Everything Dan Campbell Said After Detroit Lions Loss to Steelers

Here is everything head coach Dan Campbell said postgame, following the Detroit Lions 29-24 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Opening Statement: “Credit to those guys, (Steelers Head Coach Mike) Coach Tomlin, you know, they won that game, so. You know, look, it’s frustrating. I was proud of the way the guys fought, we fought our way back in that. We had an opportunity to win the game, which is ultimately what you want. But we weren’t able to close it out. At the end of the day, that’s on us. We did that. We’re the ones who put ourselves in that position where we had to try to score on the last play. But some of the efforts were outstanding, and it was just too little too late. A lot of – we just didn’t make enough plays.”

On the offensive pass interference penalty on the final play: “I mean, I don’t even want to get into it. Because it’s not going to change anything, we still lost. It’s – I mean look, you think you score, you don’t score, and then you think you’re going to have another play. Replay it or back it up, one more shot. And it doesn’t. And that’s just, I guess that’s the way it’s written in the rulebook. So that’s frustrating. But there again, it should never come to that. We had our opportunities. We weren’t able to put it in before that play.”

On why it was difficult to get the run game going: “Yeah, just couldn’t quite get it going, man. You know, made some hay in the pass game, (Lions QB Jared) Goff was in a good place, our receivers were making plays, that’s kind of where our explosives were showing up, and so, you know, went that route. And then we come out, and really in the third quarter we only had those three plays. And that was it for the third, and then we were down two scores. So, now you’re definitely throwing it. So, just didn’t make enough – certainly, I wish we could have run it more, I would love to run the ball a little bit more than that. A lot more than that. It just wasn’t one of those days.”

On the Steelers playing better today: “I can’t argue with that. Look, the ground game says it. I mean, they’re rushing. They rushed it, they had a lot more carries. And some of that was, you know, our defense was on the field for a while. And when you’re able to convert and stay on the field a while then you can kind of bounce from run to run to run, to play-pass, to – it just opens your offense up. And that’s what they’re able to do. And they can. You run a play, you get the look. You run the opposite of that and see how they respond, and then you get a look. And we just weren’t able to do it and they were. I can’t, they got after us. I mean, they rushed for over 200 yards. And only 15 for us.”

On if he agreed with the penalty on Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown on the final play: “I didn’t see it. I couldn’t even see. Man, I was looking at the protection, and (Lions QB Jared) Goff, and then I saw the catch.”

On St. Brown deciding to pitch the ball to Lions QB Jared Goff on the final play: “Yeah, it was a headsy play, man. He wasn’t down, and just to stay alive for the last play, man. That’s what (Lions WR Amon-Ra) Saint (Brown) is, he’s a freaking smart, instinctive player. Gave us one more shot, we thought, but it didn’t work out.”

On the explanation for the offensive pass interference call on Lions WR Isaac TeSlaa: “Just that. They said he, it was, you know, that it was OPI. He ran into the defensive back, or whoever it was. Which, I mean, there’s nothing you can do. They see what they see. And I didn’t see that one either, so I have no idea.”

On if he regrets not kicking a field goal early: “No.”

On how the substitutions on both sides of the ball have taken a toll on the team: “Well, I don’t – you know what, here’s the – you love having guys that are there every week, of course. Because you get used to it, and you build a rapport, and you’re all on the same page. But that’s – man, we’ve lived this for three years. We should be better than that, you know. We’ve got to get our guys ready. We can do better. Every team’s got injuries in this league. Most of them have some type of injuries. You’ve got an injury bug somewhere. And as coaches we’re charged with having those guys ready, make sure we’re on point. The substitutions, the whole thing, that’s what we’ve got to do. And I know this guy, (Steelers QB Aaron) Rodgers, is really good about messing with you on third downs and stuff. You know, they roll out, and see if you’re substituting, then he gets back on the ball. And we talked about it, we worked it this week, and they got us a couple times. But, you know, you’ve just got to have those guys ready, that are going to play for you, and then you try to help them with the call. As much as you can reduce the burden on them, and make calls that help them too, that’s what you’re trying to do.”

On where the team stands right now: “I mean, look. It’s frustrating. We just lost two in a row, you know. That’s the worst – I don’t know. I don’t know what all of this is or isn’t. I know we’ve got two left. And I just want to see us finish. I just want to finish, our style of football, with two to go, man. You know, and try to play four straight quarters of good football. Clean football. Efficient football. That’s what I want to do. And we’ve got a short week now. We’ve got Minnesota, we’re back in tomorrow. I’ve got to have a game plan ready for these guys and we’ve got to be ready to go out to Minneapolis and put it all together and execute.”

On how the diminishing playoff hopes will affect his message to the team: “Yeah, I mean kind of what I just said is what I told them. We’ve got two to go. I just, I want to see us play with our identity. With what we are and what we’re about. We’re big boys in this league, man. You pull your pants up and you go to work. And you can’t feel sorry for yourself. It doesn’t mean it doesn’t sting, it doesn’t feel bad. But we have nobody to blame but ourselves. It’s on us, and it’s also on us to finish. We’ve got two to go.”

On the lack of consistency in being able to string together four good quarters: “There’s a lot of errors, man, that have popped up. We’ve got some mental errors here or there, or a lack of self-discipline. And look, ultimately, I put that stuff on me, man. That’s on me. There’s no other way to cut it, other than it’s the head coach. So, you know. It’s on me, man.”

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