LIONS HEAD COACH DAN CAMPBELL QUOTE SHEET
October 2, 2023
Opening Statement: “This will be really our first day to get the guys back in the building, get them moving a little bit and a little introduction to Carolina. And then tomorrow will be a real good work day for us to get ready for those guys, so.”
On the plan to work Lions WR Jameson Williams back in: “Yeah, we’ve just got to see where he’s at with football. I mean this will be his first week back and so we’ll take it every day, see how he does.”
On how to keep Lions WR Jameson Williams focused and not worried about lost time: “Yeah, look, I think what we’ve done a really good job of in these four weeks is we know we’re – man, we are by committee. We are – the way that we’ve had production is it’s taken all of us. That O-line’s important to us and our skill guys stepping up. That’s from tight ends to backs to receivers and so everybody’s got a job to do, and your number will get called at a certain time, but we’re not a ‘one guy’s carrying a load.’ That’s not how we work here. Certainly, we have players that we depend on, on that side of the ball that have come up big for us, you know who they are. But no, I think that’s just – man, he just needs to come in and I’m not worried about him working, he will. And it’s just about polishing all the little things and we also know if he does play, he can’t play 60 plays. That’s not smart, so we can’t do that to him. So, we’ll see where it goes and it’s all about improvement. No different than the rest of the team, man. Every week we’ve just got to get a little bit better. He just needs to get a little bit better, and we’ll take it from there.”
On the value last season’s loss to Carolina had in resetting expectations: “Yeah, well – look, I think that I kind of mentioned it to the guys this morning just about – don’t ride the rollercoaster. Don’t get on that ride, the ups and downs, the, ‘Man,’ that was a big win. That’s an awful loss, that’s a –’ Man, just stay in the race. Stay in the race with where we’re at. There’ll be teams that will rise, there’ll be teams that’ll fall, but as long as we just we handle our business each week, no different than what we did. We went out to Green Bay and we looked like a hungry team, we looked focused on the details, we played together, we played violent and we made the plays that were there. We played complementary football and I think as long as we keep that as the focus and not about who you’re playing, who do they have up, what are the injuries, what is the weather, what – forget that, man. This is another opponent who’s dying for a win. They’ve got a damn good coaching staff, they’ve got real good players and we all know what they’re capable of. I mean look what happened yesterday. Look at all these scores. Look at these teams. I mean you can go right across the board and everybody’s talking about that’s the next Super Bowl winner because of how many points they put up and then all of a sudden they lose yesterday and it’s like none of that is reality, so. This is the next one in front of us and to have a chance to win it, you’ve got to take it serious and you’ve got to have a good game plan and they’ve got to be ready to execute and they’ve got to have their motor running. That’s the focus.”
On what realistic expectations are for Lions WR Jameson Williams this season: “All – honestly for me, it’s dependability. That’s it. Reliability, dependability, get lined up, know where you’re supposed to be, we’re going to get the depth out of you, and we can count on you to be, where you’re supposed to be when you’re supposed to be there and that’s it. That’s it. I’m not looking for yards, I’m not looking for explosives, I’m not looking for touchdowns. Man, just be a reliable receiver like any of those guys in the room. That’s it. And to me, that’s a good year, because we’re about winning. It’s not about one player. And that’ll help us win.”
On how close Lions CB Emmanuel Moseley is to working in the rotation and the value he adds: “Well, it makes us better. We believe it’ll make us better. He’s another guy we’d like to see if we can get going this week. And there again, if he does, he’s a guy that we don’t feel like it’d be smart to play him 60 plays either. But he’s certainly somebody that we feel like, ‘Alright, let’s get a look at this week.’ Feel like the time’s right and he’ll get a little bit. (Lions CB) Jerry (Jacobs) will still certainly – would take the load but I think the plan is to get E-Man worked in.”
On how much the loss against Carolina in 2022 led to making defensive schematic changes against the run: “Yeah, I think honestly, it really wasn’t – look, and I kind of said this, I think I alluded to this when we were – look, I put that on me. That was not tweaks and defense and – we were not ready. We were not emotionally ready to go I think more than anything because we didn’t necessarily do anything different than we had going in there, we just – man, we got strung out on a couple of things. We got knocked down on a couple of these down blocks that now we open two gaps and your linebacker’s trying to fill two holes and it just – it was a collective. And I felt like it was more of it just didn’t feel like we were ready for the fight. And when you’re in defense and you play in some of these hard spots that gets no recognition when you do your job, it’s a hard life in there and if you don’t handle your job, everybody else gets exposed too defensively. And so, I feel like it was more that than anything. We just didn’t – look those guys had played Pittsburgh the week before, they had gotten embarrassed, and they came out ready to go. They had a lot of yards run on them and then they took it serious and we weren’t ready to go which was really on me, so. I think we know that that’s this League. That’s what can happen if you’re not ready. We know what they’re capable of, so as it pertains to what you do in and out – (Lions Defensive Coordinator Aaron Glenn) AG’s doing a hell of a job, the defense has been on fire here and really, we’ve played three damn good games defensively, honestly. And so – and one that isn’t up to our standards but also looks a lot worse because you spot them 14 points on offense, but I like where we’re going. If we take a step back, we’re going to struggle to win. That’s a fact. That’s where we’re at. But if we handle our business, we’ll have a chance to win.”
On what the defense has been doing well to stop the run: “Well, I just think we’ve got some growth in that area. I think (Lions DL Alim McNeill) Mac’s playing pretty good for us, (Lions DL) Benito (Jones)’s been good, thought (Lions DL Isaiah) Buggs stepped in the other day and did some good things for us. Certainly, (Lions DL Aidan Hutchinson) Hutch is a better player. I mean I just think you can go across that board. And I think our linebackers are playing at a high level too across the board. I think that’s (Lions LB) Alex (Anzalone), I think that’s (Lions LB Derrick) Barnes and I think that’s (Lions LB Jack) Campbell, all three of them. So, I think it’s a combination of a lot of things and I just think we’re better, we’re more mature, we’re a little bit more developed and we’re a little bit better with talent. And (Lions Defensive Coordinator Aaron Glenn) AG’s doing a hell of a job.”
On how important Lions DL Alim McNeill’s presence inside is for the defensive line: “It’s been big. It really has. We don’t take that for granted and I think some of what you’re seeing, I feel like it’s really – Hutch is disruptive you feel like every week. You can see how just his – he’s relentless and his craft and what he’s able to do. But I feel like it’s coming even more to life because of Mac too. Mac being able to have – be a force inside is making a difference. And I mean we – one of those sacks we had the other day, it was actually Mac’s, was him doing exactly what we talked about on his stunt game. He ricochets off the tackle and Hutch loops inside and the quarterback’s got nowhere to go and Alim actually ended up getting the sack out of it just trying to really set up Hutch for a sack and he got his. That’s just the combination of guys doing their job, but he’s becoming a disruptive force in there and he’s in a good place right now.”
On if he has noticed Lions QB Jared Goff pressing more that has resulted in more interceptions: “No, I – nobody wants those, we don’t but I don’t feel like he’s pressing. He’ll tell you, he made an error, made a mistake. He’s falling away in the pocket and makes an ill-advised throw, his eyes are on the receiver and best part about it was he didn’t get frazzled. He went right back to work, and he didn’t let it – we were fortunate it didn’t hurt us because our defense went right out and put the fire out, so. And that’s what you’ve got to be able to do is overcome those errors. But no, he – I don’t feel any panic and he knows, he came up to me right after the game and he was like, ‘Look, believe me, I –’ He knows, and he doesn’t want it to happen, but what I want more than anything is I don’t want him to go into a shell or start panicking. And he’s not, and I love that. It’s something that he’s thinking about, we’ll be on top of and the ability to overcome those, because some of those will happen, is that helps you win, certainly.”
On injury updates for Lions T Taylor Decker, Lions DB Brian Branch and Lions S Kerby Joseph: “Yeah, it’s early in the week. Don’t really know on all of those guys. I don’t – I can’t really give you one way or the other. I think Deck will be OK and it’s hard to say with the other guys. We’ll know more every day.”
On Lions DL John Cominsky: “Oh, man. Comish is – he’s kind of the secret sauce to all of it. Comish, he – look, he’s the ultimate hard hat guy. He’s got his lunch pail and his hard hat and he just comes in and puts in a damn good day’s worth of work. Look, he was responsible for shutting down the two-point conversion the other day too. I mean that was a heck of a job fighting through the block to keep that a two-score game. But Comish is just somebody – we talked about it a minute ago with players, dependability, reliability, like he fits that to a T. He handles a lot of jobs for us, he handles the big end, he can play three-technique inside, he’s got the – he’s really one of the keys to us setting up our rush game when we get in third down in some of those things. He’s physical, he’s got push, he can separate, and he can play the run, so he’s just kind of our – he’s a little bit of our unsung hero for us in the D-line.”
On what he learned from last year’s loss to Carolina that will change his approach to get the team emotionally ready every week: “Yeah, we’ll – look, we’re going to approach tomorrow’s practice just like we did for Atlanta, expect it’ll be more reps. We backed off a little for Atlanta, but yet we padded up. Man, we took it serious, we went after it and so, to me, we’re going to go back and we’re going to press the issue. I owe it these players to do that and so I’m going to do that.” |
