Dan Campbell Says Brian Daboll Exaggerated Interview Behavior

Dan Campbell explains how he acted during an interview with Brian Daboll.

The Detroit Lions’ Week 11 matchup with the New York Giants will be a reunion of sorts for Detroit head coach Dan Campbell.

Campbell has a previous connection to Giants head coach Brian Daboll, as the two worked together in Miami for a season. In 2011, Daboll was the Dolphins’ offensive coordinator and interviewed Campbell before hiring him as the tight ends coach.

Daboll shared a story this week about the interview between him and Campbell, saying Detroit’s current head coach was intense in delivering his pitch for the job.

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Speaking with reporters Friday, Campbell said the story was exaggerated, but admitted he was energetic in sending his message.

“He tells that story to everybody,” Campbell quipped. “He tells it to me, every time I see him he brings it up again. I don’t remember throwing chairs through the walls, that didn’t happen. But, I did demo on chairs. He definitely exaggerated it, but I was sweating and I was out of breath and I did use a chair.”

Detroit’s second-year head coach explained that he used the chairs to demonstrate different aspects of his offensive philosophy.

“Running routes, blocking, everything.,” Campbell said. “It was an hour of technique work. Talking through things, then he’d give me scenarios: ‘How do you handle this? What do you do in this coverage? What if it’s this front?’ I just did the whole thing. That was the best way for me to go through it all.”

To this day, Campbell said he and Daboll have maintained the relationship they built during their time together with the Dolphins.

“Great relationship,” Campbell said. “I’ve got a lot of respect for Dabs, he’s a sharp guy. He can think quick on his feet, really good teacher and great personality. He’s somebody, he’s infectious, he’s someone you want to be around. Look, and his team’s playing hard and they play smart. There again, they don’t make mistakes, and that’s why they’re winning games.”

Injury updates

Campbell provided updates on several injured players heading into Sunday’s matchup with the Giants.

He said the team is “pretty optimistic" about the status of center Frank Ragnow. After sporting a walking boot following Detroit's Week 10 win over Chicago, Ragnow has shed the boot, and will practice Friday.

As for the injured receiving corps, Campbell explained that Friday “will tell a lot" about the status of Josh Reynolds and DJ Chark. Reynolds has missed the last two games, while Chark last played in Week 3. Chark returned to practice this week, which started his 21-day return-to-play clock from injured reserve.

Rookie defensive end Josh Paschal will sit out practice Friday.

“We’ll probably sit him out today and just see if tomorrow, where he’s at,” Campbell noted. “He’s gotten a little bit better every day. But, there again, it’s kind of wait and see with him.”

Notes

Detroit’s Week 12 opponent, the Buffalo Bills, will travel to Detroit to play the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, after a snowstorm knocked the Bills out of their home stadium.

Though Campbell said there were little immediate effects of the Bills playing in Detroit Sunday, he admitted that his scouts will be in attendance.

“I guess just for travel, for our guys, our scouting department won’t have to go far,” Campbell said. “That helps.”

Additionally, Campbell expressed he’s leaving preparation for the Bills, which Detroit will play on a short turnaround, to his assistants. He added that he wants his coordinators locked in on the Giants.