LIONS HEAD COACH DAN CAMPBELL QUOTE SHEET

November 6, 2023          

On if there was anything that surprised him while self-scouting the team’s last eight games during the bye week: “I don’t think necessarily surprised. I just think it – I think the obvious are the turnover-takeaway ratio, we need to be better on both sides. Red zone, both sides. And there’s a number of reasons behind that, that I’m not going to get into. And then third-quarter production, or lack thereof, we can be better on both sides. So, I think those are the three things that we’ve kind of came away with. There’s other areas, but those were the big ones collectively, as a team. I know that for our special teams, we’ve got to get (Lions WR Kalif Raymond) Leaf going, we’re so close. We’ve been close, but man we’re one block away. We’re – there’s just – we’re close, but we’ve got to start breaking some of these with him in the return game.”

On if Lions C Frank Ragnow, Lions G Jonah Jackson and Lions RB David Montgomery are closer to returning this week: “All three of those guys moved around today. They were out there. Today was really more priming the pump, get them ready for tomorrow. But we did some individual, some group, did a special teams segment and they were all involved, all three of those guys.”

On if there is a possibility that Lions C Frank Ragnow, Lions G Jonah Jackson and Lions RB David Montgomery will play on Sunday: “Yeah, I think so. We’ll see tomorrow when we pad them up, but they’ve been trending the right way now for a while, so certainly hopeful.”

On how they began the onboarding process for Lions WR Donovan Peoples-Jones after signing him right before the bye week: “Yeah, I think more of it was just getting him in here, getting him acclimated with just everybody that – our resources that we have. We’ll get him up to speed with the playbook here, make sure he’s good and healthy and then just see where it is. I mean certainly, we acquired him to – because we think he can help us, but I also want to make sure he’s ready, mentally and physically, he’s 100 percent ready before we do that. So, this week will be big for him. He was out there today and then tomorrow we’ll see where it’s at and just kind of take it day-to-day.”

On the goals he has for the team moving forward: “Well I know this, by December we need to be playing our best football collectively and up to date, like the Chargers, we need to play our best football game. We still have left so much out there and as good as we played to get six wins, we’ve been able to complement each other, but yet I would say we have not played our best football collectively, offense, defense and special teams. So, we’ve got to play a clean game. We’ve got to come out with no turnovers, we need to get our takeaways back. We talked about red zone and those things. We need a fast start to the third quarter. So, I just think cleaning some of those things up, our focus to the details of what we’re doing, got to take another step up, another notch up.”

On having extra time to scout the Chargers over the bye week in addition to being able to watch them play on Monday Night Football tonight: “Yeah, well I would say the bye helps you because you’ve already – I mean here’s the – I don’t know how much tonight’s game – I mean we’ll certainly look at that, but it’s – the hay is kind of already in the barn. We’ve got an eight-game snapshot of this team already and there’s not going to be a ton that we’ll change on that. There’ll be a couple things that we’ll just make sure we’ll verify one way or another, but it’s really – the bye gives you that luxury to kind of catch up. But I also told the staff, I did not – at the sake of us not looking at ourselves and deep-diving ourselves and putting in a little bit of work today, I wanted to make sure our guys got that and saw that because it’s always going to be about us, it is. So, we’ll really deep dive the Chargers tomorrow. They come in and then we’ll start on them.”

On the plans for Lions QB Hendon Hooker moving forward: “Yeah, we’re not there yet. I mean, he’s getting better and we’ll make that decision when we feel like it’s ready to go, but we’ve certainly discussed him. The only way he’s going to get practice is if you put him on the roster, so we know that’s the obvious, it’s just a matter of when we do it.”

On if there is a big-picture element they are missing that is hurting their red zone success: “No, I mean look, I think it’s as a – we need to do better in third down. But some of that is because second down wasn’t as good and you’re getting in some of these long situations. Defensively it’s, really on both sides, it’s – they’re self-induced and so that’s the tough part of it, but it’s also – that’s the encouraging part, we can clean all these things up. So, certainly be able to convert or make them manageable conversions. We get them in third-and-long defensively, we can’t allow them to do it. There’s a couple of things that have shown up and it really is, it's whether it’s turnover or it’s penalty on offense, a holding, or it’s a DPI, or something, those have kind of bit us a little bit there, so those are all things we can clean up and it’s just a reminder for all of us. We get down there and it’s really about alleviating the mistakes, more than it is making the plays. It’s, man, alleviate the errors. And that’ll go a long way for us.”

On the challenges rookie Lions OL Colby Sorsdal faced when starting at right guard for the first time against the Raiders: “Yeah, it’s – it is big. I think that’s a big step for him and it’s not the easiest thing to do, especially at that position. And so, I thought that he did an admirable job, he stepped in there and it was a better showing than when we had to use him in Atlanta, now that was out at right tackle and that’s a different position all in itself as well, but I thought he represented himself well and banged away in there and what we learned is it’s not too big for him and so, he’s another guy, the more reps he gets, the better he’ll get. But no, that’s a good sign because you don’t know how it’s going to play out. For some guys it’s too much, too early, and some guys, boy they just – they love the opportunity, and they thrive in it and I thought he stepped up and it wasn’t too big.”

On if there is something they needed at the linebacker position that caused them to sign Lions LB Trevor Nowaske to the active roster from the practice squad: “Yeah, he was being poached, potentially, so we didn’t want to lose him and we felt like we had the flexibility to make that move. We feel like we’re going to need him before it’s all said and done and we like where he’s going. He’s another young guy that we’ve got on this roster that’s really developing and growing and he’s – that’s a good room right now, all seven of those guys, counting him. I mean, it’s an outstanding room between what they’re able to do defensively, but special teams too. I mean, we rely on them for a lot, so yeah, he was a guy that we didn’t want to lose.”

On the plan for Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs if Lions RB David Montgomery returns to play this week: “Yeah, I mean, I think certainly we know what David can do, but we know that Gibbs has gotten better every week, so we’re going to ask those guys to do things they do well and that help our offense move the football. So, I don’t think necessarily sitting here talking to you right now, that I see Gibbs getting 65 plays. I don’t see that, but he’s going to get his fair share, now. We know what he can be and he’s growing. So, I think it’ll be a little bit by committee and make sure we get those guys touches. Gibbs will get his touches.”

On if he can share any weaknesses that he saw during his self-scout over the bye week that he thinks opponents see: “No. No, because I don’t want them to think what I think about us through their eyes. So, no. I like where we’re at, like where we’re at. We’ve got things to clean up, as any team would.”

On if he thinks the team possesses characteristics that will allow them to succeed in the second half of the season: “Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely.”

On if he got the message across to the team that they need to play their best football going into the second half of the season: “There’s no question. That’s right. Look, we – we’re sitting in a good spot after eight games, but now we’ve got nine to go here, post-bye. And the other thing, we’re about to get three. I mean, it’s really, here’s the three-game schedule right now and it starts with the Chargers and it’s three games in 11 days and it’s bam, bam, bam and that’s November. And then we’ll worry about the rest after that. But yeah, we’ve got to be playing – we’ve gotten a little bit better, but we need to be playing our best football because those are the teams that are going to make a push. I mean, you see what Minnesota does, I’m not surprised by that. They just keep winning, they’re playing good football. We’ve got to keep playing good football for us and every team that is going to make a run here are the teams that start to clean it up and they just get a little bit better, a little bit better. And some of the teams that stay the same are going to begin to lose and they’ll be jockeying going on here November into December, so we’ve got to keep playing good ball and we’ve got to clean our own issues up.”