Everything Dan Campbell Said After Lions Defeated Giants

On if it was always going to end with Jahmyr Gibbs in his mind: 

“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. But I had a good feeling, I think we all did, about Gibbs. He just – you could feel it today. We were blocking him pretty good, and it was just, it was a good job. And he finished it.”

On players coming up with big-time plays when it was needed: 

“Well, I mean, that’s our guys. That’s the core of our group here. That’s why we have the guys that we have, because they are resilient. Even when we’re off just a little bit, when we need it most those guys can resort back to their training. Just stay in the moment, and, ‘man you’re about to get my best rep.’ And it’s competitive, and they believe they can will it to happen, and they make plays. It’s no different than what (Aidan Hutchinson) Hutch did at the end of the game, man. That’s a huge fourth down when we needed it. That’s our guys, man. I trust our guys.”

On the passing attack on the final two drives: 

“Well, number one, the protection was good. Those guys up in front did a heck of a job. Gave (Jared) Goff a minute to see it. And just his procedure in two-minute, I thought was great. He did a really good job. And there again, guys made plays, man. They stepped up, made plays, got ourselves in position. We would have liked to finish that without it going into overtime if we could, you know. We’d like to try to get into position where we can score a touchdown, but didn’t quite get there fast enough. That’s alright, man. You do what you’ve got to do with the time that you’re given or what you’ve got left. (Jake) Bates finished it out for us. But it was good. Those guys were on the same page, (Amon-Ra St. Brown) Saint made some big plays for us, and there again (Goff), he ran the show.”

On the defensive stop in overtime: 

“Yeah, I mean, big time. What they were able to do, I mean, that stop before we got the ball back was huge. Down there in the red zone. That was huge. That’s what gave us a chance. I already had to use two of my timeouts, and so, it’s – you don’t want to say it’s over, but it becomes very, very difficult. You’ve got to score in a hurry, and you’ve got to get an onside kick. Whereas – that changed the whole game, with that stop. Defense, once again, stepped up for us. And look, there’s things we can clean up, I know that. But there was a number of things that we got thrown our way, that we adjusted to, we got hit on, they’re not always going to all be that way. But there again, when we needed it most, those guys stepped up.”

On the timeout after the ball was spiked during the final two minutes of regulation: 

“Yeah, so, the headset, communication, I don’t know what happened with that, to be honest with you. I just knew I couldn’t get to (Jared Goff) him. So I don’t know if something happened, I don’t know. The procedure of what goes on for me, from me to him. Yeah, it was just one of those oddball, weird deals, where thank God it didn’t cost us, to where I can to use it.”

On if he was relieved the Giants didn’t kick a field goal late in regulation: 

“Well, I think, the big thing was we couldn’t give up a touchdown, for sure. As long as we can keep it within one score, you’re good to go. But yeah, I mean I’ll take anything I can get. We thought they would probably go for it, I mean, he went for it a number of times, he did that with Green Bay last week too. And that was a big stop. So, look. Anything is going to help. Any fourth-down stop I’m going to feel good. And you’re going to be relieved, you’re going to feel better. Because you don’t have to go the distance anymore, you just – you’re trying to win the game, but you’re just trying to get into a position where you can at least tie it and go finish it in overtime.”

On why the Giants were able to be so explosive on offense: 

“Well, there again, there were a number of gadgets they threw at us, they got us. Some of it, man, he was able to kind of worm his way out of there. I mean, that’s what (Giants QB Jameis) Winston does. I mean, he’s pretty strong and he was able to kind of get out of there. And then all of a sudden, man, it’s on, and the play gets really, really long. Well, a couple of those, we had a couple of guys run into each other. You’ve got receivers running downfield, and Winston’s going to throw it out there, now. He’s just going to lay it up. Some of it we were a little more pressured than we have in areas, and so now you can be a little bit bare on the backend. You’ve got to get to him, and we weren’t able to quite get to him fast enough and some things. And so, now you’re getting strung out on the back end. Look, I thought Winston played an outstanding game. I thought he played a really, really big-time game and made a ton of throws. And that’s what he’s capable of, that’s what he can do. I thought he played out of his mind. So, that’s – there again, there’s things we can clean up, but you’re not always going to see that every week or get that every week. And those guys, well, they came in to win this game. And we knew they would, they came in fighting. Credit those guys, credit (Giants Interim Head Coach Mike) Kafka.”

On how important the punting and returning units were today: 

“(Jack) Fox was outstanding today. I know there were four inside the 20, I don’t know how many he had inside the 10. I mean, it had to have been – to your point, I mean, they’re back there backed up. That was going to need to be big for us, because we knew those guys were going to lean on the run game. I mean, they almost ran it 40 times. We knew they would, they did it last week. And so, I just thought Fox, man, was big time today. He did, he pinned them. And when your defense runs out there and you’re backed up, that gives you – it’s a pretty good feeling. So, it was big for us, the field position. We weren’t always able to capitalize, but we were able to enough. Enough to win this game.”

On what this kind of win can do for the team: 

“You never know what these can do. Sometimes, it’s just important to remind yourself what we’re all capable of, even when the chips are down and things get hard. You don’t ever forget how to dig in one more time and find a way to lean on each other and do your job. And anytime you can get a win like this, it’s a good thing. It’s a good thing. Because that very easily a number of times could have gone the other way, and we all know it. But it didn’t, it didn’t. we made the plays we had to make.”