Rams coach Sean McVay: Ford Field atmosphere 'incredible' for Detroit Lions' playoff win
Dan Campbell played in a Super Bowl as a player and was an assistant coach on a team that hosted an NFC championship game, but the Detroit Lions head coach has never seen a crowd as delirious as the one that helped the Lions to their first playoff win in 32 years Sunday, 24-23 over the Los Angeles Rams.
"That is arguably the best environment I’ve ever been in," Campbell said. "That was absolutely electric, and I think what’s crazy is I was coming down for pre-game warmup and you could just feel it. It was humming. The building was humming, and I swear you could feel the electricity down the tunnel from where I was coming down, and it only just grew from there."
The sellout crowd of 66,367 — the eighth-largest in Ford Field history — greeted the Lions with ear-splitting cheers as they took the field for pregame warmups and booed Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, who played 12 seasons in Detroit, as he ran out of the tunnel.
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They serenaded Lions quarterback Jared Goff with chants of his name — repeatedly, both before and throughout the game.
And they forced the Rams to burn two timeouts in the second half to avoid delay-of-game penalties.
Using those timeouts early — one after the third play of the second half and another early in the fourth quarter —came back to bite the Rams when they had just one timeout to stop the clock after the Lions started their final possession with 4:07 to play. Goff threw for two first downs, then took three kneel-down snaps to end the game.
"It was an incredible atmosphere," Rams coach Sean McVay said. "The fans, they were booing my ass when I walked out and they were all fired up. And I loved it, it’s what’s great about NFL football and this city is a great football city and so nothing but respect. But I did not think — I thought our players did an excellent job, I didn’t think that was a factor in the least bit for us."
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Goff, who played his first five NFL seasons for the Rams and was part of the package the Rams traded to the Lions to acquire Stafford in 2021, said he has never experienced a crowd like Sunday's or been on the receiving end of that sort of ovation before.
"It was pretty unbelievable," he said. "The people here are special, man. I’m grateful and I’m grateful for their support and today with the circumstances that were there, it meant a lot and it was special."
Lions linebacker Alex Anzalone, who played home games the first four seasons of his NFL career at New Orleans' Superdome — one of the loudest stadiums in the NFL — said Sunday's crowd exceeded his wildest imaginations.
"You try and anticipate it, you try to imagine it," Anzalone said. "You know it was a little more than what you anticipated. You know the fans were going to be riled up and ready to go. It was just awesome we were able to give them a win."
The Lions will host their second playoff game next Sunday at Ford Field against the winner of Monday's game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Campbell said the environment could be even more electric.
"Our fans showed up in a big way," he said. "I thought for two years now that building’s been rocking. It was different today. That was a whole 'nother level. It’s what the playoffs are all about. So, our fans showed up in a big way. They helped us win this game.”
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Dan Campbell on Detroit Lions' 'electric' crowd 'helped us win'
