Dan Campbell on stopping 49ers' offense, Jared Goff's return home, Jahmyr Gibbs' improvement
Dan Campbell met with an oversized group of reporters today ahead of Sunday's NFC championship game against the San Francisco 49ers, and the swell of the media room was not lost on the Detroit Lions head coach.
"This is the biggest issue (players have to deal with) right now," Campbell said, pointed to the assembled crowd. "I mean, most of the time I come in here and there’s what, 20 of you, and now there’s a whole packed room of people I don’t even recognize, and that’s what our players are dealing with. It’s all the extra attention outside of the norm, that’s the issue. It’s not the opponent. It has its own issues that we’ll deal with, but it’s all the outside attention and where they’re getting pulled from every area."
More than three dozen reporters attended Campbell's news conference Wednesday, including national reporters from ESPN and NFL Network. Typically, the crowd is maybe half as big on a Wednesday, the first day most coaches look ahead to the weekend's game.
Campbell said players have to tune out the noise they'll hear from reporters, friends and family this week.
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"You’ve got friends, you’ve got family reaching out. '(You're) unbelievable, you guys are here again, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and you’re such a phenomenal player, you’re a phenomenal coach, you’re a phenomenal GM,' and pretty soon if you forget that it’s us and it’s about the team," Campbell said. "I think that’s always a challenge this time of year, when you get into these type of games and settings."
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More highlights of Campbell's 14-minute media session
∎ Campbell said the Lions' No. 1 objective defensively this week is to top the run.
That may seem obvious with All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey on the other sideline, but the 49ers averaged the most yards per pass play in the NFL this season (8.93) and led the league with 75 pass plays of 20-plus yards.
"You’ve got to stop the run because if you don’t, they’ll rush for 250 on you and then they won’t even worry about passing," Campbell said. "Everything has to start there. And yes, they are. That’s — look, (49ers coach Kyle) Shanahan does an unbelievable job of — he’s going to work one side and make you overreact and then he counters off of it and then he play-passes off of it and works the middle of the field. So, look, you’ve got your hands full in both regards."
∎ Campbell said he's not the least bit worried about quarterback Jared Goff going home this week to play in his native Bay area, against the team he grew up rooting for.
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Already this postseason, Goff has beaten his old team, the Los Angeles Rams, and become the first Lions quarterback to win a playoff game in 32 years.
"He’s going to be great," Campbell said. "I feel great about Goff. He’s the least of my concerns. He’s going to be just fine."
∎ When a reported jokingly wondered if Campbell had to deal with cell phones during his playing days, Campbell had a light-hearted moment.
"Damn. I’m not that old," he said. "Yeah, we did. I think they were the old pop up with the long antenna."
∎ Campbell offered some insight into his defensive philosophy Wednesday. The Lions have had success using defensive back blitzes to supplement their pass rush in the second half of the season, and while that's led to them allowing some big plays, it's also helped them create more turnovers and negative offensive plays.
"I’m willing to give up something to get something," Campbell said. "And sometimes you’ve got to — things may happen, but that’s OK because it’ll pay dividends by the time you hit the fourth quarter and I think that’s what we’re doing. I think it is a salty group. They play hard, they’re pretty sound and we’re competitive. I think (defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn has) done a hell of a job of mixing things up. We’ve got enough coverage versus pressure there. We’re starting to figure out some of our better pressure players, guys that can do that on the perimeter. And I think you see our confidence going up."
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∎ Jahmyr Gibbs sparked the Lions offense in last week's playoff win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with 114 yards from scrimmage and the game-winning 31-yard touchdown run.
The No. 12 pick in last year's draft, Campbell said Gibbs has "improved in everything" over the course of the year, but mentioned his pass protection in particular.
"And that’s not something that you say, ‘Well, we got him in here to protect,'" Campbell said. "No. But he’s got to be able to do it and he’s grown leaps and bounds in that regard. I think you see he’s getting better in the pass game out of the backfield. That was somewhere we felt like there was a ton of room to grow. And it’s getting better, and better, and better. And he’s still got so much room to go there, but his running ability, his vision, he’s just, to me, he really is a complete back that’s continued to develop. But really, since the, I felt like the — we played the Ravens early in the year and that’s when you felt like, ‘All right, here come — the light’s coming on.’ And he’s just, every week, gotten better, and better, and better. So, he’s playing at a high level right now."
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Highlights from Detroit Lions' Dan Campbell's crowded news conference
