The Detroit Lions handled business against the Cleveland Browns.
On the heels of an emotional road win at Baltimore, the Lions returned home and handed the Browns a 34-10 loss, headlined by a strong finish to both the first and second halves. Dan Campbell’s team improved to 3-1 on the season, with three-straight wins following the season-opening dud against the Packers.
Here is a transcript of Campbell’s postgame press conference following the Lions’ win.
“Okay, I’m going to start with this. We said going into this game our defense was going to have to set the tone and special teams. And offensively, man, we’ll be smart, we’ll find our spots, and really for the most part that’s the way the day went. I thought our defense set the tone for the day, those three takeaways, (Kalif Raymond) Leaf on the punt return. And offensively we were able to turn those three takeaways into 17 points, which was huge. Look, in the grand scheme of things, coming off of a big win on Monday night, short week, come out, find a way to close that out and play really good defense. I was proud of the guys for that. Is there a lot to clean up? Yes there is. There’s a ton, particularly offensively. We know there’s things we can do better, but that’s also a good club over there. So, good win, proud of the guys for being ready to go, locked in, and now that’s win number three. On to the next one.”
On if he feels like he has to worry about the team being mentally prepared after such a big win last week:
“No, I mean, look, you’re always going to say you better guard for it. And I mentioned this, Coach Parcells used to put the mouse traps up everywhere. You’d come in and the next day if he thought it was one of those games then there’d be thousands of them hanging from the ceiling. But I don’t feel like we need to do that. We’ve been fortunate here that most of our guys are home grown and we got them when they were young, and they know – they know. They know what the standards are, they set the tone for everyone else in the building, and certainly the guys that have been here a long time like (Taylor) Decker and those veterans. And so we’re fortunate that way. And it doesn’t take much, you just tell them what’s on your mind and they already know what’s up. So, we’ve done a good job in that regard, our guys snap back, and that’s not always the easiest thing to do. But the standards are the standards. The identity is the identity. It doesn’t change for anybody.”
“Man, I don’t know if I can say enough great things about Leaf. He’s such a stud. I mean, the guy, look, we came in Wednesday and, you know, (Special Teams Coordinator Dave) Fipp and I were talking. And Fipp says I think we need to, you know, let him cut it loose. Tell him to cut it loose a little bit on some of these punt returns. It’s always a feel thing, right? And a lot of those you’re inside the 10. At what point do you let it go? At what point do you see if you can get one return, fair catch? And we said, ‘Hey we’re going to get these blocked up, Leaf, go after it.’ And man, he was aggressive. He was aggressive. And he took that to heart, he trusted our guys, and he was fearless the whole game. I mean, all I think anybody saw was that return. He was fearless the whole game, and we had some guys, we were this close, man. We missed a couple of blocks early, but we really did a good job on that one return, and a lot of it was him too. The way he hit it and broke through there, but I mean the guy just said, ‘Ok, you want one? I’ll give you one, here we go.’ And it takes, to do some of those, that he did, and to take those returns without fair catching when somebody’s coming, full speed, and they’re about five yards from you, and to trust the fact, ‘I’m going to be able to get this fielded, and stick my foot in the ground and go,’ it’s just – you’ve got to be wired different. And that’s this guy. He is. So, everybody loves Leaf. He’s a pro, he helps us on offense, he helps us on (special) teams, he helps the young guys, he’s a great teammate, and he’s just, he’s a stud.”
On if he thinks the offense has reached or exceeded the level they were playing at last year:
“Well, I don’t know if we can say what that is or isn’t yet. Have we exceeded, or where are we at? Look, that’s good that we were able to turn those takeaways into points, because that’s really where they came from to start, and that takes – you have to finish those drives out. We did that. Alright, that’s good. But ultimately, we left a lot out there. And that is a good defense. I said that from the get-go. We knew it was going to be. But man, when you have false starts, when you have holding, you have illegal formations, man, that’s got nothing to do with them. That’s on us. And those are the ones that really just kind of eat at you a little bit, like, man, we got into a ton of these third and longs because we have penalties, or something. We have a negative play, we shouldn’t have a negative play. Those are the things, you just want to feel like you’re playing cleaner than that. I know we can play cleaner than that offensively. But I also know that that’s a good defense and we put up 34. And in the grand scheme of things, man, you better be careful grading wins. That’s a win, that’s a good defense, we got number three, and now it’s on to the next one.”
“Yeah, just another big performance by him today. What everybody sees, the quarterback hits, the sacks, the takeaway there, all big things that are right in front of your face. But the guy plays the run too. And those are the things that, I know for me I take the most pride in watching. He can do all of that stuff that gets you all the glory, but he does all the dirty work, man. He plays with his hair on fire, he doesn’t take plays off, he’s relentless, he’s aggressive, he’s violent, he’s smart, he’s disciplined, and it’s just good to see him back playing at a high level. It’s good to have him back, period. My gosh, man, we were – we missed him last year.”
On his comments about the team being a chameleon and if that was the case today:
“Well, I just think, you play to what you think your strength is going to be for that game, and I felt like our defense could set the tone for this game, and we were going to play that way and see if they could earn it over there, and play off of it. And feel our way out here a little bit offensively, and we did that. And special teams is going to need the help too. So, I thought that what we went in, the style in which we played and what we – how we wanted to play, I thought we did that. And it did help us win that game. I just think we can be cleaner, that’s all.”
“Well, I told (Lions General Manager Brad Holmes) Brad, the good news is we have seven days until the next game instead of six, that’s the good news. I don’t – you know we all saw Reed’s, I don’t know how – I don’t know what that’s going to be or how long, I mean certainly I cannot imagine him playing next week, at a minimum, until we get more tests done. And I don’t think T.A. is a major thing. Now, I don’t know – there again, I don’t know about him next week, but it’s certainly not as significant as what, you know, as what Reed had.”
On the consistency of Jared Goff and Amon-Ra St. Brown and the security they provide in a game like this:
“Yeah, now, let me say this. Well, yeah. That will always be a security blanket, man. Those two guys, the – what they’ve got, the rapport they have, the connection they have, it’s special. And so that, you know having that always is going to make you feel more secure, make you feel better. And I’ll say this man, the last touchdown that we had there, once again, J.G. got us into the perfect call. That was all him, and it’s something that he — you watch tape, and you see what they do, and you can feel it, and he changed everything. He changed the protection, changed the play call, and he got us into the perfect freaking play. Man, that’s all him, and that’s what we talk about. He recognized it, and communicated it, and then those guys executed. It’s just – I couldn’t – that’s the thing, when you see stuff like that, that’s like next level, and that’s where our quarterback’s at right now. And I don’t know if everybody sees those things, but man that’s a game changer for us on offense.”
“Yeah, well, look we always feel better knowing the two tackles that we have, when we go against some of these really good rushers. That always gives us more hope than probably some teams do, because we feel like our two tackles, man, that’s where they can really excel. We also knew we needed to use some resources over there. Myles Garrett is a hell of a player, I think Maliek Collins is an outstanding player. But it says a lot, because I thought those guys did a heck of a job, and I thought Goff did a really good job in the pocket. He really stepped up and maneuvered on a lot of these too, so I thought they all kind of worked hand in hand, our receivers I thought tried to play fast and get open early, so all of that plays into it.”
