Dan Campbell postgame media availability | 2025 NFL Regular Season Week 12: Lions vs. Giants

Dan Campbell postgame media availability | 2025 NFL Regular Season Week 12: Lions vs. Giants

All right. Uh, give credit to that team, man. They, uh, you know, they played hard. Threw the kitchen sink at us. Um, but we knew they would. I mean, that’s what the tape said. So, good luck, Preston. See, there you go, buddy. Good luck. Um, but, uh, man, I’m I’m proud of the guys. I mean, we we hung in there. Uh, we fought. You just you felt like the next series was going to be the one that that, uh, we were going to get the upper hand and, uh, and we did. you know, that’s it’s not easy to hang in a game like that where there’s things that aren’t going perfect. Um, but at the end of the day, when we need it most, man, guys showed up, you know, golf showed up, St. Brown showed up, Hut showed up, Gibbs showed up, O line, Dline, man, our coverage aspect, rocking those guys, getting Reed back. Anyway, it was just, man, it wasn’t perfect. There are things to clean up certainly. Uh, came down to the wire, had to win in overtime, but I’ll take that win. That’s a good win. What more can you say about Gibbs? Just the impact that he has week after week and big play after big play. Dan, he’s electric. He’s electric, you know, and he’s just he’s a game changer. Um, now I’m I’m going to give credit to that O line cuz I I thought they really dug in today. Um, and and did a good job in receivers as always. You know, you don’t get those you don’t get those knockout runs unless your receivers are blocking. But but Gibbs, he’s electric. And uh man, when he found a crease, he he was going to the house. This was not about first downs and, you know, picking up a few yards or explo. I mean, this guy’s going to the house and he’s got the juice to make it happen. He’s got vision. Um he’s a difference maker. So, he was I mean, he he bailed us out today in a big way. on the uh overtime run specifically like what’s just going through your mind the second you see him find a little bit of a crease like it was you know and and really that’s why you caught you’re hoping it’s like all right man he you know he finds a crease here um and sure enough he did and it was well blocked and he it didn’t take much for him. You get a hat on a hat and he’s going to find it and then he’s got that he’s got home run speed. So uh just it’s a good job all the way around hanging in there. Um, you know, there again, good win. It’s a good win. It’s not perfect, but listen, we’ll take it. Coming up clutch, Jake Bates with the the field goal, you know, obviously. Yeah, big kick. That was a big kick. That That was big time, you know, and uh I mean, you know, and for him, he’s uh there again, he’s clutch. I mean, he just when we need him most, he goes out there and he makes the kick for us. you know, that’s not an easy kick. I mean, I don’t know what that was. 60 yards somewhere in there. So, um, but to have to go out there and ensure that we’re able to get this into overtime, that’s a big kick, man. And it took a lot of, uh, a lot of our guys making big time plays in critical moments, you know, and for some of the things that didn’t go well, those were the things that did go right, and that’s what wins in this league. What did you take us inside the headset in overtime and basically was it was it going to be Gibbs all all day? Was it going to end with Gibbs in your mind that drive? Uh there it was going to be him somewhere in there for sure. I wanted to lean on him, but I was going back and forth on who exactly we may start with, you know, but but I had a I had a good feeling, I think we all did, about Gibbs, you know, he just you could feel it today and uh we were blocking him pretty good. Um it was just it was it was good job and he finished it. said a couple times, you know, guys coming up big. I mean, maybe it wasn’t the cleanest games start to finish, but when you needed it, your biggest players, your most important players came up with big time play. What does that say about your team and about those guys? That moment comes and they deliver. Well, I mean that that’s our guys, right? I mean, that’s that’s the core of our our group here. That’s um that’s why we have the guys that we have cuz they are resilient and uh even when we’re off just a little bit, you know, when we need it most, those guys can can uh resort back to their training, man. Just stay in the moment and uh and man, you’re about to get my best rep, you know, and it’s competitive and they believe they can will it to happen and they make plays, man. And no different than what Hutch did there at the end of the game. That was a huge fourth down uh when we needed it. So, um, that’s our guys, man. I trust our guys. Gave up some passing plays in the game, but came up big there at the end in regulation to give Bates a chance there and then obviously in in overtime. Do just talk about the effort there on those two series specifically to to give you guys a chance even though maybe it wasn’t their perfect day. Yeah. Well, number one, the protection was was good, man. Those guys up front did a heck of a job, you know, and uh gave golf a minute to see it. And then just his procedure in two-minute I thought was great. He did a really good job. Um and and there again, guys made plays, man. They they stepped up, we made plays, got ourselves in position. We would like to finish that without it going in overtime if we could. You know, we’d like to try to get in position to where we score a touchdown, but uh didn’t quite get there um fast enough. That’s all right, man. You do what you got to do with the time that you’re given or what you got left. and and then Bates finished it out for us. But it was it was good. You know, those guys were on the same page. Saint made some big plays for us. Um and there again, golf, he ran the show. You know, defense coming up with a with a few stops there in overtime and in the end there to to to be huge for you guys. Yeah. I mean, big time, you know, what they were able to do. I mean, that stop before we got the ball back was huge, you know, down there in the red zone. I mean, that that was that was huge. Um, you know, that’s what gave us a chance. I already had to use two of my timeouts. Um, and so it’s, you don’t want to say it’s over, but it it becomes very, very difficult. You got to score in a hurry and you got to get an onside kick, whereas that changed the whole game with that stop. So, defense once again stepped up for us. Um, and look, there’s things we can clean up. I know that, but we there was a number of things that that we got thrown our way that um that we adjusted to. we got hit on. Um they’re not always going to all be that way, but there again when we needed it most, man, those guys stepped up. The two minute drill. Um can you explain what happened after the the spike that led to the timeout? Yeah. So just man, I the headset communicate. I don’t know what happened with that, you know, to be honest with you. I just know I couldn’t I couldn’t get to him. Um so I don’t know if if something happened. I don’t know, you know, the procedure of what goes on for me from me to him to um that yeah, it was just one of those oddball weird deals where thank god it didn’t cost us um to where I had to use it. Were you there late? Was I rel Well, I I think the big thing was we couldn’t give up a touchdown, you know, for sure because as long as we could keep it within one score, you’re you’re good to go. But uh but yeah, I mean I’ll I’ll take anything I can get. We thought they would probably go for it. I mean I you know he went for it a number of times. He did that with Green Bay last week, too. Um and that was that was a big stop. So um look, anything’s going to help. Any fourth down stop, I’m going to feel good, right? You’re going to feel relieved. You feel better, you know, cuz certainly you don’t have to go the distance anymore. you just you’re trying to to win the game, but uh but you’re just trying to get in position where you can at least tie it and and go finish it in overtime. You mentioned before the big plays that they hit. Why were they just able to to hit some of those explosives so consistently? Well, there again, there was there was a number of gadgets they threw at us that got us. Um some of it, man, he was able to kind of worm his way out of there. And that’s what Winston does, man. is pretty strong and he he he was able to kind of get out of there and then all of a sudden, man, it’s on and it the play gets really really long. A couple of those we had a couple of guys run into each other and you got receivers running downfield and and uh Winston’s going to throw it out there now. He’s just going to lay it up. Um some of it we were a little more pressure than we we have in areas. Uh and so now you’re you know you’re a little bit you can be a little bit bare on the back. you got to get to him and we weren’t able to quite get to him fast enough in some things and so now you’re getting strung out on the back end and look I thought Winston played an outstanding game. I thought he played uh a really really big time game you know and made a ton of throws and you know and that’s that’s what he’s capable of. That’s what he can do. I thought he played out of his mind. Um so you know that’s there again there’s things we can clean up but um you’re not always going to see that every week or get that every week. Uh and and those guys boy they came in to win this game and we knew they would. They came in fighting, you know. Credit those guys, credit captain today. You guys, I don’t know how many times they were pinned inside their their 20 on punts and then Khif had that big return just before halftime that kind of helped you get a some points there. big time. Fox was outstanding today. I know there was four inside the 20. I don’t know how many he had inside the 10. I mean, there had to have been, to your point, I mean, they’re back there backed up. That was going to be that was going to need to be big for us, you know, cuz we knew those guys were going to lean on the run game. I mean, they almost ran it 40 time. We knew they would. They did it last week. Um, and so I just thought Fox, man, was big time today. He did. He He pinned them. And, you know, your defense runs out there and you’re backed up. that gives you, you know, uh it’s a pretty good feeling. So, it was big for us the field position. Uh we weren’t always able to capitalize, but um but we were able to enough enough to win this game. Last question, Dan, you’ve had several of these kind of wins over the last few years, but not really this season. What What can it do for you? Because it feels like it’s been part of your identity, you know, in a way. Yeah, I you you just you never know what these can do, you know, and uh sometimes it’s just important to remind yourself of what we’re all capable of. Even when the chips are down and things get hard, you know, you you don’t ever forget uh how to dig in one more time and find a way to lean on each other and do your job. Um and anytime you can get a win like this, it’s a good thing. It It’s a good thing. Um cuz that that very easily a number of times could have gone the other way and we all know it and but it didn’t. It didn’t. We made the plays we had to make.

Hear from Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell following the Detroit Lions 34-27 overtime win over the New York Giants during Week 12 of the 2025 NFL season.

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