LIONS HEAD COACH DAN CAMPBELL QUOTE SHEET
December 8, 2023
On what Lions CB Kindle Vildor brings to the table: “Well, we’ve played against him, so we’ve been able to watch him – crossover tape that – actually have had to go against him, so always liked the type of athlete that he was, the competitor that he is, he really fits what we do. He’s – because he can do a little bit of everything. He’s tough, he’ll tackle, so we play him in a variety of coverages. But we also – he’s a smart, crafty guy. He’s got cover skills and so look, it’s an opportunity to get up, let him compete and little bit and see where it goes.”
On if he expects Lions CB Kindle Vildor to have a role on defense this week: “He might, he might. He’s been competing and he’s been taking some reps, so we’ll see.”
On Lions C Frank Ragnow’s status for this Sunday: “Yeah, I don’t see him going. I don’t see him going. But he is improving, he’s getting better, he’s getting better. So – but yeah, I don’t see him going. I don’t see him going.”
On if he has to rebuild Lions OL Colby Sorsdal’s confidence before the game on Sunday as a young player: “No, listen, I mean, I think, with any player, especially a young player, you’re going to need to do that and just, man, focus on the things that you’ve done well and then here’s why you haven’t done well, like any player. And it’s fundamentals. But as far as his psyche overall, I feel like he’s in a good place. I mean, I think he understands – that’s what we go back to. This isn’t because you’re afraid, you’re – it’s the fundamentals, right? It’s your pad level, it’s your first step, it’s pass and a twist, it’s snapping with your hands and he knows that. He realizes that. So, I feel like he’s in a good place in that regard and we just keep working on those little things that all young players have to, the fundamentals of your job.”
On if he is looking to add Lions DL Quinton Bohanna to the active roster before the game on Sunday: “I mean, all those guys are getting opportunities. He, (Lions DL) Levi (Onwuzurike), (Lions DL) Brodric (Martin), obviously (Lions DL Isaiah) Buggs, (Lions DL) Benito (Jones). They’re all in play and we’ll make that decision tomorrow on where we’re going to go, but Bohanna’s a load in there, he is. And when he does things right and he plays with pad level and uses footwork and stays consistent, he’s a load, he’s hard to move.”
On how he has seen the defensive linemen improve this week with their increased opportunity to play with Lions DL Alim McNeill injured: “Yeah, I mean, they’re guys that are – they look like they’re taking it serious. I mean, they understand they have an opportunity and they’re competing. They’re competing for a spot.”
On if they have had to mix and match the defensive linemen in practice this week to see which combinations work best: “Yeah, I think that’s what some of this week has been is who’s going to get us the best opportunity per situation. And yeah, I don’t see – we’re going to have to spread the load and that’s what you’re asking. There’s a number of guys who are going to have to take over those 70, 60, 70 plays that Mac has been doing for us and it’s really spread out amongst a lot of guys. Could be the bigs, could be the hybrids, (Lions DL John) Cominsky, (Lions DL Josh) Paschal. And so, everybody’s got a job to do. And there again, down-and-distance situation is going to play into that.”
On what he has learned about Bears WR DJ Moore since he joined the NFC North: “Well, it’s just verified every week how good of a player he is, let me start there. He’s a hell of a player and he’s big, he’s physical, he’s got great hands, run after catch. So, I mean he’s somebody that, obviously, we’ve got to play a lot of attention to, so. And it’s every week, look we’re no different than anybody else. There’s times you’re going to want to try to take him out and limit what they do with him, but the teams that are doing it, it’s the same thing. Minnesota tried to do a little bit and he shows up again and Washington tried to do it and he had one of the biggest games you could have in a season. So he’s not easy, but there’ll be times where we’ve got to put some focus on him, but when you do that, now, you’re putting a strain on everybody else in the box on (Bears QB Justin) Fields and his legs and then the other one-on-one matchups. Those guys have got to win their one-on-one matchups when we do that. So, this is not an easy task, this is not. These guys are – they’re playing good football on offense. They can run it. Fields is playing at a high level. Moore is dangerous. (Bears TE Cole) Kmet is playing at a high level, so. (Bears WR Darnell) Mooney, I mean you can go across the board. They’re playing good football.”
On how Lions LB Alex Anzalone has looked this week with the screw in his hand and if there are any limitations on what he can do with this injury: “No, feel good about it. I asked him – it’s – I don’t see any deficiencies. He’s got it protected. I see him using it, so I feel like he’s in a good place. Doesn’t mean that – it’s there, but he’s not letting it affect him.”
On if he has adapted his messaging to the team since he has been here to implement a competitive mindset: “Honestly, no, I mean, it’s been the same. We’ve had the same approach since we got here. Man, there’s different players than we had in year one, but for us it’s – honestly, it’s about every week, man. It’s about earning everything that you get, no matter whether you’re winning or you’re losing. You’ve got to go out and earn it. You’ve got to work for it and you can’t just say that you want to be great, can’t just say that you want to be a champ, you can’t just say that, ‘We’re going to do this.’ You have to go work, man and you want to get confidence. You ask me about confidence, you gain confidence out there in practice when you mess stuff up, then you get coached on it and correct it. So, that’s been the message from day one and ultimately, everything that we’re about here is competing. You compete for a spot, you compete for gameday and you’ve got to win your one-on-ones. And so look, it’s why we do good-on-good every day in practice. We always do ones versus ones. We do twos versus twos. We do twos versus ones. So, we’re always going to get good-on-good. Even though it may be a different look in the opponent that we’re getting ready to face, man it’s about competition.”
On what the defense has to do to get back to playing their best football and how motivated they are to play their best football: “Yeah, look, they’re highly motivated, highly, alright. Man, we’ve got professionals over here and they’re hard workers and they want to clean up these little issues, but I go back to this, last week we played pretty damn good on first, second down. Third down has got to be our money down. I mean, we have five of those third-and-longs, third-and-nine pluses. We’ve got to get off the field. There’s no way. And those are our own errors. And I would say that has not been characteristic of us. And so, I have full confidence we’ll clean those up. But, man, that’s the way we’ve got to play and, man you just bang away and they may get some yardage, they may move it a little bit, but at some point we’re going to get them in third down and that’s where we’ve got to make our hay. That is where we have to – we’ve got to show up and keep them out of the tight red, keep them in the high red, force field goals. When we do things right across the board, we’re pretty damn good. But we also know – where we’re at on defense, everybody’s got to do their job. Everybody’s got to do their job. When one guy misses an assignment or fundamentally he’s not doing what he’s supposed to do, it puts an enormous strain on our guys, it just does. So – but we can and we have, we’ve done that. We’ve shown it.”
On if there is an overlap in why the defense struggled on third-and-long last week: “No, there’s no overlap. It’s just – there’s a couple of young guys making errors they shouldn’t make and they’re going to learn from it.”
On if game-planning is easier when they face the same team twice in a short timespan: “Yeah, it does – and I’ll tell you what, here’s the – and a little bit on the same for them. Now, Chicago, for the most – there’s a lot of things that haven’t changed, to your point, from when we played them the first time. And so – and there are some situations that didn’t even come up, our game and Minnesota. And so, you feel like you’ve already kind of seen what that is. Now, they’re coming off a bye. And they’re like what we are, they see their own issues like, ‘Here’s some things we have to correct.’ So, we’re assuming we’re going to – we know what they want to be, and we know how they go and where they’re very efficient and they’re dangerous. They’re not going to go away from that. But some of these areas where they feel like they can be better, there’s a little unknown here. There is going to be some unknown that we’re going to have to adjust on the fly in this game. And Minnesota, to your point, yeah, that’s a – look, from an offense, we’ll get into that later. But that defense is a whole – that’s a whole other deal now. It’s a whole other animal. But yeah, I think it does make it a little easier. Once you see it and then you have this fresh carryover just two weeks later.” | |
