Tag: Dan Campbell

Ranking the 13 greatest quotes from the Lions’ Dan Campbell, including a line on NFL prospects ‘in pajamas’

Campbell might be the NFL’s most entertaining head coach.

Dan Campbell usually wears his heart on his sleeve. That’s probably why we’ve grown to love him so much.

With Campbell’s Detroit Lions on the rise as an NFC power, we thought it fair to rank the many hilarious soundbites and moments he’s delivered in just over two years as a head coach. Provided the Lions continue to gain prominence, those who love a coach with some personality can rest assured Campbell will be in the spotlight time and time again.

One thing’s for sure as you peruse this list: Campbell has a rather colorful way of describing many different situations. It’s almost like he has a gift.

Lions head coach Dan Campbell had a great quote about evaluating players at the NFL Scouting Combine

Lions head coach Dan Campbell had a great quote about evaluating players at the NFL Scouting Combine

When most folks think of the NFL Scouting Combine, they picture the draft prospects doing workouts and athletic drills in their workout wear. It’s not called “the underwear Olympics” for nothing.

That’s not something that holds much appeal for Lions head coach Dan Campbell. He pushed back against the notion that the workouts are critically important in the evaluation process here in Indianapolis.

“You grade off tape, not what happens with guys running around in pajamas,” Campbell quipped during his press conference on Wednesday afternoon.

The on-field workouts, including the 40-yard dash and bench press, begin on Thursday. Don’t expect to see Campbell actively engaged in watching those workouts.

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Dan Campbell explains why he brought John Fox into the Lions as a senior defensive assistant coach

Dan Campbell explains why he brought John Fox into the Lions as a senior defensive assistant coach

Lions head coach Dan Campbell was very pleased to talk about the newest addition to his coaching staff. Campbell was asked about new senior defensive assistant John Fox, the former head coach of the Bears, Panthers and Broncos.

It was one of the first topics Campbell was asked about during his podium time at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine.

After stating that Fox and the team “have come to an agreement” but not officially signed anything, Campbell explained his relationship with Fox and what he hopes the veteran coach can offer the Lions.

“John was the defensive coordinator when I was with the Giants as a young player and that’s where our relationship began,” Campbell told reporters. “A very successful head coach with three different teams in this league. He’s been out of (the league) for about five years. He went back to Indy last year in the same capacity as a senior defensive assistant. Man, you could see the fire in him. I mean, it was impressive.”

Campbell continued,

“He misses the chess match. He misses preparing for an opponent. And just worrying about defense. I think he’s going to be great in helping AG (Lions DC Aaron Glenn) watch his blind spots. Which is what Johnny Morton did for us on offense with Ben (OC Ben Johnson) last year. I think he’ll be a great addition.”

Campbell also noted how much another longtime NFL head coach, Dom Capers, helped the team in the same capacity in 2021.

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Dre Bly ready to roll with Dan Campbell on the Lions coaching staff

New Detroit CBs coach Dre Bly ready to roll with Dan Campbell on the Lions coaching staff

Detroit Lions fans need no introduction to new cornerbacks coach Dre Bly. The new coach is a former Lions standout at CB and was a popular fan favorite in his four seasons (2003-2006) in Detroit.

Hired by the Lions this week and officially announced by the team on Thursday, Bly quickly reintegrated himself into Detroit. After coaching the CBs at his alma mater, North Carolina, for the last three years, Bly is ready to roll with one-time Lione teammate Dan Campbell and the Detroit coaching staff.

Working with Campbell held considerable appeal to Bly. The team’s attitude, success and dedication to player development drew the two-time Pro Bowler back to the Lions coaching staff.

Bly told Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press in an interview on Thursday,

“At the end of the day, what being a great coach is all about is a guy that can lead and Dan is a tremendous leader. He’s a guy that can lead coaches, he’s a guy that can lead his players, and you see that. So that’s why at the end of the day, why these guys played as hard as they played.”

Bly continued, via Birkett,

“As a coach, you want to be a part of something like that. That’s something that excites you to want to come here and join what they got going on. So I’m here, man. I’m fired up. I’m going to be in the office working and trying to figure out how I can put my stamp on the players.”

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Dan Campbell isn’t a finalist for coach of the year and folks are not happy about it

Lions head coach Dan Campbell isn’t a finalist for NFL coach of the year and folks are not happy about it

The NFL revealed the finalists for several season awards on Wednesday and the Detroit Lions were well-represented. Aidan Hutchinson is one of three finalists for defensive rookie of the year, while offensive coordinator Ben Johnson is in the finalist trio for assistant coach of the year.

There’s a notable omission, however. Head coach Dan Campbell is not one of the three finalists for the coach of the year. Campbell didn’t even make the cut to the final five.

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While Campbell himself admitted during the Manning Cast in wild card weekend that he didn’t think he deserved to be the coach of the year, many fans, analysts and players disagree. The outrage over Campbell’s snub spread like wildfire across social media.

Dan Campbell’s in-game decisions and clock management ranked in the top 3

Campbell’s decision on 4th downs, clock management and play calls ranked 3rd of all coaches in added win probability in 2022

Dan Campbell took a lot of heat from fans for some of his in-game decisions and clock management during the 2022 season. Most analytics backed Campbell and his questionable choices, however.

The Lions coach based much of his methodology on analytics and data analysis, notably on when to go for it on fourth down and in managing the clock at the end of halves. Not surprisingly, Campbell’s decisions earned the Lions tremendous value in the “win probability added” metric.

Per analytics site SumerSports, Campbell’s in-game choices gave the Lions the third-most win probability added over expectation. Only Nick Sirianni of the Eagles and Sean McDermott of the Bills augmented their teams’ chances of winning with in-game coaching decisions more than Campbell did for Detroit.

As noted in a follow-up tweet, the calculations here are only about the in-game decisions on timeouts, fourth downs and play calls. It doesn’t deal with talent and perceived achievement relative to the talent on the team.

The decisions didn’t always work for Campbell, but that’s where the talent on the team and execution come into play.

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Peyton and Eli Manning had such a priceless reaction to Brett Maher’s 4th missed PAT

The ManningCast is just like us.

The ManningCast joined the rest of the football world in not being able to process Dallas Cowboys kicker Brett Maher missing four-straight extra points.

After Maher missed a stunning three extra points in the first half of Dallas’ Wild Card playoff game with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the kicker shanked yet another one in the game’s third quarter.

It’s Maher’s fifth-straight missed PAT since last week. The ManningCast was hosting Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell during the attempt, and the trio looked on in disbelief as Maher etched himself into the grand book of all-time playoff blunders.

It was just not Maher’s night.

It takes a lot to get Peyton Manning that perplexed on live television, much less something that sends him into a moment where all he can do is fidget with a football.

Maher’s less-than-stellar performance will be remembered for a long time by NFL fans, and the ManningCast perfectly captured just how strange this whole sequence has been.

In fact, even football history won’t forget this Maher debacle anytime soon.

Feature image courtesy of ESPN.

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Lions GM Brad Holmes was brought to tears talking about powerful bonds with his players

What a powerful moment for a real leader in Detroit.

While they didn’t qualify for the postseason, it’s not hard to see Dan Campbell’s tight-knit Lions as one of the best stories of the 2022 NFL season. After starting 1-6, Detroit rallied to finish with a  9-8 record. Eventually, while already eliminated from the playoffs, the Lions spitefully punched Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers in the mouth to drag their rivals down into the muck with them.

As the Lions look ahead to what might be a bright future in Detroit, GM Brad Holmes sat down with team reporter Dannie Rogers to recap the team’s most recent campaign. And when the discussion came to how key cogs like Penei Sewell and Amon-Ra St. Brown credited the GM for making their pro football dreams come true, Holmes couldn’t help himself from tearing up.

It’s obvious the now third-year GM cares a lot about his players:

Man. It can be so easy to be cynical about football culture and how executives and coaches sometimes treat their players as nothing more than machines. For Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell, that clearly isn’t the case. They know they’re working with brilliant young men, with human beings, and understand that vital relationship aspect that can make a football team an actual family.

A vital offseason to sand over any flaws — particularly the NFL’s 28th-ranked defense by DVOA — awaits the Lions. With the right moves, it’s hard not to see the Lions becoming a legitimate contender come September 2023. They seem to be in excellent hands with a caring, meticulous leader like Holmes.

Dan Campbell believes in the Lions chemistry, ready to make more ‘right decisions’

Detroit head coach Dan Campbell believes in the Lions chemistry, ready to make more ‘right decisions’ in free agency and the draft

Nobody wanted the Detroit Lions season to end. An 8-2 run to finish the regular season, capped by a primetime win in Green Bay to prevent the Packers from making the playoffs, made the 2022 season finish on a higher note than has been sung in Detroit in a very long time.

It took longer than hoped to get the positive reaction and results, but the Lions’ team chemistry made a huge difference down the stretch. Head coach Dan Campbell talked about the importance of having a team identity and players who bought in and stayed bought in even with the 1-5 start.

“But I believe in the team,” Campbell said Monday in his season-ending press conference in Allen Park. “I believe in the chemistry, the identity of this team, and the work they put in, and so I really do believe we’re only going to grow and get better, and as that’s happening, we’re going to add more pieces too. But ultimately, that’s what this was all about was eventually get into the tournament because once you get into the tournament, anything can happen.”

One of the reasons the chemistry is so strong is because the Lions have a more exclusionary process for who goes into the chemistry experiment. Campbell explained why that’s so important to him and the rest of team leadership,

“I just know that the coaches that I have here, the players that we’ve drafted, the players that we’ve kept that were here before us, the free agents we’ve signed, it was the right decision. These are the right guys for us, particularly in 2022. Now, there’s going to be decisions that have to be made moving forward, but they fit us, man. They fit the mold, and to us, you have to meet a certain type of criteria to be here. We don’t just strictly look at talent, and our guys have created that culture. They’ve embraced it, and it’s part of who we are, and it’s why we’ll always compete.”

Several important Lions, among them WR DJ Chark, DL John Cominsky and RB Jamaal Williams, are free agents once the league year ends.

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Dan Campbell on beating the Packers: ‘What better way to go out?’

Campbell praised his team for their determination and for spoiling the Packers’ playoff aspirations

In what will be the final postgame press conference for Lions head coach Dan Campbell in the 2022 season, an exhausted but joyful Campbell reflected on the huge 20-16 win in Green Bay.

Campbell opened up his presser by stating the obvious,

“Listen, that’s a good win. That’s a great win,” Campbell said. “I was proud of our guys, they played their ass off. They were ready for this game. They wanted to prove something and they did.”

The head coach then summed up the effort from his players with his trademark gritty approach.

“If you’ve got to go down, if it’s the last one for the season, then man — what better way to go out than that for 2022.”

What a way indeed. The Lions eliminated the Packers from the postseason with the win. It also lifted the Lions to a 9-8 record, their first winning season since 2017 and a remarkable turnaround after the unsavory 1-6 start.

Campbell also praised the Lions fans who made the trek to Lambeau Field.

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