Dan Campbell jokes about fake punt, pass to tackle against Vikings

Campbell had no shame admitting the truth on Tuesday.

Remember how Dan Campbell was harshly criticized for going for it so many times on fourth down in Detroit's Week 3 loss to the Vikings? Well now he's being praised for running a game-changing fake punt and a risky pass to an offensive lineman that sealed Detroit's win over the Vikings in Week 14. 

Yet you didn't find him taking credit for the plays on The Pat McAfee Show Tuesday, at least, not immediately.

A smooth joke-teller – so smooth that Bring Me The Sports embarrassingly didn't realize he was joking in an earlier version of this story – Campbell claimed to McAfee he didn't want to run the fake punt on 4th-and-8 deep inside their own territory but the play was called because half of Campbell's intended "don't run it" message never got through to special teams coordinator Dave Fipp. 

"Well, first of all here's what happened on that play" Campbell said. "My button, I didn't get it down fast enough. I was saying 'don't run it' and Fipp heard me say 'run it' and then before I knew it just hit, so it worked out great."

We're running fake punts on our own 27 MCDC..

"I was saying don't run it but I didn't get my button down fast enough" 😂😂 ~Dan Campbell#PMSLive #OnePride pic.twitter.com/0Mt8urURnU

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) December 13, 2022

The result was a 42-yard gain on the fake that led to a Detroit touchdown and a 21-7 lead with under six minutes to go in the third quarter.

The jokey, joke-maker continued when he was asked about another crucial play in the fourth quarter.

With the Vikings trailing 31-23, the Lions faced a 3rd-and-7 at the 2-minute warning and they converted a pass to right tackle Penei Sewell for a 9-yard gain and a first down. 

Campbell then has McAfee in fits of laughter by claiming that his attention was distracted by the Detroit crowd doing the wave while his offensive coordinator Ben Johnson called the play.

"I'm so focused on the wave and I said, 'Yeah, that's fine.' I look up and we're throwing it Penei and I'm like, 'What the f*** we doing?'" he explained. "But it worked out great."

He eventually concedes to the trick play, saying of Sewell, "we worked the heck out of him," and added the only message he had to get across to QB Jared Goff was to make sure Sewell stayed in bounds. 

"We're in that situation & I'm so focused on the wave that I can't hear.. I look up & we're throwing it to Penei Sewell & I go what the fuck are we doing" ~Dan Campbell

😂😂😂 #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/R4BXzus2Hn

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) December 13, 2022