| LIONS HEAD COACH DAN CAMPBELL QUOTE SHEET October 24, 2022 On if he has received any communication from the NFL on Cowboys CB Trevon Diggs’ interception: “No, I haven’t. I haven’t.” On if he is aware of the controversial pass interference call in the 2014 Lions-Cowboys playoff game and how he addresses controversial calls with the team: “Yeah, I do know what you’re referring to, but no, I don’t – honestly, I don’t even speak of it. We don’t even address it because it’s out of our control, being honest with you.” On how he views the decision to not challenge Lions TE Brock Wright’s spot on the one-yard line in hindsight: “Yeah, I don’t know. I think it probably wasn’t clear enough to challenge it knowing you’ve got four downs on the one, so I don’t – we’re good.” On Lions DL Josh Paschal’s debut and how the versatility of Lions DL Aidan Hutchinson, Lions DL John Cominsky and Paschal adds to the defense: “I would say encouraging to start with the Paschal question. It was very encouraging, and he brings a little something to us from an explosiveness standpoint. He certainly has the high motor, but you can certainly feel him early in that game, and now the more plays he kind of took on, he’ll – as he gets in better condition, game condition, he’ll get better, then time on task. He hasn’t played any football per se, other than three weeks of practice, so. But it was very encouraging, and so you add in there getting Cominsky back was big. You could feel him in there, and so – and then Hutch, those three, they do bring versatility, and they can play multiple positions, and they can do that on base end, on third down. So, it’s very promising, and I’m glad to get Paschal and Cominsky back.” On the dynamic of starting four rookie defenders this year and the progress they have made: “Yeah, well, they’re all – there again, you just said it, they’re young guys and they’re growing. I mean they’re guys that we selected for a reason, and they’re football guys, man. They’ve got good FBI, they’re high motor and they’ve got some ability. So having those guys and just letting them grow and get a little bit better is going to be – I think it’ll pay pretty good dividends for us.” On an update on Lions Quarterbacks Coach Mark Brunell after missing Sunday’s game: “Yeah, we anticipate him back anytime today or tomorrow.” On how important Lions Quarterbacks Coach Mark Brunell is on gameday and what the team missed in his absence yesterday: “Yeah, certainly, any time you don’t have a position coach for a little bit, you spread the load out with everybody else, but I know that he and (Lions QB Jared) Goff and really that quarterback room is pretty close. And he’s been a guy that – he’s kind of the soundboard. He delivers the message. He coaches them, but he’s also the sounding board and the buffer between Goff and everybody else, so it’ll be good to get him back.” On making Lions DL Michael Brockers inactive yesterday and what his future with the team looks like: “Yeah, look, I just think that I’d take it for where it is right now, and that’s – he provides a tremendous amount of leadership to us, and he’s helped that room in multiple areas, and so there again, just from where we’re at right now, we felt like once we got (Lions DL John) Cominsky and (Lions DL Josh) Paschal back with where it is, that was the right lineup for us. But just like last week, when we talked and communicated it with him, he’s like, ‘Look, I’m all in.’ He’s practicing, he’s, ‘You need me, you need me. In the meantime, I’m going to continue to help these young guys get better.’ He’s a pro’s pro, man.” On if the door is open for Lions DL Michael Brockers to regain a role on the field: “Yeah, I mean you never know. We may need him, or it could be that that’s the lineup of the week, so he’s on call.” On if Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown is in concussion protocol: “He’s in the protocol, but he’s certainly trending in the right way.” On if it was determined if Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown has a concussion: “No, he cleared. He cleared, but he’s in the protocol just to go through the process of it, but I would anticipate us having him this weekend.” On if the official took Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown out of the game because of the new concussion protocols: “Yeah, so my understanding is – looked a little disoriented certainly, and then go to the tent, and you’re going to go through the whole process of clearing him, and in the meantime, they look at the video. And so, when they see the video, plus what they saw there, it’s automatically you’re out now.” On Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown’s evaluation in the medical tent while the video was reviewed: “He had cleared up. He had passed everything that –.” On if the referee ruled Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown out based on the video replay: “Yes.” On if there is any circumstance under the new protocol that a player who is sent off like Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown was can come back: “My understanding is that’s gone now.” On how he feels about Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown being unable to come back in the game despite being cleared: “Yeah, that’s out of my department. I mean that’s what they deem, and I don’t mess around with head stuff.” On saying the team hit rock bottom in Week 5 and where he thinks the team is after yesterday’s loss to the Cowboys: “Climbing back out. I’m encouraged by our defense, it was encouraging. It’s hard to lose, but boy when you watched the way that they played yesterday and I told them, I said this last night, they played exactly the way we practiced. It was high energy, they were intense, they were urgent. We got a ball out, got a turnover. We could – you could feel the pressure on third down. We hit the quarterback early, so we challenged on the perimeter. Our secondary was coming down, hitting and tackling. I mean, that was (Lions CB) Jeff Okudah’s best game since he’s been here in my opinion, and he practiced that way. So, I would tell you another guy, I thought (Lions LB) Julian Okwara, that was his best game for us. He really showed up. We challenged him and he had a good week of practice and he stepped up. So, that’s encouraging because your defense begins to – they start finding their way there a little bit, you’ve got a chance. And that’s a credit to (Lions Defensive Coordinator Aaron Glenn) AG. We changed a few things, kind of went back to what we were doing last year, just the way we play those big boys upfront. And getting (Lions DL Aidan Hutchinson) Hutch up in a two-point and having (Lions DL Josh) Paschal back, (Lions DL John) Cominsky, and then helping the perimeter a little bit. But I thought they all showed up. You mentioned (Lions CB) Amani (Oruwariye), I thought Amani played physical. So, it was encouraging.” On if getting players like Lions RB D’Andre Swift and Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown back in the regular rotation will help get the offense back on track: “I would say this, it wouldn’t hurt. That’s what I would say.” On Lions S Kerby Joseph’s performance yesterday almost getting an interception: “He’s this close. He’s this close. Every game he gets this much closer to getting one, is one of the reasons we liked him, he’s a ball guy. He’s got instincts back there, he’s got range and he’s this close. So, every week he’s gotten better and better and better. And that was huge, we preached takeaways last week and he came up with a big one in the redzone, so he’s trending the right way.” On if the team used Lions CB Jeff Okudah more in the box as a scheme-specific adjustment against Dallas: “No. Well no, it was really more of that’s kind of – that’s a little bit more of what we’re doing now. We’re going to set edges and funnel everything inside to our backers, our two big guys and now, anything pops through there. If it gets out to that perimeter between the edge setter and your linebacker, now you put them in a phone booth for your corner. You’re going to have to tackle on the perimeter where you’ve got all that space. And we just felt like it was going to help everybody, and it did.” On if it is hard to move past certain officiating calls in game: “Look, it’s hard. Look, I came from New Orleans, so we felt the same way there too. So, I’m no stranger to any of that stuff. But I know the best way to handle it is honestly, you’ve got to look past it. You can’t even – if you just dwell on it and you think about it and if you feel like you got screwed, you’re doing nothing. You’re just going to wallow in despair and because you have no control over it. You absolutely have zero control over it and it doesn’t matter, you can complain about it, you can – and you’ll get the, ‘Well, sorry.’ And it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t change anything. So, I think the faster you can get over that and just accept the fact that what’s done is done, the better off you’re going to be.” On the difference in Lions QB Jared Goff’s performance from the beginning of the season to now: “Well, I think there’s a number of things to that. Certainly, the injury at the receiver position has done a little bit to that. I think not having (Lions RB D’Andre) Swift has hurt a little bit because you lose a little explosiveness in the run game. And then, it took us a minute to figure out our O-line, just with – (Lions T Dan Skipper) Skip came in for a game, and then we got (Lions C) Evan Brown. And I think there’s just a combination of things that have maybe been a little unsettled, unsettling. And on top of that, there’s a number of these guys that we’re going into games with that aren’t even practicing because that’s kind of where we’re at. It’s – we have to have them to play the game and to do that we can’t practice them to feel like we can get them to the game and that’s hard. But it’s what we’re – that’s the task we’re given right now.” On Lions CB Jeff Okudah’s versatility and his ability to execute against the Cowboys yesterday: “Yeah, listen like I said, he stepped up. Just in regards to what we asked him to do and you could tell he was locked in last week and there was just – there was a look to him. He said coming out of the bye, he acknowledged things he wanted to work on and he took that to (Lions Pass Game Coordinator/Defensive Backs Aubrey Pleasant) AP and he just – you could see it and he was locked in. And when you tackle like that as a corner and then you see him challenge on the perimeter outside, man, that’s what you’re looking for, and so I expect him to continue to trend that way.” |
