Coach Campbell - , lions Event: Press Conference | Date: 2026-09-14 | Full transcript (primary source).
Coach Campbell addressed the media during a press conference on September 14, 2026, as the Lions prepare for their upcoming game against a formidable opponent. The discussion included insights on the team's current roster challenges and the competitive nature of the upcoming matchup.
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Transcript
Campbell: Obviously a really good opponent man. You know, I know Joe Brady very well. You know, that's a heck of a start there. Can't say enough about this quarterback. You know, he's a catalyst for them. And it's a good old line. They got weapons. It's a good back. This defensive line is their catalyst over there. Uh, at Oliver and, uh, and, uh, um, Rosu, um, man, really good player links explosive. Um, you know, they got chubb on the other end, big boy in the middle, man, he can eat. So these guys are, uh, it's an active defense and, uh, you know, it was a big win for them yesterday. So we got our hands full. Um, you know, they're aggressive on special teams. You know, it's a opening night out at their place Thursday night. Uh, it'll be electric. You know, it's going to be a great atmosphere. You know, uh, we'll be looking forward to that, but, uh, excellent opponent. You know, this is, this would be a, this would be a big time game here early in the year.
Campbell: Went into the season relatively light on the offensive line, at least on the 53 man roster right now. Got some pieces that are banged up with that group. Uh, how comfortable do you feel come Thursday? You've got enough and, you know, maybe do you need to seek some outside help or a practice squad promotion?
Campbell: Yeah, I mean, I w we feel like we've, we've got, uh, we got enough depth here, um, to get through this. Um, you know, yeah, we mahogany got that little injury here. Um, you know, I don't think this is something serious long term, but, but it could be tough, you know, to get him ready for Thursday. Um, so, you know, that's, uh, that's one thing there, but, but like I said, we got barch in there and, and, uh, and juice and Frasier and, you know, we can keep going here a little bit more them. And so, um, you know, we'll, we'll be good. That's why we, we made the moves that we made in the off season.
Reporter: How big a concern if at all is Blake?
Campbell: I mean, it is, but it's also, it's cause it's a short week, you know, and it's really about how fast can we, uh, some of this is the recovery, you know, um, you know, what does he look like tomorrow? It's, it's always, man, the day after a game, especially the first game of the year, it's like, where are these guys at? And it's really tough to say, we're going to know a lot more tomorrow. I mean, we really will. It's, it's really hard to say.
Reporter: So that's a chance you can play on Thursday?
Campbell: Yeah, there's yeah, for sure. You know, I just can't, man, I can't give you a definitive. I mean, I would feel better about him than probably mahogany right now. If you were asking me to pick one, but, but I can't really give you a, I can't, you know, that's, that's the tough thing about the short weeks, you know, it, you know, it's like, in some cases, it's like if the game was on Friday, they'd be ready, but maybe not Thursday. I'm just saying in general, certain guys every year this comes up, that's part of a look, they go through it too. You know, any opponent that goes on a short weeks deals with the same stuff.
Reporter: Drives yesterday, including the first one of the game where Sam Laporta just jumped out to anybody, casually watching that game and telling like you guys, just knowing what he went through last year to get back on this field for the season. How vital when you look back at the tape was he to what you guys did on offense yesterday?
Campbell: No, he's a huge part of it. Our tight ends are a huge part of that, you know, getting he and Brock back was big for us and you know, and they were, they were part of that. I mean, you rushed for over 150 yards, 160, you know, then you've got a hand in that and, and certainly they, they did. And I know he, that's a man, that's a hard road to get back to where he got to and where he's at right now to be able to get back, you know, to fully healthy, to be able to go through a full training camp for the most part and be ready for a season. It's a, you know, it's a, it's a credit to our staff, but it's more importantly, a credit to him and the way he works and goes after things it's, it's like he is as a player. He does that in life. I mean, he's, you know, he takes things serious and he's all about, you know, doing everything he can to be the best player that he can be.
Reporter: A little bit after the game yesterday, but a couple of your players in the locker room said when the saints caught fire there, the fourth quarter, they were getting you a temple a little bit. Maybe they were a little gassed or wrong packages at times. Just was that the case in, in, you know, copycat league. So how, how do you have to prepare yourself to make sure Buffalo doesn't do the same?
Campbell: Yeah, I mean, well, we're anticipating that. Look, Buffalo does some of that anyway. You know, they've always kind of done some of those things. So yeah, I mean, that, that, that showed up a little bit. And, you know, it's, it's those things that you address, which we have, you understand what you're getting ready to face and why wouldn't they test us there? You know, we would do the same thing. So, you know, we got to be prepared and you do it the best that you can in a walkthrough fashion, you know, you get through some of these place looks you think you're going to get, and then you tempo it. And it's, it's, it's, everything is not the physical. It's the mental. Now you're just trying to plant that seed of urgency mentally to be prepared. And this is, there's a good chance this is what you could get. And then, you know, when it comes time to play on Thursday night, you know, your, your guys got to use their instincts and hope that that's, that seed that was planted, man, it takes root and they process it quickly and do what they need to do.
Reporter: Split reps, get barge in there. I'm just curious, obviously, more than you thought, but just what did you think of his performance? How he came out of it for barge?
Campbell: Yeah, man, I thought some, there was some real good and there, and there was some that wasn't so good, just inconsistent, you know, a little rusty, which I wouldn't say was that abnormal. You know, I mean, he, he got a few reps, you know, he got that last week. And, and so he's only going to be better as we keep going here. You know, he's played, he's a veteran in this league and, you know, it was, the good was really good. And I anticipate that's what's going to, we're going to see a lot more of moving forward.
Reporter: On Friday, you said early season games about who makes the least mistakes versus makes the most play late season. I'm curious when you're doing the film corrections early in the season band, how much is it just fixing execution errors, errors with players versus, you know, coaches really wanting to maybe tighten something schematically. Maybe you didn't like the way you put a player in a position to do what he does best, something like that.
Campbell: Well, here's the hard thing. I really going in this game, I told those guys that, you know, the most important thing was, I mean, I didn't want the, you know, we kind of talked about, and then the discipline and the discipline of pre-snap penalties, you know, we, we had one off sides, which we, we were able to overcome early in that game, long drive scored on it. But for the most part, we were pretty good there. Now, some of the stuff, you know, we, we had a holding call that, that hurt us. And, and it's like, well, you're playing aggressive, but some of it is back to the, just the fundamentals that you start on day one, man, just like you, you do with your coach over there, man. And you just want to see that one more time. And, and inevitably sometimes the first game and the butterflies, the guy, you know, it's a different opponent. And man, you, you, you just, sometimes you get a little bit, start throwing haymakers, you know, at any position, instead of throwing the jab, like you'd have all through camp, man, one more time, just the steady, consistent rep. That's going to, it's going to give you a chance to win. And it gets you in trouble. And so you want to be able to coach those, but this is what's tough. You just try to make a point on the run. Like today, we're already in the Buffalo. I mean, we, we haven't even had time to, and our coaches will, as we're out there working through Buffalo, it's like, Hey, by the way, don't forget about this. And they've got their grade sheets. We gave them to them, but we won't entirely be able to clean all this up until after this game. And now you're kind of cleaning up two games. That's, that's the challenge for the short week. But there again, everybody deals with the same, same thing, you know, the, that goes from, you just played the game into a Thursday game.
Reporter: He played the most snaps. So I'm talking about, yeah, I got it. All good. It looks good. So any doc, he played the most snaps on offense that he's ever played in a real game. You guys on, on Sunday looked like he might've had a couple of issues just in past protection. When you went back and watched his performance, particularly in past protection, what did you make of it? How do you troubleshoot that?
Campbell: Yeah, it was, it was, he was inconsistent. You know, there, there was a couple of things in there that he's gotta be better at. And, you know, I know the one that everybody's talking about, you know, that was, you know, can't do that. He knows that. And we got to get them cleaned up. And, and so it was inconsistent, but he did have some reps in there that were good. He had a couple of carries I thought were pretty good. And you know, he got a ball on a check down that wasn't bad. And so it's a, we just got to tighten this up with him a little bit, you know, cause we're going to need to be able to use him. I mean, that's the bottom line. He and sailors. So, but, but to your point, this is the most he's gotten offensively and, and he's got to bank those reps and get better from him.
Reporter: We're going to do three more Colton, Cameron, Corey, you guys run a ton of situational dreams and trade camp. I was just wondering how you saw that pay off over time last night.
Campbell: Well, yeah, I thought it was big for us. You know, I, I did. I thought it did. And really, you know, the first part of that was, you know, I know it got nerve wracking and look, those guys just want to say one more time, those guys over there, it did a hell of a job, man. I mean, they did, man. They fought now and got themselves back in it. But the end of regulation tie game, we handled that pretty dang good. You know, we didn't want to give up the explosives, but at the end of the day, you're sitting there with six seconds left, you know, and that's a long field goal and being smart about what, what you can and can't do. We've ripped that a number of times. And so they're just checking your temperature. I don't have a freebie. I throw it out and now kickers got to come on and you know, now you got to swing at a real long one. So that was good just to get us into overtime. And then there at the end, you know, just, I thought our guys, our defensive staff and the players did a good job of adjusting, took a couple of timeouts, you know, particularly there at the end of the two point conversion, took a peek at, at, you know, some things we, we had a couple ideas of what we thought could come. Now it doesn't mean it's a hundred percent. But, you know, you, you use it and then see if they want to come back out of it again, or do they go with a different formation, different call, and then you're ready to adjust. You know, you're just trying to narrow down what you think you might get. And I thought staff that held the job, thought the players really responded well in that last play. You know, that was, that's, I mean, it was huge play. That was a game.
Reporter: So they did a good job resilience on that play. I mean, he talked about, he was like, I had to drive from hell, you know, earlier, and then to, you know, be in that position to affect that pass, even if he didn't break it up.
Campbell: Yeah, it was a great job, but I, you know, look, that's, that's rock. What I love about rock is he doesn't, man, rock doesn't get rattled. He doesn't shy away from competition. He doesn't lose confidence. He just keeps coming back for more. And, and then I appreciate that about him. And it was, man, he just hung in there and you know, that ends up kind of being the third in the progression. And, uh, you know, we talked about, it's the hell of a job by Tyleak first to get the push up the middle. Derek Barnes, taking away that underneath hook throw, and now it's got to go over the top. He's got to hitch it and throw it. Um, and so it was really all three levels played a factor in, in the stop. And, uh, but yeah, to your point, man, that was, that was big time by rock.
Reporter: Coach Gibbs, obviously coming off a big game with big load. You talked about the short week. How does that impact how you can use him and even your combos with him?
Campbell: Well, I just told him, make sure you drink plenty of Gatorade. Um, yeah, I mean, here's the, you know, I think, um, really with all the players, especially early in the season, you know, they're, they're a little bit all in the same boat. Um, you know, that's the first one. They all got significant reps. Um, and now really you're talking about, you know, four days of, of recovered to get ready for this one. And normally about the time that, um, you know, you're recovered, you're into day two of the work week. It's like a Thursday, a third down day. Well, we're humming on that day anyway. You know, if this was a normal week by Thursday, we'd be going full speed in practice. Um, so they'll be recovered. Um, and there again, Buffalo just did the same thing, you know, they just came out of the same thing. So I think Gibbs is going to be recovered. I think he'll be ready to go. Just like the rest of our guys. And, and, uh, we'll have plenty of juice in the tank.
Reporter: Yeah. And I want to go back to Vaki and send us for a quick second leading into the season with the check-a-log. You said you had, uh, you're full of confidence and said there's potential with RB too, but we didn't see him using the running. Was there anything leading into the week or in the flow of the game that led to his lack of usage?
Campbell: No, I think it was just more, you know, giving a Vaki a shot, you know, like he's a little bit of a heavier player and, uh, you know, using him, you can kind of use him and, uh, you feel like really, if you need the carry, you need the protection. And then the past game, you know, he's, he's, uh, he's pretty quick and explosive, has good hands. And, uh, and so it was, you know, instead of just sprinkling one or the other, maybe we, we kind of doused a little bit more. And so that doesn't mean this week that sailors doesn't get more, get those reps or more of those reps or do we split them? We're still, honestly, we're still talking about all that a little bit here. So it's not a done deal.
Reporter: I don't think we've talked to you since you put him on IR. What do you have a timetable for his recovery?
Campbell: It's going to be a while. Yeah, it's going to be a while. I mean, I really can't, it'll be a significant amount of time though.
