LIONS HEAD COACH DAN CAMPBELL QUOTE SHEET
September 5, 2023
Opening Statement: “I was going to announce our captains first. On defense, (Lions LB) Alex (Anzalone) and (Lions DL) Charles Harris were our two captains. And then on offense, (Lions QB) Jared Goff, (Lions WR Amon-Ra) St. Brown and (Lions T Penei) Sewell were our three offensive captains. Special teams was (Lions LB) Jalen Reeves-Maybin. So, voted on by their teammates and every one of those guys are worthy of that position, that’s an honor. We’re fortunate to have a lot of guys that are really, I would call, leaders on this team, so we’re in a good spot, but congratulations to those guys. This is the last day, redzone. Real good work and then it’s man, we’re off. Clean up tomorrow and we travel, so guys are getting excited. I know the coaches are too.”
On the reason why Lions DL Isaiah Buggs was told he will not be active for the game this week: “Yeah, look, we base everything off the tape, period. So, I’ve spoken to Buggs and that stays between us and but yeah, we feel like we’re – guys that are best prepared to go this week, for this game, those are the guys that’ll be up.”
On if there is a clear pathway for Lions DL Isaiah Buggs to regain a role on defense: “Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. And he’s been told that, but it’s no different than – I mean honestly, any of these players and that includes practice squad players. We tell them I mean, ‘You have an opportunity. Make the most of it. And you’ve got to show us in practice.’ And I just go back to (Lions LB) James Houston. There’s a reason why we activated James Houston, I mean he just – it got to the point where you just – the guy, we couldn’t ignore him anymore. He just kept making plays in practice. He keeps stressing our offensive line and he earned his right to get up there and he proved that, so any player that’s on this roster has an opportunity.”
On how excited he is for Lions DL Levi Onwuzurike to be active this season after recovering from his back injury: “Yeah, real excited. Certainly, happy for him. I mean he’s been through a lot and through it all, the guy has never, he’s never complained. He’s never – I know it hadn’t been easy, but he never gave in and he just kept looking for solutions. He kept working, he kept trusting what was being told and man, he’s worked his way back and his body feels pretty good and so now, because of that, he’s out there on the field, he’s been able to – he’s developing, like he’s really coming on now. He gets better and better every day, every game, every rep and so now, the real growth begins and that’s a credit to him. He puts the work in and so, I’m happy for him. I’m happy for us. He helps us. He upgrades us.”
On how he prepares the team for the loud environment of Arrowhead Stadium and if he can use his experience going there as a player: “Yeah, I’ve played there, coached there and I just go back – it’s an unbelievable environment, it really is. It’s – man, to go on the road at a place like that, I’d sweat – I told my guys, ‘Man embrace it, enjoy this. This is not a stressful – this shouldn’t be stressful. This should be just – man, take it all in. Enjoy the sunlight,’ if you will. I know it’s at night, but, it’s just – when you’re a true competitor, to go on the road in an environment like this, I think it really brings out the best in you and so, we know what we have to do communication-wise, that’s the big piece of this and honestly, it’s no different than any other game, once you get through this early portion, even the openers on both sides of the ball, now you’re into the flow of the game and so, we’ve just got to stay steady, consistent, don’t get too high, don’t get too low. And they know that, I mean we could be down 14, we could be up 14 and you’ve got to play every play and just relax, put the last one behind you and just keep playing football.”
On what it says about the offensive line that they have had a different captain appointed from the group in each of the last three seasons: “Yeah, it says a lot and that’s – man, we have a ton of those guys, particularly on the offensive line, I mean (Lions C) Frank (Ragnow), (Lions T Taylor Decker) Deck, (Lions G) Jonah (Jackson), to your point, (Lions G Halapoulivaati Vaitai) V, who’s been here. And so, I think it’s an outstanding core group of guys that do it the right way and they all pretty much lean on each other and so, it says a lot. I feel like we’re in a really good place with our leadership here, I really do.”
On using this game against the defending Super Bowl champions as motivation to succeed: “Yeah, I mean I think – I don’t know how much you use it, other than just to know that it’s going to be somewhat hostile and everybody’s against you and the only ones rooting for you are your own guys, your coaches and everybody else is just dying for you to mess it up and make mistakes, so they can jump on it and have a good time and I think our job and what they should really relish in is man, trying to quiet the crowd. That, to me, is the ultimate, if you can quiet the crowd, because you’re making plays and you’re just hanging in there, that’s the – that’s really the goal because that means you’re doing some good things.”
On how this game against the defending Super Bowl champions and the first game of the NFL season could be used as a springboard for the team: “I don’t want to go that far, really. I – there again, I don’t want to get too caught up in that because this is one out of 17 games and this is the first one and I get that because it’s Thursday night, it’s the first one, the Chiefs. For me, and for our guys, the important thing is man, you win this game, that’s a win, that’s win number one and I think that’s what – because you win that and then you don’t the next week, well then it’s – so to me, it’s just take it one game at a time and this is the next one and it’s the most important one because it’s the one right in front of us and we take it as it comes.”
On if he feels that there is more media attention on him now compared to last season with ‘Hard Knocks’: “No, I haven’t really thought of that at all. And honestly, I’m not concerned with any of that. There again, I do a pretty good job of just staying in my shell with my guys and I just, I know what I need to do, the coaches know what they need to do, the players and so we just, let’s trust in what we see, what we’re teaching, what we’re coaching and what they’re able to do and then what the film says and that’s what I worry about, that’s what we all worry about and think about and focus on.”
On what he has seen from Lions CB Emmanuel Moseley since his return to practice: “Yeah, encouraging, it’s been good every day, he’s getting his legs back under him. He’s been getting some reps out there and then he took some one-on-one reps the other day, that was his first kind of taste of it and so you can tell, he’s got a big grin on his face. He’s starting to feel pretty good, so here we are a couple of days, really three days after the fact and he’s feeling pretty good, so he’s getting better.”
On if Lions CB Emmanuel Moseley will play on Thursday: “He’ll definitely play this season. There’s no doubt. I believe that with everything.”
On how he has seen Lions DL Benito Jones improve since last season: “Yeah, I would tell you he’s really improved. He’s been another one of those guys it’s just been kind of a – it feels a little quiet, but he’s the guy when you just, every day, he’s made improvement from the spring, till now. Just his fundamentals, his technique, he’s been able to anchor in the run. He can push the pocket in the pass, so I just think fundamentally, he’s been better than he was last year and so, there’s a level of consistency that he’s had that I think everybody in this building is seeing.”
On the dynamic that Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs brings to the offense: “Well, there again, we’d like to believe he’s a pretty versatile player. There are things he can do, certainly in the run game, but also in the pass game, so I can’t tell you what all that would be right now, I’d rather not do that. I don’t know if he’ll line up at punter, if that helps. But he does have versatility, but this is also his first game out and so we want to be smart with how we use him. We certainly don’t want to overdo it, but we want to have enough in to where we know he can help us win here so, but he’s in a good place. He’s had a good week of practice.”
On how opening the season on the road for his first time as a coach for this franchise is different than opening the season at home: “No, I think just, there again, it’s the offensively, the communication piece, right? Knowing that you’re not going to be able to go verbal. And so, that’s really the difference is knowing, alright, we’re right out of the gate, offensively we have to be ready to communicate and really, it’s no different than if you’re at home, our defense has to be ready to communicate non-verbally because your own crowd, our own Ford Field, which we’ll worry about Seattle, that’s where our defense now has the – so there’s always a give and take, if you will, but to me, that’s the most important piece to this is the offensive communication. I feel like we’ve been really good now, three days in. We’ve got the speakers going out there, we’re blasting, we’ve got two sides of it, and we’ve got them driving the carts down, so we make sure that it’s non-stop chaotic and you can’t hear yourself think because if they can handle that now, they’ll be ready Thursday night.”
On who is responsible for leading the team through the silent counts: “Yeah, well certainly, most of it is (Lions QB Jared) Goff. He’s the one who steers the ship there and then (Lions C) Frank (Ragnow), obviously, has to be right in unison with him.” |
