Everything Dan Campbell Said After Detroit Lions Defeated Cardinals

Here is everything Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell said to reporters, after defeating the Arizona Cardinals, 45-21, at State Farm Stadium.

The former NFL tight end took the opportunity to immediately give play-by-play voice Dan Miller a game ball.

Miller's wife, Cindy Miller, passed away, significantly impacting the organization and the roster.

Opening Statement

“We'll start with this. This ball goes to Dan Miller and his family. It was hard to hear what they went through. It's been a tough road for Dan. This is for him. Salt of the earth, Dan is salt of the earth, and I know this has been hard. But now I know Cindy's (Miller) at peace, and we love you, Dan. So appreciate you. I'll open with that. The guys really responded in a big way. I thought our defense really got everything started; we attacked the run. I thought we were sticking in coverage. Very disciplined, minus a couple of plays there. I thought ‘Shep’ (Defensive Coordinator Kelvin Sheppard) and the staff did an outstanding job. The players really responded. They took it to heart. Tried to do all the little things right and we played with aggressiveness, and just really set the tone for the day. The offense fed off of that and once we found our rhythm, then the defense fed off of them and special teams, and I just thought it was a great team effort. We cleaned up a lot of the little stuff. It's not good enough; it's not. We're going to have to be a hell of a lot better when we play Green Bay coming out of the bye. But that was a step in the right direction. It got us to win number three going into the bye. I was proud of them.”

Sam LaPorta’s success on fourth down calls

“Yes, that was big, that was really big. Took it in the back of the head on a critical catch; that was a contested catch. That was a great job by (Lions QB Jared) Goff progressing through, we're going to  'Saint' (Amon-Ra St. Brown). I mean, he worked his way through it. The O-line gave him time and he found it, gave him a ball to make a play on and he went and made a play and then took a shot, held on to it. It was huge. That was really big. I thought the guys answered the bell and I thought we played pretty fearless today. That’s what we have to be able to do. That's our offense. I thought our guys really fed off each other. The O-line got going, and opened some holes, and then 'Jah' (Jahmyr Gibbs) started to come to life. He obviously made some of his own plays there once we got him started. (Sam) LaPorta was huge for us today. Jamo (Jameson Williams) was huge for us today. Those guys really stepped up and obviously 'Jah', in the run and pass game. Goff is just Goff. He's as good as they come. I’ve just been so impressed with the way he's played these five games here. I thought he's just gotten better every year, and here we are five in, and he's even better than last year. He's the real deal. Proud of these guys. I thought special teams played with some enthusiasm, some energy, which we were looking for. Our specialists did a heck of a job (Jack) Fox and (Jake) Bates. It was a good team effort; good team win.”

How important it was to play this game with a sense of urgency?

“I think the important thing is that you go all in no matter what you're going to do. Either it crumbles or they rise up, but you're going all in. You have to push your chips all the way in and you have to believe in it. We did, we applied a little pressure. Players really responded, did a great job, and they brought it to life here on Sunday. It's a good win. It'll be nice to be able to enjoy this on this flight home and for a couple of days here going into the bye.”

On getting their sense of aggression back

“Yes, it felt good. When you believe in your players, you believe in the matchups, and you feel your young players are growing. That's a lot of it. We have a young (team). Our right tackle is young, our right guard is young, our left guard is young. So when your O-line has some youth in it, they have to continue to grow and you have to be able to trust if we get certain looks, or we get a curveball, (or) it's 4th down. There's a lot that goes into it, and I really feel like they're growing. They did a heck of a job today. We picked up the protection really well. ‘Jah’ had a couple of critical pro protection reps that helped us on some of those downs. It helped, and as I said, once we get in a rhythm, we are hard to stop, and we were hard today to stop.”

On what impressed him most about the defense

“I just love the pass defense. ‘PDs’ (passes defensed), man. We got our hands on some footballs (and) we knocked some footballs down. I didn't feel like we were stressed. That's good to see. Roger (McCreary) wasn't perfect, but I thought Roger really played some sticky coverage today and I thought (D.J.) Reed played some sticky coverage. That was good to see us challenge some footballs on the back end and work in unison. We played sticky and then we got a sack. We closed the pocket in and made some huge plays there. Just to get that many 3-and-outs back-to-back-to-back, and then you answer offensively — that's the white squall. Here comes the massive wave that's coming at you, and it felt that way a little bit so that's good. We just have to get better there. We have to continue to do those things, play off of each other and be on top of the little stuff. Honestly, the couple of things we did get hit on — those are ‘mentals’ (mental mistakes). Those are ‘mentals’ and they can't happen. You can't play that good for that long and all of a sudden we get dirty eyes or we mess something up and we give up a 30-yard (play) and now they're in field goal range. It was better and I thought those guys answered the bell.”

Thoughts on playing more man-to-man coverage this week

“It helped today. You have to go by what opponent it is. We knew ‘85’ (Cardinals tight end Trey McBride), they were going to get him the football and he's a factor. They're going to target him and they're going to go to him. And then ‘14’ (Cardinals wideout Michael Wilson) is their other bell cow. He's a good receiver and he does it the hard way. He'll muscle you and wrestle you — that's what ‘85’ does too. They're pretty crafty guys so we knew we had to try to eliminate those two and it just felt like the right thing to do today. That was good. For what we did, the game plan, ‘Shep’ (Kelvin Sheppard) did a good job, players executed, and it was a ‘W.’"

On whether he felt like the team's back was against the wall this week which led to them being more aggressive on fourth downs and playing more man coverage?

“No I just felt like it was what was right for this opponent. Every week's a little bit different — we play man-to-man. We play man every game, it's just how much do you play it? Most teams play some man-to-man on third down no matter what you believe in. We opened it up a little bit today — a little bit more and reduced the variables of other things that can happen in zone (coverage) for this opponent and knowing what they had. When you do that and you do some of the things we did — there are guys who have one-on-ones in man coverage so you have to win. You have to win. You can take away guys — their best players or a best player — but somebody's still single and that player has to win. We won today.”

Update on the injuries to Lions LB Devin White and WR Tom Kennedy

“It doesn’t look good. I think Devin’s probably going to need surgery. It’s a broken forearm; it’s unfortunate. I hate it because he was doing some good things for us in this game. Then for T.K., it doesn’t look good. As far as anything short-term, we’ll know a lot more tomorrow. I think it could be a sprain somewhere in there, a pretty good sprain. Neither one of them are going to be around here for a while so I hate that. Both players have done a really good job for us. T.K., I really thought really hit it. We challenged him on hitting some of these returns. His first was outstanding and I thought his second one, he caught it, put his foot in the ground and he took it to heart. I hate it for him that it happened. I don’t think it’s long-term. I think it is something where we’ll miss him for a little bit. We will see.”