Everything Dan Campbell Said After Lions Defeated Packers

Dan Campbell breaks down win over Green Bay.

Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell. / Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

Here is everything Dan Campbell said after the Detroit Lions knocked off the Green Bay Packers, 24-14, at Lambeau Field. Detroit improved their record to 7-1, and have won six consecutive games.

Opening statement:

“Listen, good win, really good win. I am proud of our guys the way they played. They showed up. We talked about that the weather doesn’t matter. What matters is that you play efficient football, you play the best you can, you finish it and take care of it and see if you can get some takeaways. We were able to do it. That is a good football team. We will see them again next month, but really proud of them. We knew it was going to be critical to get two wins in this division against two really good teams; Minnesota and then this one, Green Bay, at their place so to be able to do that was big. We had a number of guys step up. I thought defensively, when we needed it most, it really showed up. We limited points, we held them in the red zone, we got off the field on third down. Just a lot of guys making critical plays. Kerby’s (Joseph) pick six was huge. It was a massive play right before halftime. Offensively, our offensive line did an outstanding job. We were able to run it. We were pretty efficient. David Montgomery and Gibby (Jahmyr Gibbs) got it going. I thought (Amon-Ra) St. Brown had a big game for us in the pass game. Goff played clean football man. He got us in the right play. He was very efficient. I just have a lot of trust in him, in what he is doing and how he is playing. We flipped the field. Jack Fox flipped the field. We knew that was going to be a big thing for us, just field position. So a number of guys played well. It is a great win and that gets us to seven.”

On Kerby Joseph's pick-six:

“Yeah, that’s him. He has a knack about it. He is a football player and that is one of the things that we liked about him when he was coming out. There was a rawness to him, but he had ball skills and the ability to track the ball and we felt like he could grow and become a pretty good safety in this league. He certainly has done that, and he is not done. He is not done. That is what excites you. I kind of feel like he has been playing pretty good anyway, but it didn’t surprise me that he made a play out here. He makes plays out here. So it was good.”

On Brian Branch being ejected from the game:

“Yeah, look you know as well as I do that’s not up to me. The only explanation I got, those guys (the refs) did a great job, Clete (Blakeman) and them. I have a lot of respect for what they do and they just said it came from New York so that is all I’ve got on it. That is the first time that I have ever been a part of something like that since I’ve been a head coach, that somebody got ejected. So I didn’t see it. I don’t know.” 

On what Branch can learn from the ejection:

“Yeah, I have to see it. I don’t know. I’m assuming he hit his head. Certainly try to lower your target to where it doesn’t become that, but I never want to take away his aggressiveness and the skills that make him the player that he is, but it doesn’t help us when he isn’t available in the game either. So I would tell him just to lower it, and he has to get used to that too when you play in primetime games. New York is going to look at all these. They don’t care about the one o’clock games. They give us primetime games. So understand the situation and we will get through it. He will be fine.”

Detroit Lions running back David Montgomery (5) runs against Green Bay Packers linebacker Edgerrin Cooper (56) / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

On not having a turnover in the elements:

“That was big. We knew that coming in here. There were a number of things we talked about: run game supremacy, we talked about explosives, as crazy as that sounds in that type of weather, but whoever could come up with the most explosives, field position and turnover ratio. The fact that we took care of the football. We preached it all week. We worked it. Wet ball drills every day at practice outdoors. Our guys really did a great job. Goff took great care of the football and it was the difference. It was a big difference.”

On Jared Goff's performance:

“He has been playing at such a high level and then there again I know it is not identical, but we practice outside. Thursday was as windy as it was today. We didn’t have the rain so those two days just watching him in the elements, throwing it like he was, we will be fine. We just trust the heck out of him and it worked out good for us.”

MORE: Lions Punish Packers, Win, 24-14, in Miserable Conditions

On Jared Goff completing 30 straight passes targeted to Amon-Ra St. Brown:

“The connection between those two is special. Those two have been clicking now for four years, really three and a half. It started about halfway through that 2021 season and it has just built from there. If you are a quarterback, and we have a dang good one, but it is easy to throw to a guy like St. Brown because he gets open, he has body control, balance, he can separate, he’s got quickness, he has play speed, strong hands. His body demeanor tells you that if I am the quarterback, you have a really good idea of what he is doing. They have done it long enough where they can think without speaking. They know each other, what they are getting ready to do and all that. It is special, and they make each other better.”

On the Lions' defensive performance:

“Yeah, it is one of the things we talk about. There is an emphasis to it, and certainly you have to be able to take away the run game. Once you get down there in tighter quarters it is about helping each other out. You play a little bit of man you have to be able to cut and help, and then the next guy has to replace, which takes away the window the quarterback may think he is getting. We have been pretty good about that. We have put a lot of work into that. We are doing a good job of limiting those points. We are keeping people from getting seven back there. That was one of the biggest differences in the game. We didn’t allow them to score down because you are right, they got down there three different times. It is a great job by a number of guys across the board.” 

On winning in different ways:

“Yeah, anytime you win you learn something from it and you get better at winning. Learn. The hard thing about winning is you learn those things you have to continue to learn, but you can’t brush over the things you aren’t doing well. Just because you got a win you have to make sure that we are identifying those things that we have to get cleaned up because we will get exposed. There are things, there is tape, there are things we have to clean up in a hurry across the board, and we will, but I know this, I am not shocked one bit that we came over here and played pretty good football out in the elements. We are built for this man and it doesn’t matter just because we play indoors. It doesn’t matter. We can play anywhere. We can play in the snow. We can play in the rain. Play in the mud. That is just us, and we are built to win man.”