Everything Dan Campbell Said After Lions Defeated Commanders in Preseason

Here is everything Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell told reporters, following a 17-13 home victory against the Washington Commanders.

Introductory comments

"Got off to a shaky start. But then, you know, overcame it. I thought the defense played, you know, good football. Really good football, man. Disruptive and, you know, got us some stops there. Got us back in it. And then we capitalized on offense. Really, for the most part, third-down and fourth-down were obviously good for us. You know, the takeaway.

I thought special teams was a factor in this game. I know it's preseason (game) two, but man, I thought our coverage units were big. We forced penalties. Jack Fox pinning them. I thought the kicks by (Jake) Bates on the kickoffs were important. I mean, he's getting better at them. And I just thought guys played fast. And so we, defensively we were able to play in their territory a ton, keeping them backed up. So, that was good. Number of these guys I thought showed up, man, played at a high level. I can't wait to watch the tape. And then there was some that, you know, we'll see that weren't as good. But ultimately, it's good to win the game. Questions."

Assessment of the two quarterbacks who played against Commanders

"I thought there was some highs and lows. Certainly, you don't want to start the game the way we did. That's not all on him. We didn't pick up the protection the way we should. He gets hit there, but he got out of it, and I thought that run was big. That's something that he is capable of. That was a big third-down run for a touchdown. And then, I thought when he came back out in the second half, because we put Altmyer in, I thought Dobbs was, he did some really good things.

Altmyer, I still think he sees the field really well. There's just a couple of things that he got on him. It's always going to be about, for him, is just playing a little bit faster. Can he play faster? Which I know he can play faster. He just needs reps. And the more reps he gets, the better he is. So, it wasn't perfect, but I thought both of those guys did some good things, and there are some things to clean up."

On the young defensive linemen like Skyler Gill-Howard and Derrick Moore making plays when the bright light came on during a preseason game

"Yeah, we like these guys. There's a lot of promise in that d-line room. There's a there's a lot of guys. We played (D.J.) Wonnum there for just a tick there. I thought what he represented, it was good to see with those other guys. Got him out of there. And then, (Derrick) D-Moore, that's really, D-Moore hadn't had a ton. Really this last week is what he's gotten in pads, because he had that that injury, that groin injury. But that was good to see. Now I got to watch the tape. I just know with him, he's another guy, a young guy. The more reps he gets, the better he's going to get. So, that was good to see him make plays.

And "Sun Bleach" (Skyler Gill-Howard) just continues to make plays. He does it at practice. You can feel him out there, you know, and he just is relentless. He plays snap to whistle, and he's all out. And he's got to be right, you know he does, because he's not a huge guy. But he knows who he is and he knows how he has to play. He plays with high effort, and he's crafty, man. He's explosive and he's violent."

How equipped are the Lions to now win games because of the improved defense, being able to take advantage of Kelvin Sheppard using various blitz packages on defense?

"Here's what I would say with that, because we had all this up last year, and we used quite a bit of it. The difference now is that these guys are in the system. A lot of these things we want to do now, that we've been doing, so we're much more evolved, man. I know they weren't playing, like Jack (Campbell) wasn't playing, but Jack's got even a better understanding. And then the guys that did play, man, (Malcolm Rodriguez) Rodrigo is another year in this. (Derrick) Barnes is another year in this. Freaking Now is (Trevor Nowaske). Tyleik (Williams) is. Wonnum is understanding this system.

Man, our DB's have got this thing. You know, (Avonte) Maddox is in there, and (D.J.) Reed's in there. We are smarter, man. We're more evolved. We have a better understanding of time on task with these, why we're calling them, what we're trying to take away, where the offense wants to go with the ball, when you're calling this stuff. And so, I think that's where we've really grown. And I know it's early. It's a preseason game. But that's that's the biggest evolution. (Kelvin Sheppard) Shep has done a really good job. And the staff."

What is assessment of the contributions made by the running backs who played?

"Pretty good, huh? I mean those guys ran hard. They ran hard. It's good. I mean, any one of those guys, it was good to see. I mean, 47 made plays, 25 made some plays. 26, he's getting checked, he kind of got dinged there. Obviously 42, I mean, these guys, I thought they ran hard. I thought they saw it. They just kept pushing the pile. It was already interesting. It feels very interesting right now, especially after that performance, on some of these guys. So, that was good to see.

I thought we moved them up front with the o-line. There was obviously a few times that we whiffed. We didn't target right. But when we were locked in, I thought we moved the line of scrimmage. So, that was good. We have a lot of things to clean up. There was still some slop in there that we got to clean up. But, it's a good job of winning the game, man. We played in all three phases and finished that game being able to take a knee. There's no better play football."

How has tight end Jackson Meeks continue to progress?

"I told him the other day, you just continue to get better. He continues to grow. This tight end thing is still kind of new to him. The good news for Meeks is he's strong, the athleticism. I mean, he was in the receiver room, he was really a big X. So, I think we all kind of know what that is, but he's strong and he's willing and he's smart. So, it's just time on task. He's another one. You see how he attacks special teams. He gives our guys fits, and special teams too. Some of these looks, whether he's on that team, or he is (lined up) opposite of the ball. We're really talking about punt, I'm on punt rush, man, he gives our guys fits. So, that was good to see. Thought he did some some really good things today. Made some critical plays."

Why did running back Sione Vaki not play?

"He woke up yesterday, and he just had kind of a knot in his back here. It's not major, but it's enough to where, it's one of those bad spasms to where we were hoping we could get it out of there. Give him some stuff to hopefully loosen it out. We ran out of time with it. Now the good news, we would have loved to have seen him. I told him that. He wanted to play. But also, he got some really good work, coming off of a broke nose, a punched out eye. I'm like, 'I think we're good Vaki for a little bit here. We'll get this to calm down. He'll be ready to practice this week, I would anticipate. I think we'll be okay there."

A player not talked about a lot is Lucky Jackson. How is he factoring in the wide receivers competition?

"That room is hard. I mean that room is very difficult right now, because there are guys that are making plays. And you're right, Lucky, there again, he does something every day to catch your eye. I feel like he's really grown in that room as a receiver. You saw, what you just said there, and he does. He also makes plays on special teams. That's always going to give you a chance here. I hate to say he's quietly just gotten better and better, but there are things about that that feel that way. He just, he continues to kind of make plays. There's nothing flashy about him, but he's a handful in a good way.

Between he and 17. I thought (Greg) Dortch made some plays. I thought T.K. (Tom Kennedy) made some plays. (Dominic) Lovett made a couple of plays. It's a strong room. It's a strong room. (Tarik) Black."

Injury update on wide receiver Cedrick Wilson Jr.?

"I don't know for sure. I'm worried. I'm worried on that one. I love Wilson, man. He is just, he's a smart, crafty football player. Gets it. Can play all the spots. Receiver, special teams. We don't know. We're that knee looked at. We don't know. But I'll leave it at that."

Does the little things Tay Martin does override the lack of putting up big numbers on the box score?

"I would say the opportunities he's been given, I don't feel like this is something where, man, he had these glowing opportunities that he didn't capitalize on. I don't feel that way at receiver. I feel like he's made a couple of plays that were there. He really hadn't got, now listen, I can tell you there was two plays today where his number was called for an explosive, and he's open, and we didn't get it there. We either missed on the protection, we didn't block the guy who they were responsible for. So we're going to have time. So, that takes that away a little bit. But, he does all the dirty work. He's pretty smart. There again, on special teams, he created another penalty. He just continues to do good things, man, as a receiver and special teams. So yeah, I think it's hard to ignore him."

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