What Dan Campbell Said After Dolphins Loss: I Trust Kyle Allen More

Here is everything Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell said after the team's 24-17 loss to the Miami Dolphins in their third preseason game.

Opening statement

“OK – we had an opportunity to win there at the end and we just weren’t able to finish it out. I told the team really, it was more about – you want to know you’re playing complementary football. That’s the big deal with me. You guys have been around. They know that, and so as long as one of your units is keeping you alive, you can weather the storm. But then we kind of, we hit that rough patch. There in the fourth quarter, it’s 3rd-and-1, 3rd-and really half-a-yard and we don’t – we get a penalty, backs us up, then we don’t convert. Then defensively we punt them down there, but defensively we can’t stop them. They chew up most of the fourth quarter and kick a field goal to go up seven and then we couldn’t answer back. So, we just stalled out there at the end, but lot of guys made some plays, when they had their opportunity and really the story for us, as far as the loss goes, is too many penalties. We just, t here were way too many penalties that we got to clean up.”

If Jackson Meeks has made the roster conversation difficult at receiver:

“Well, he’s somebody that we feel like has improved every day, every week, so you’re always going to take notice of those guys. He’s going to be somebody that we talk about tomorrow. He’s going to come up because he’s elevated his play and he is noticed. So, we’ll be discussing him for a while tomorrow.”

On Sione Vaki's versatility:

“It was just good to get him out there. I mean, that’s where I would start. He’s missed most of camp, so to be able to get him out, get him some significant reps on special teams, on the offense, I thought he did a few things. But so, that’s where I’m happy. I don’t – I’ll know more about exactly what it looked like, but it’s just good to get him out there on the turf moving the football again.”

On his confidence in Kyle Allen:

“Yeah, I mean, it’s pretty confident. I mean, here we go. This is his second week in a row you, you know, in a competitive setting here that he’s moved the football for us and made critical throws at critical times. I thought the two-minute drill at the end was awesome, right before half. I mean, that was – he’s got really good command of the offense, he communicates very clearly, he doesn’t get frazzled, he doesn’t worry about anything. If he does something that didn’t (go) quite right or he makes a mistake, like, he doesn’t get frazzled. He’s onto the next play, which all of us appreciate that. So, he’s done a good job, I do have faith in him.”

On the backup quarterback competition between Allen and Hendon Hooker:

“Yeah, well, we just continue to work with Hooker. I think right now, we’ll talk about it tomorrow but I’d like to get him some more reps next week. I’m talking about Hooker. I mean, we’re going to get them both reps, but maybe we – we might start him out again for that game and let him go with that unit. So, Hooker – I did like that two-minute at the end, I thought that was good. Took him awhile to get going, but once we got in an end-of-game setting, I appreciated the fact that – Yes, we got to score, yes we’re under two minutes, but he – the ball went where it was supposed to by coverage. He didn’t try to force anything. He was in it. He’s calmed everything down enough to know that, man, we don’t have to force it – just take what’s there, let the players do the rest of the work for you and then that’s – it’s just one of those things that happened at the end of the game and that’s tough. He’s going to throw it and then the kid makes the play over there and it’s tough circumstances.”

On if Kyle Allen is the clear leader to be the backup:

“Yeah, I mean, he’s playing better, he’s playing better. So I would say that right now, if you’re saying – if you had to go in with the (no.) two right now, ‘Who would you trust more?’ Yeah, I would trust Kyle more because he’s proven more after these two games. But I’m still – we’re still going to coach (Lions QB Hendon) Hooker up. We’re still going to see what’s there and see if we can get him better. I mean, we still got a little bit here.”

On Erick Hallett's versatility:

“Yeah, well he is. He’s a guy that can play all the positions and so – you need a corner, you need a nickel, you need a safety, he can do them all. Mentally, he knows them all. So, that gives you the ability to – really it’s about, ‘Well, what can the next guy do? Well, we know he can only play this, OK well Hallett, you need to go over there then – you become safety or nickel.’ So, he’s kind of our get-us-out-of-trouble there. But yeah, we wanted to get a good look at all those guys and we didn’t have a ton of them, so we wanted to make sure we tried to roll them through and keep them somewhat fresh but give them good looks. Look, man, we played a lot of man (coverage) today, we played a lot of man so those guys were in – it’s good but it also, man, it’s taxing. It’s taxing on that group back there to do that play after play. I thought, man, we got our hands on some balls – we didn’t finish on them, but we did. I thought they were competitive and pretty stick for the most part.”

On the defense working on creating takeaways:

“Yeah, I was fired up because that was a point of emphasis this week was – man, getting balls on the ground, getting balls up. Now, we didn’t come up with them, but they’re hitting the turf and that – that’s how you do it, and then you get them on the turf, they’ll start – the ball will start bouncing our way. The hard part is getting them out, so I mean, we – with my eyes alone, I saw four on the turf. We didn’t get them, but I saw them and we had an opportunity to, so that – we had another two that I saw on the back end, you guys were talking about that we had our hands on. We didn’t – we weren’t able to finish on the interception, but I’m like – theore tically we could have had six turnovers today, that’s good. That’s a step in the right direction, so that was encouraging.”

On Isaac TeSlaa's continued improvement:

“Yeah, I would say he continues to grow. You know – you ask about (Lions WR Jackson) Meeks, Meeks has grown every day, every competitive setting, he’s just taken a step up and TeSlaa’s the same way. TeSlaa is just continuing to grow and get more comfortable. He’s getting more confident and he’s making more plays. You know, I bring this up, every time those happen, you gain trust in those players – you gain trust. So, every time he makes a play and he makes a play in a critical – whether it’s in practice or out here, you begin to – OK, that’s – you start, that’s money in the bank and that’s good for us, because at some point, we’re going to need to use him this year, he’s going to have to help us, on special teams and on offense, so that’s encouraging.”

On Nate Lynn's performance in the preseason:

“Yeah, that’s good for a guy that did – you know he got hurt in camp last year and couldn’t do anything by the way. He didn’t get to do any practicing during the season, couldn’t do practice squad. So, he’s essentially, it’s kind of rookie season part two, so to see him kind of take another step here and grow and get a little bit better, it is good. He’s – like I said, he’s having a pretty good camp. (Lions DL Keith) Cooper’s (Jr.) having a pretty good camp. We’ve got a few guys in there that they’re turning our heads. (Lions DL) Myles Adams – I got to see the tape and see all of it today, but Myles’ has had a pretty good camp too, so that whole D-line unit’s doing pretty good right now.”

An update on rookie DE Ahmed Hassanein's injury:

“Yeah, I mean, not really. He is, out of the ones we had today, he might be the one that could be a little bit. So, we’ll know more in the morning. For everybody else, I think we got out OK.”