charles (Harris) will be back. And so, that alone will give us a little bit of – a little bit of juice in there. So, that’ll help with what we’re doing.” On benching Lions CB Amani Oruwariye in yesterday’s game and how he prevents a player from checking out: “Yeah, look I think it was important for him to know that this doesn’t mean that this is done. It never meant that, he knew that last week. But with where we were at, I mean we were last in the League by a long shot and we felt like majority of the issues that were popping up were on the backend. It just – we needed to do that. We needed to shake things up, and so – but just like I told him, this doesn’t mean this is over. We’re not just discarding Amani, I mean he’s going to have a shot. And he asked that last week, ‘Will I have a shot?’ Even if it doesn’t pertain to injury, and the answer is yes. I mean, he goes out there and practices and proves it, then absolutely he’ll get an opportunity to go back out there and win that job. Amani’s a pro. He’s a pro.” On if his decision to go for it on fourth down seven times against the Patriots was based on analytics, the players on the roster or his coaching philosophy in general: “No, I think that a lot of it is probably where I feel like the strength of our team is. Yes, I’m a little more aggressive by nature, but I also – those fourth-and-1s, I trust our offensive line and (Lions RB) Jamaal (Williams), not that you’re always going to run it or hand it to him, it’s hard not to. It’s hard not to run behind (Lions T Penei) Sewell and (Lions C Frank) Ragnow and (Lions G) Jonah (Jackson) and (Lions T Taylor Decker) Deck, and – but even some of those – man, just like yesterday, we had the fourth-and-8. There’s a line that, ‘OK, we are very comfortable with field goal, we are not comfortable with field goal.’ And now you have a decision. Do you just – do you go for it, or do you take a couple of delay penalties and then kick one up in the air, punt one up in the air, and so – and then once we got late in that game, I mean it’s – I thought those were all very manageable, the fourth-and-2s, the fourth-and-4s, the fourth-and-5s, or you know, fourth-and-goal at the five. I felt like – because I love what (Lions Offensive Coordinator) Ben (Johnson) had in, I love the plays that we had. I like the design. I knew who we were throwing them to, and it didn’t work out. So, that’s kind of where that game ended up going.” On if there was anything he was surprised by or not prepared for that the Patriots did: “No, no, I wouldn’t say that. I would say for the most part – I mean they threw a couple of wrinkles, but nothing that we were not prepared or couldn’t handle, that we couldn’t handle. I mean they’re always going to throw a couple of things in there to try to get you behind the sticks, but no, I just – we didn’t handle what they did very well, particularly offensively.” On if he felt like he had to go for it on fourth down against the Patriots because of who he had on roster and their strengths: “Yeah, I think that’s a lot of it. I don’t – there again, I’ve got a lot of faith in what we do offensively, and then every scenario – like, if you told me going in like late in that game, later in that game, I wouldn’t have seen us going for all those fourth downs, but once you’re down there that tight, and it’s short yardage, you do it, so it just kind of came that way. It became that type of game if you will, but no, I would be honest, going into that game, I was not thinking about – I wanted to be much more conservative, and then, man, that’s where it went, because of – well, you’re fourth-and-half-a-yard, and then you don’t feel good about the field goal range, particularly going into that tunnel where the wind comes back in, so it just kind of moved that way. That’s where the game went I felt like.” |
