Following the Detroit Lions’ 26-23 victory over the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium, here is what Dan Campbell had to say. The Lions have won seven straight games and are now 8-1.
First sentence:
“Man, congrats to DeMeco (Ryans), the coach of the Texans, and their staff. We knew they were going to fight. They were also prepared to leave. They gave it their all, man. The game was fiercely contested. I am proud of the men since we had to fight our way back in there. We clearly need to clean up some things, but they just would not go away, guy. Our men refused to leave. Although we only had one play here and one play there, I think our defense played well in the beginning.However, as you exit the game in the second half, there have been four punts, two picks, and a field goal missed. That is enormous. We just needed to get our takeaways, so we discussed it at halftime. It was only a matter of time until we managed to draw it within one score, and then you felt like, ‘Okay, now we are starting to find our way here.’ The defense did that, and I assumed we would wake up on offense. And our fans were a huge assistance. They assisted, got a false start on them, and caused one with roughly eight minutes remaining in the fourth. Listen, we had a lot of fans that traveled like them. Anyway, great victory, and congrats to the boys.
Regarding his faith in K Jake Bates:
“I will begin here. We played a live end-of-game scenario Thursday after practice, with offense and defense facing off with six seconds remaining and one time-out remaining for victory. With one second remaining after the timeout, we rolled him out there, and he did a fantastic job. (Jared) Goff hit Saint (Amon-Ra St. Brown) and got it to the plus-43. There was a little wind blowing on his face outside. When we arrived, it was the first thing that came to me. I was gazing at it and thinking, “You know, you go for this,” and I felt comfortable about it. I simply had the impression that he would succeed, and he
If he is ever been this confident about a kicker:
Yes, most likely. I trusted Badge (Michael Badgley) a great deal. Although I truly did, I believe that at this time, that is a reasonable evaluation. Here, we are getting some quite lengthy kicks. Sometimes you need that when you play a game like that, but I do not particularly enjoy doing that all the time. Jake Bates responded to the bell.
Regarding Aaron Glenn, the defensive coordinator, and the second-half defense:
“We lose that game if we do not play defense like that. In the end, we took the offensive action that was required. We managed to find our way and position ourselves to score a few baskets, but it is difficult without the defense and five mistakes. That is a tough way to win. We were a little off on a few things after that, but that is basically where it starts. We have no chance of winning it if the defense does not play that way. I have nothing but praise for Aaron Glenn, the Lions’ defensive coordinator. We adjusted a few things.We also realized we were playing good ball at halftime. One play here, one play there was the pattern. After a while, we sort of moved on from that and continued playing the same way. We discussed C.D.’s (Carlton Davis) interception coming out at halftime, even though I know it did not work out. That is just how it goes. The men think we can pull this off. It will take place. They are off the bench, on the field, off the bench, and our defense will have to reload after three and out or interception on offense. Those guys deserve praise for it. A.G. plays a major role in that.
Regarding his response to the field goal that won the game:
It is good. Right down the middle are inches. It is exactly in the middle, in my opinion. I was thrilled. That game requires a lot of effort. You are immersed in the feelings of that kind of game. You know you are playing the long game when you get into that one. Since you will not be able to finish as far down as we did, you will need to take it one possession at a time and figure out a way to finish this game to the very end. You will not be able to accomplish it with just a few belongings. We persevered. For him (Bates)
