LIONS HEAD COACH DAN CAMPBELL QUOTE SHEET
September 11, 2023
On Lions WR Josh Reynolds flying under the radar and being able to execute plays when it matters: “Yeah, Reynolds, he really came up big for us the other day and I would say he is notorious for that, in a good way. He does kind of fly under the radar, but he’s a guy that we – I kind of tell him all the time it’s like man, ‘The more you can do, the harder it is on you.’ And he’s a guy who, he’s got a ton of versatility and we ask him to do a lot. He plays the X he plays the Z. He can play in the heavy packages. We do a lot and so he’s a very reliable – mentally and productive-wise, he does a lot, so we needed somebody to step up in that game in that receiver room and he really did, he really did.”
On his aggressiveness and decision to go for the fake punt in their own territory against Kansas City: “Look, I think (Lions Special Teams Coordinator Dave) Fipp and I had been talking about this for a while and just, we felt good about the look.”
On his aggressiveness and decision to go for it on fourth-and-2 in the fourth quarter: “To me, that was the time to do it. We had three timeouts and I liked where we were at. I felt like we could convert. If you don’t, you still have three timeouts and a lot more time left to potentially answer, if needed. But our defense was playing pretty good too, so just felt like it was the right time to do it.”
On whether he believes he has earned enough credit for going for it on fourth-and-2 and succeeding: “No, I don’t – believe me I don’t – I don’t need anything. We got a W and look, I can make all the wrong the decisions and we win, I’m all good, I’ll take it, so. We did a lot of things right, our players. Look and we say it all the time, no matter what call comes out of it, you’re making that call because you’re leaning on a certain group, offense, defense, special teams and you’re trusting those guys in the moment and if something doesn’t work out, then those guys will bail you out and we’ve got to do our job for them too and give them the best game plan we can, but no, listen, you call the game as you see it and what you feel like is the right thing in the moment and you go with it.”
On where his aggressive mindset stems from: “No, I think more than – honestly, I really believe it was more of an epiphany, if you will. The time I had at Miami, I just remember once I was done there, I had regrets, particularly in special teams, that I didn’t use it more. With (Saints Special Teams Coordinator) Darren Rizzi, he’s at New Orleans now, he’s outstanding special teams coach and I just remember always – it just stuck with me and then certainly going with (Broncos Head Coach) Sean (Payton) as a coach. I’d been with him as a player. He made everything very clear. We knew exactly when criticals were going to come up, what we were going to do, how we were going to handle it, but just being under Coach Payton for five years and just – it gives you a whole different perspective, it did me. So, I think that’s really where it comes from.”
On how correctable the issues with communication are during the game: “Yeah, very correctable and there’s so much of that, that is, there again, just being in that moment with where the crowd was at, it’s loud, which is another reason why I’m glad we’ve got our home opener here because our fans are going to be going crazy this weekend with those guys coming into town, but it’s just – it’s different and you try to put strain on your guys with all the speakers you can out there and all the elements that you can, but it’s just not the same, as much as you want it to be that way and there again, look, I put a lot of that on myself, I honestly do because you want to keep it simple enough to where you’re not putting a lot of strain on your offense, but there again, you want enough ammo to go in, if need be, against Kansas City, (Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick) Mahomes, you may need to put up, so you can’t go in there so bare-boned that you don’t have enough ammo, but obviously, it was a little much and so, we just we ask them to do a lot between the quarterback and (Lions C) Frank (Ragnow) and the receivers and the fast-motions and I think it slowed us down a little bit and it caused a little bit of issues, not enough to lose the game, but certainly, it hurt a little bit, but those are very correctable. We’ll learn from that, we’ll be better. The more we do it with the guys that we have on the field, we’ll just be better, so those are all correctable.”
On how correctable the secondary’s issues with communication against the Chiefs are: “Listen, it’s all correctable. It’s all correctable because defensively, look, especially on the road, those guys can hear and this is just a matter of those guys playing together. We had a couple of things in the safety position, nickel, and (Lions DB Brian) Branch is new to the party, (Lions DB) C.J. (Gardner-Johnson) working back there with (Lions S) Kerby (Joseph) man, all correctable and so those things will – I’m not even, honestly, I’m not even sweating it. I know we’ll be just fine. We’ll be great and we’ll be better this week, which is encouraging.”
On how he feels both sides of the ball performed in the fourth quarter on Thursday: “Both sides did great and I thought – that’s where we really showed up. I mean, we – look, our defense had a number of stops throughout that game, but I really felt like the fourth quarter, we come away with a big stop and then offensively, we’ve got that long drive, we go down there, we score the touchdown, we go up one and that’s where I just really felt like we kind of took control of that game and then didn’t let it go, so I thought in the critical moments, we really showed up, we played good football and that’s what we talk about doing. We don’t need those mistakes that cost you in those moments. We need the plays that help you win and our guys did that, really in all three phases.”
On his impressions of Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs and the future of his career and how he compares to Falcons RB Bijan Robinson: “Yeah, look, certainly, like both of those guys. We like Bijan too, man. But, we just really felt like with where we were at, we got (Lions RB David Montgomery) D-Mo here and we just felt like with Gibbs, man, he fit what we needed perfectly and I just think it’s rare to have a guy that you really feel like, in due time, can be dynamic in the run and the pass game as a halfback. I just think there’s so much versatility with him, so between that, he fits what we do perfectly and he has that potential to be dynamic in both areas of the offensive side of the football. It was too good to turn down.”
On which player stood out to him against the Chiefs: “Well, I mean it’s one game, it’s one game. I think your eyes told you. What you saw is pretty true to form. You already mentioned (Lions WR Josh) Reynolds, Reynolds certainly stepped up, (Lions DB Brian Branch) BB, rookie, but made some huge plays, really. There was production all over the field. Everybody saw Hutch. I’m just trying to think some of the sleepers, I mean certainly, the offensive line pretty good. I mean (Lions T Taylor) Decker fought through that whole game with an ankle and produced for us. Frank, Frank had a heck of a game, I thought. But I just think there were so many guys that played so well. I think that’s hard to answer that, who really is, there again, after one week, I know I was proud of the way the core of our group really played. They really stepped up and played off one another.”
On what stood out to him about Seattle’s performance in their game on Sunday: “Yeah, look, I’m just in the beginning stages of that game from yesterday, but certainly, their run game is going to show up. Just the manner at which they like to use their system. This (Seahawks RB) Kenneth Walker’s pretty good. He certainly has ability, but they run a number of – they’re a lot like us, just in regard to they have a lot of different schemes, the gaps and inside the gaps, there’s five different ways to run it with pullers. They have the fast motion blocks, they have the read run and the RPO with (Seahawks QB) Geno (Smith), certainly so, and then they’ve got weapons. They’ve got (Seahawks WR) Jaxon Smith-Njigba at the slot who’s just, he just got his feet wet. This is his first kind of round of it, but then you’ve got (Seahawks WR DK Metcalf) 14 out there whose a heck of a player and (Seahawks WR Tyler) Lockett, so they’ve got plenty of weapons, the tight ends and defensively, I thought they held their own for a while and it got to the point where I think after the injuries, they got a little bit behind the offensive injuries and the defense had gotten a little bit worn down, but this team always presents problems. It’s been a thorn in our side for two years and so, we know what’s going to be coming in here. We’re going to assume the best out of them and they got after us pretty good last year, real good, so that’s something we won’t forget.”
On taking advantage of the injuries that Seattle’s offensive line sustained during their game: “Yeah, I don’t even want to answer that yet because it’s Monday, so I don’t know how significant that is. We’re assuming they’re both going to play until, hopefully, we’ll know tomorrow, maybe the day after.”
On when he first realized how special the Lions fanbase can be as a player: “Yeah, I’ve mentioned this before, my first game ever here as a player, 2006, it was actually Seattle and I just remember I was not expecting that and it was loud, it was loud and I’d been in some loud places and been around and I just – I was not expecting it and that was my first eye-opener to wow, we get some wins here and this place will really be on fire, so yeah, I’m expecting it to be loud. I’m expecting – I know what Arrowhead is and it was loud. I expect it to be louder than that, I really do. I just know our fans and it’s going to be – it’ll be to the point where you can’t hear yourself think, so, for them anyway.”
On his assessment of Lions G Halapoulivaati Vaitai after recovering from his injury last season: “Solid, solid. I thought he stepped up in there. It was the most plays he’s had since the injury. I thought he handled them well. He’s – I would say it was positive. It was positive. He’s got things to clean up, as we all do, but it was a positive showing for him. It’s encouraging to see him back out there. He was another one of those players that helped us win that game, especially in the critical moment.”
On the difference this year with the defense’s ability to go get a win on the road: “Look, I think – I just think we’re – look, there’s so many things that we talked about doing. I think it’s a number of things – first of all, (Lions Defensive Coordinator Aaron Glenn) AG had a heck of a game plan. We did a couple of little things different, than we’ve done. We worked them but, that we know we wanted to use against Kansas City. I think our fundamentals up front really showed up too, that’s two. Fundamentally, (Lions DL Alim McNeill) Mac and (Lions DL) Benito (Jones) and (Lions DL Josh) Paschal and (Lions DL John Cominsky) Comish and (Lions DL Aidan Hutchinson) Hutch and (Lions DL) Charles (Harris), (Lions LB James) Houston, like all of those guys, you could see our fundamentals really showed up and I felt like that made a difference, our front versus their front and in the backend, we just, we’re better equipped to handle some things that are going on back there. We have guys that if something breaks down, we have some pretty aware, instinctive players that can make up for some things when the play gets long and I think the combination of all that makes us better.”
On whether he believes the defense is faster overall compared to last season: “Sure, we are faster. Yeah, we are faster overall, I know we are. We play faster. We have guys that have outstanding play-speed because they see it and they pull the trigger quickly.”
On Lions DB Brian Branch and other defensive players who play fast compared to last season: “Yeah and (Lions DB) C.J. (Gardner-Johnson), (Lions DL Aidan Hutchinson) Hutch, (Lions LB Derrick) Barnes, (Lions LB) Alex (Anzalone), I mean they play fast, those guys all played fast, so. |
