LIONS HEAD COACH DAN CAMPBELL QUOTE SHEET
September 16, 2024
Opening Statement: “Really nothing new from last night. I would stick to what I said as we’re getting better. We improved from last week in a number of areas significantly. The error I made was significant. When you get in that type of game, every point counts. Then, really just cleaning up the red zone offensively, I think, are the biggest takeaways. Defensively, you’d love to have two plays back that they got us on, one of them the OPI and they hit (Buccaneers WR Chris) Godwin on kind of a gadget play. You take those two away and we played outstanding defense anyway. Those guys played lights out and we moved the football. Third and fourth down we were pretty efficient, it was just the red zone. It was literally – it wasn’t one person, it was we got down there and it’s detail of the route, it’s an MA, it’s a missed block, it’s a misread. The call that (Lions Offensive Coordinator) Ben (Johnson) didn’t like that he wanted back, so it was just – it wasn’t one person, it just kind of snowballed in there and so we’ll clean all that up and all we have to do is get a little better from this week and we move forward.”
On the Eastern Market shooting after yesterday’s game: “I don’t know all the details. I heard and that’s tragic. I don’t know all the details to it, but anytime that somebody loses their life, that’s a tragic thing. I just – whoever that is has a family and I’m thinking about them, and prayers go out to them, their family, their friends, and it’s unfortunate. It is. But there again, I don’t know all the details to it, I wasn’t there. Just, as much as we can take care of each other, let’s do that. That’s all I would say.”
On where he feels they got better on the offensive side of the ball between Week 1 and Week 2: “I felt like we were much more efficient moving the football 20-to-20, if you will. I thought we were more efficient on third down, we were just over 40 percent. I kind of mentioned this last week, when you don’t have the – we had so many of those three-and-outs last week, and when you have three-and-outs and, in particular, when you have back-to-back three-and-outs, you can never find any rhythm and then you just – you really need something to happen where you’re in plus-territory and then you make something happen in the red zone. Whereas this week, not that it was perfect, but you really felt like, ‘Alright, we’re finding a way to convert, whatever that is, and you move it, you move it, and it was ultimately, we got down into to the red zone and that’s where we stall it. And a lot of it too, I felt like our run game in the red zone wasn’t as good as it’s been. When you look at the runs we had, with aside from – we had the fourth-and-1 late in the game where (Lions RB Jahmyr) Gibbs busted out of there, that was a significant run. But there was a lot where we’d get a no gain, we’d get a three, we’d get a minus-four, we’d get a – and that just makes it harder down there. They were doing a good job of dropping with depth, buzzing the flats in the pass game and really forcing you to chuck it down. So, there’s a lot of little things that we have to clean up, and I’m telling you it’s details. It may not look like it now, but we’re so close. We are so close. That’s what I told the guys, as long as we just go back to work and let’s clean up those little errors that we had, those details to that in particular, the red zone, we will improve and get better.”
On his decision to not go for it on the second-to-last offensive drive of the game and if in hindsight they should have gone it: “The one where really, we were – that was essentially, you felt like could potentially be our last drive. That was all about getting in striking distance and the nature of the way they play defense, they’re not going to let anything over your head, and so they’re going to keep it in front of you. We had plenty of time to either work the sidelines, work the middle of the field, and we just didn’t. We just didn’t succeed, we just didn’t. So, I don’t second guess that, just knowing what they were trying to do. We just didn’t get it done.”
On the imbalance of the passing game and the run game yesterday: “I think what we were – we wanted to open up the run game really with a pass game, and there again where the run game, it was somewhat a mirror image. (Lions Offensive Coordinator) Ben (Johnson) and I were talking this morning, it was somewhat a mirror image of the playoff game a little bit. Once we got to the fourth, and that’s where we just couldn’t quite get our run game going in the fourth and when we did, that’s another area where it’s a no gain, it’s a gain of three and now all of a sudden you’re third-and-7, you find a way to get it out, you go back to the run game. You’re not getting the yards that you want to get and it kind of sends you back to the pass game, that’s all. And we were so close on it too. That’s what I bring back up. It wasn’t good enough, but we were one block away, we were a shoestring away from busting some of these out of there. So, listen, it didn’t work out. I like the gameplan on both sides of the ball, we just didn’t get it done.”
On an injury update for Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown: “Yeah, just lower leg. He’ll be good. Soft tissue.”
On Lions DL Aidan Hutchinson’s performance after watching the tape: “Yeah, every time you watch him, he gets better and better and I was pretty blown away last night. He’s a force. He’s a force. He played all but, whatever that was, six or seven plays. He just, he’s relentless, he’s powerful, he’s explosive. They sort of tried to double him and chip him and nudge him and he just – he was a force. I’ll tell you the other thing that helped too, that D-line, like (Lions DL) Levi (Onwuzurike) played out of his mind. Levi played outstanding and having (Lions DL DJ) Reader made a huge impact. He was in there 25 snaps, but they were impressive, valuable snaps to have. Those guys work in stunts, because that’s one thing, that takes care of the – you want to nudge Hutch, then we’ll just – you can work him back in the middle a little bit and push the line outside Levi or Reader or (Lions DL Alim McNeill) Mac and then bring Hutch back around. So, just different games that we’ve got upfront and a lot of it is transitioning from run or run play-pass into pass. Those guys up front did a really good job, but Hutch is playing at the highest level you can play right now, and I would anticipate he’s going to take it up another notch. He keeps getting better and better and better.”
On his impressions of Lions WR Tim Patrick and if there is a role moving forward for him: “Yeah, we liked him. It was good to see. I would say that was a positive showing to be able to get him out there and implement him in some of what we were doing. It’d be nice to get him a little bit more, but I think that’s what we’ll do moving forward. The idea is to see if we can open this up a little bit and use him a little bit more, but he’s big, he’s physical, his catch radius is pretty enormous. So, there’s a place for him here and yeah, I see us using him moving forward.”
On the trickle-down effect of Lions WR Tim Patrick being in the lineup and impacting the rest of the receiver group: “I don’t know, if anything it could take – probably where you use him a little bit more, you take a little bit off (Lions WR Jameson Williams) Jamo, take a little bit off (Lions WR Kalif Raymond) Leaf, that’s probably where most of it comes from to be honest with you, and you just kind of roll those guys through. Look, we have – you guys saw it, whatever that was, 85 snaps, and really (Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown) Saint and Jamo both had in the high 70s, 78, 79. That’s a lot, and kudos to those guys. They were busting their rear, they played lights out, they were blocking downfield. But that’s a lot of reps, you’re going to need to give your guys a rest every once in a while and I think that’s where Tim can help out there as well as other spots. We find somewhere, put him at the X or the Z, and give him a little package here and there.”
On an injury update for Lions LB Alex Anzalone and Lions CB Terrion Arnold: “Alex is the – you never know. I know he felt pretty good today, relative to what that was, so that’s always a positive, but we’ll see. We’ll have to take that day-to-day. And I think TA, noting significant on the finger, he should be good.”
On his early impressions of what the Arizona Cardinals bring to the table: “I’m not – I know that was – that score was lopsided but the nature of the way they play, I would say schematically on both sides of the ball, it’s tricky. They run some things that are not unorthodox, it’s just they give you a lot and they’re very active up front. Then offensively, they give you a lot of different personnel groups. They play hard, they’re physical, obviously the quarterback when he gets out and he runs around, he’s dangerous. He’s always been that way. So, they’ve got some weapons to throw to. This back runs heavy, and defensively they can give you multiple looks up front and then coverage is as well. So you’ve got to be on is – now, the good news is, we just played a team that gives you a lot of different looks defensively and so that’s actually good. We ought to be primed and prepped a little bit to be able to adjust on the fly. It’s a good football team, they’re playing at a high level.”
