Dan Campbell Press Conference | Dec. 8, 2025

Dan Campbell Press Conference | Dec. 8, 2025

good coaching, uh, productive team. Anyway, it’s a, this will be a big challenge on the road at their place, but, uh, once again, looking forward to this. This is, uh, this is why you’re in it. So, questions. I was a 11 personnel guy forever. I mean, that was kind of what they did. Ton of 13 this year. Seems like a pretty drastic switch. What What do you see on tape when you look at that? What are they doing? And, um, you know, why are they so so successful doing it? Well, I I think a lot of this under center run um gives them a chance to um you know to really lean on you a little bit. You know, that’s where a lot of it has changed is uh there’s there’s more of a concerted effort in the run game I feel like to be um you know to apply pressure on you. Um, I think that gives some of those receivers a break, you know. Um, that helps a little bit. And now you bring them back in at 11, uh, you know, it’s it’s just a good change up and I think there’s predictability in 13. Normally, you know what you’re going to get. Sometimes in 12, you don’t know if you’re going to get nickel or base defense. So, that’s another reason. They know what they’re going to attack, right? U, they know probably the defense, the fronts, the coverages. That helps. Um, and they got they got tight ends. I mean, they’ve got some tight ends that are they’re versatile, can do a little bit of everything. That’s always going to help. Um, you know, and I think uh McVeyy’s always done a good job of uh putting players in the best position to have success using using the roster, the totality of it as much as you can use your personnel. If you’ve got it, use it. And uh he does a great job with that. Corm has uh spearheaded some success in the run game for them. Just how have you seen that pick up over the last four games or so? How much more dangerous does it make their passing offense when their run game is clicking like that? Well, ju just like no different than us. I mean, if you can run the ball, you you you’re uh it becomes very dangerous because uh now just the play pass off of that, you know, you have to honor the run cuz you popped a couple there. There’s a concerted effort to uh you know, to hand the ball off and uh and so you have no choice. You got to fill the gaps and then you play pass off of it and you got a guy like Stafford back there throwing. I mean, he’s an accurate passer. He’s on point, you know, obviously he’s done this for a long time. He knows the coverages. I mean, he just, you know, he’s playing at a high level once again. Um, uh, but like Corm, he’s a good back and, uh, you know, it they’ve got a little bit of a one-two punch over there. Both of those guys are really good. Um, you know, they gave him a load yesterday. You know, he rushed for over a hundred. Um, so I I think it’s uh it’s a good change up. I think both of those guys, they’re a little different, but yet to me, they’re both powerbacks. They’re both able to go downhill and slice and get under you and and move the move the pile. Um, you know, they’re quick, they’re explosive, they’re twitchy, they’re versatile. So, uh, to answer your question, it helps them. I mean, it certainly doesn’t hurt them. Uh, it just gives them another element there. Back to news from from last week. Brian obviously out for the season, the Achilles. What sort of mood is he in and what sort of bind are you guys in at safety right now in helping Kirby help that maybe coming back? Well, anytime you lose somebody like BB, it’s going to hurt. I mean, he’s a productive player. You know, he’s a he’s uh he’s, you know, he’s he’s an outstanding football player and uh and he’s a he’s a team guy. He’s a great locker room guy. Teammates love him. So, you lose all of that, you know, and that that hurts. That’s going to hurt you any time. Now, that being said, Maddox went in there for him the other day and we thought he did a hell of a job. He really did. I mean, he he played his tail off, which is why he’s here because he’s a football guy and uh he’s got versatility. Nickel that can play safety. Um, man, he put out a lot of fires back there for us. Made quite a few plays. So, that’s encouraging. Um, so, you know, we got him, we got DT back there. Um, you know, Howlet’s played there before. We’re going to see if Kirby, you know, see where he’s at. Get him some reps here in practice. And so, um, we, you know, we’re we’re good, man. We signed Kazee, see where he’s at practice squad. Um, so we we got options here, but, you know, it’s like anything. You lose a good player, it hurts, but but, uh, it’s not like we’re in dire straits. What’s Harvard’s status? We saw him exit on Thursday. Harper’s another one. We’ll see. He’s still in concussion protocol. no setbacks, but yet, you know, I I don’t know if we’re going to have the runway to get him or not. Um, you know, and I’m just kind of as of right now, I’m like until we get further along here, I’m just kind of we’ll see. Um, but certainly if we could get Harper back, that would be really good, too. Yeah. Just kind of the mindset. Final quarter of the season. Last couple of years you were being chased. Now you’re kind of trying to chase teams down over this final quarter. Just how you approach that? Same. Uh, it really is the same approach. Nothing is nothing has changed um just in that regard. You got to win. You know, we had to win last year. That’s that’s the way it felt. Um you know, you never felt like you could uh take a breath last year. You you’re you’re constantly trying to you know, it was for something different, but yet you’re, you know, you’re trying to get the one seed, you’re trying to get that home game, you’re trying to get the throughout the PL, all this stuff. And now it’s no different. It’s just we got to win. We need to win. Uh you know, we’re trying to get back to that spot. So, all that matters is this one just like it was Dallas, man. We had to win that game. We had to find a way to win that game. And uh we did everything right. Not everything, but but relative to that game and everybody doing their job, we we did what we needed to do to win it. Played complimentary football. We got to do it again on the road versus the Rams. Very good team. Uh playing at a very high level. So, and and we got to play better. We got to play better to beat this team that we’re getting ready to face. And we will. We can do that. We can play better. We will play better. Sorry about that, Dan. Um, when when you play a quarterback like Stafford that’s so good at manipulating the safeties with his his eyes and you have the moving pieces you do there, what what is maybe some of the the emphasis coaching pointwise to, you know, make sure those guys are are playing with good eyes, with good discipline in that that that spot. Well, I think it’s it’s just that you do the best you can to to uh you know, for them to understand that he will try to manipulate you. Now, you also, you know, at some point, um you can’t just sit there, you know, at some point you have to move and and he knows that, too. I mean, that’s why he’s good at what he does. He knows that, too. But at some point, you know, if you just sit there and he’s baiting you. Well, if you don’t move, he don’t throw it, you know. So, you still got to move. It’s just understand you could be he could be trying to move you here a little bit. He could be trying to manip manipulate you. You got to play your keys. And then, look, we got to get to them up front. You know, we got to cause some disruption. Like last week, that was one of the things we did a really good job of. We were able to to disrupt um you know, what they were doing and it it paid huge dividends, man. It got us three takeaways or really two. Um so, you know, we and a lateral that was huge. Um so, we got to do that again. You know, the front is just as important as the back end. Um you know, these guys will understand what they’re getting ready to face. We know this is a this is an outstanding quarterback and he’s got weapons and uh they’re versatile and like I said, very good coaching and and uh so, you know, we got to find a way to get takeaways. You got to do it. We got to do it again. Do you like having these these like mini buys? I mean, you got another one coming up in a couple weeks, but how does that help the team? And then flip side of that is, you know, uh first game of the season coming off the buy, you guys lost those games. So, how do you make sure the guys are where they need to be Sunday? Well, that’s a downer, Dave. Thank you for that. Jeez. Well, I don’t know, Dave. Well, I guess we’ll find out. Uh yeah, I do. I mean, listen, that that’s a hard stretch we just came from. Just like Dallas just came off that stretch, too. That’s We had to do that last year. That’s difficult. Um, you know, it it’s not easy on the players. It’s not easy on the coaches. Um, but but it’s it’s what’s on the schedule. You do it and you find a way to win. Um, and we did that. But you need the breather. You know, these guys needed that. And uh, so you get a couple of days off and uh, like I said the other day, catch your breath. And now we we get ready for these guys. get ready for the Rams and um you know we got to put together a good game plan which we’re trying to do right now. Uh and these guys come in and we’ll be smart about how we work this week too. We we’ll get some work but we’re also I also know what we just came from. Um so we’ll we’ll get some work but we’re going to be smart and there’ll be some mental reps in there, some walkthrough reps, but and then we’ll move a little bit but want to make sure we got plenty in the tank this week. You said after uh after the Dallas game that was the best complimentary football you guys have played all season. Uh why why do you think that was? Well, maybe a long time. It’s been a while. Um why do you think that was and then how do you replicate that again? Well, I I just think it was um look, the the takeaways go a long way, you know. Um I think between here here’s when you get the returns that we were able to get. Tom Kennedy was big for us. The return game was huge. You get the field position you’re able to get, you know, Fox punts it, man. We pin him inside the four. We get a stop was dang near a safety. Um, we get the takeaway, we turn it into seven, right? We get another takeaway, we turn it into seven. There’s 14 points. We get a takeaway at the end, turns to a victory, we take a knee. Um, man, we were just clicking it all at the right time. And it was like when if something if something um uh went against us, we lost a little bit of momentum, man. The other unit picked it up, you know, they shut it down. Um, so they score over there, man. We score. They score. We score. We fizzle out. defense gets a takeaway or gets the stop. Um, they make a play, man. Special teams, we get it to the 45. There’s a return to the minus 45. Those are huge. And, uh, that’s that’s when all the other stuff doesn’t matter. When you can do that in a game, you that’s how you win games in this league. Brad, did you see enough from Frasier to maybe get a start there this week? And uh, that’s hard to say. I don’t I don’t I can’t say that. Now, that being said, every rep he gets is only going to help him. I mean, that’s those are real reps against real dudes, real opponents. Um, and that’s the most significant reps he’s had. It’s not even close. I mean, he hasn’t there. Again, you do the best you can in practice, and he’s gotten some good stuff with Mack and those guys, but we’re talking about maybe three weeks of practice and uh maybe a 100 reps if he’s lucky in practice. So, now that being said, do I want to play him? I’d love to play him some more. Is Mahogany close? I mean, how close is Mahogany? We’ll probably try to get him some work this week. I don’t know. A lot of it’s going to be what does he look like this week? And and honestly, I don’t expect a lot right now, this week, you know, but I do think he’s starting to feel good enough to to work him into practice. Ways and just the critical nature of of getting them. I don’t think it was by accident that that your linebacker got a couple of them with Jack’s punch and Derrick’s first regulation or regular season pick. How critical are they that linebacking core especially with the injuries to the secondary going forward here? They’re big and they’re one of the reasons I all those guys uh you know were were a factor but those man we put a lot on our backers the other day you know some of those coverages we were playing a lot of them that puts an enormous amount of stress on your linebackers. I thought Alex played really well. I thought Barnes played really well. Jack Campbell was all over the field but to your point that was a concerted effort man. Jack Jack almost got three more of them out. I mean, he got his hands on three other ones. Um, so he’s going after the football. He looks like he does in practice. That’s what he looks like in practice. He goes after the football and he’s not just punching blind. Doesn’t mean every once in a while he doesn’t coalcock one of our own guys, but he sees it, man. He’s going after the football. And really all of Alex almost had one. Um, we actually got in there and a tackle was made, but Alex was coming up from behind. He was about to get one out. So, the guys are going after the football and it shows, man. It pays dividends. You go after the football, you see what you hit. You make a concerted effort. One of your teammates gets him wrapped up. The other one comes in there and takes the ball away. Bite the football. And uh we got to do it again. We have to Dan, obviously the Stafford traded a long time ago, but is that a win-win deal for both teams? I mean, you look at what that did for you and obviously what it did for them. Is that rare? Look, I know we’re excited and I’m sure they’re excited. So I, you know, however you want to look at it, I know on our end, we’re we’re fortunate to have the guy we have and to get uh all that we were able to get. We’ve got SU, we got Saint, we got uh a lot of good players, and we got golf. So um so I know it feels like a win for us, and I’m sure they do, too. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. N. [Music]

Hear from Head Coach Dan Campbell as he speaks to the media on Dec. 8, 2025.

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