The Detroit Lions players quickly rewarded head coach Dan Campbell with the game ball after his first coaching win on Sunday. But Campbell had a better idea for the ball. He dedicated the win and the game ball to the Detroit suburb of Oxford, which suffered a terrible mass shooting at the high school this week.
Campbell made sure to honor the victims and the Oxford community at the beginning of his postgame press conference.
“I want us to not forget these names,” Campbell said, as he read the names of the students and teacher who were shot on Monday. That list began with the four students who were killed: Madisyn Baldwin, Hana St. Juliana, Justin Shilling, and Tate Myre.
“For all those—they’ll never be forgotten, they’re in our hearts and our prayers, and all the families—not to mention all those that were affected by all of this,” Campbell said. “The classmates, the brothers and sisters, the cousins, the teachers—everybody.”
The Lions wore special decals on their helmets honoring Oxford. The head coach of the football team at the high school, Zach Line, played under Campbell as a fullback in New Orleans.
Quarterback Jared Goff and wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, the two who connected on the game-winning touchdown pass as time expired in Detroit’s win over Minnesota, also began their postgame press conferences by dedicating the win to Oxford.
“I’ll try not to get emotional but—you know, sometimes special things happen in special circumstances,” Goff said. “I think you saw yesterday what Michigan did against Iowa and then us today getting our first win in what is it, 12, 13 weeks. You never hope for a tragedy like this, but you hope to be a light for those people and a positive thing that they can have fun watching today. I hope that they were all watching today and were able to enjoy that win, and we can take their minds off it for whatever it may be, three hours. I think anytime we can do that, it’s a lot bigger than our sport, it’s a lot bigger than us. I think that today is one of those special circumstances that we were able to rise to the occasion and make something special happen.”
St. Brown echoed the sentiment,
“Before I start, I just want to give a shoutout to the Oxford Community. You know it’s been a tough, tough week for everyone. But to go out there and get our first win, at home, I think was just a blessing in disguise. I mean, I think it was the best way to end this week I feel like.”
Tight end Brock Wright also paid respect to Oxford in his postgame presser. Wright, an undrafted rookie from Notre Dame, scored his first career touchdown in the first half of the 29-27 win.
“It’s so special for us to be able to do this. Obviously, we heard about the tragic events the other day and knew that we’d be able to do a little bit of something, try and bring a little bit of joy to the families today. And so being a part of that means a lot to me and means a lot to the rest of the team as well. So, just happy we could get a win for them and our thoughts and prayers go out to the families at this time, of course.”
Well done, Lions.