Everything Detroit Lions Dan Campbell said after the Lions defeated the Vikings at Ford Field

Here’s everything Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell had to say after defeating the Minnesota Vikings 31-9 in Week 18.

Opening statement:

“Hey, how’s it going? Woo, man, what a win. What a win. Guys, I can’t say enough about our defense, let me start there. (Defensive coordinator Aaron) AG (Glenn) and this defense, they really controlled it game for us — especially the first half, the first two and a half quarters. Those guys on defense I thought executed exactly the way we had been working and what we had been talking about. We were able to apply a lot of pressure, and the just paid off, you know, that’s a good team over there. (Vikings head coach) Kevin O’Connell does a great job, and we were able to hold them off and keep them in check until our offense was able to find our rhythm. So just a total team effort and took the whole unit. What a job back-to-back division winners in NFC North, got the one seed, 15 wins, I just couldn’t be more proud of those guys. And I just told them this has been in the works for a while. You know, it takes a special group of guys. And I think you kind of had to go through what we’ve been through the last four years—the core of this unit—and then everybody that comes in falls because they, that’s what we’re built around, is our core. And they really delivered for us today. Our playmakers made plays when we needed them.”

On how much of a boost Alex Anzalone’s return gave the team:

“That was huge. Look, I’ve said it before, he’s really our quarterback on defense. He’s our quarterback on defense, and you know, he just brings, there’s a lot of confidence that he brings, a lot of energy. He can calm the storms, he just, to get him back, you know, and I thought it would take him a minute to work himself back in. And it didn’t take long at all. He was back to what he was before he was hurt i thought so I mean he gets a game ball. So to get him back was huge.”

On why they took the defensive approach they did tonight:

“Yeah, yeah, nice job there. And it really was, you look at all the—(Vikings QB Sam) Darnold has really been playing better and better every week. It feels like he’s just continued to make this gradual increase and continued to improve and what you really see is man when he gets the play and they’re pushing the edges or they’re going to max protect some of this stuff two receiver routes three receiver routes and he can see it and has time he is deadly, and we couldn’t allow that to happen. We didn’t feel like there was any way we could let him sit back there because we thought he’d tear us apart, you know? If you give him that much time , because he played at such a high level with the weapons they had, and so we knew it had to be the right balance of coverage and pressure, and we tried to bring more than they could handle for the most part, and then we had to hold on to the rear end, and those guys did, man, they really covered their tails for most of the game. And then we were able to make enough plays to where we could double (Vikings WR Justin Jefferson) 18, take care of him and we picked some guys off – like Alex (Anzalone) was one-on-one with (TJ) Hock (Hockenson) about a number of things. And then it just worked. It really worked out exactly how we envisioned it, so I couldn’t be more proud of those guys. (Defensive coordinator Aaron) AG (Glenn) laid the vision for it. The guys really showed up and performed, and man, it was great.”

On RB Jahmyr Gibbs’ performance:

“He was big and I felt like he was picking up steam as the game went on. I thought he was getting better and better and better. You could really feel it after one of, you know, the last stop we got in the red zone on the fourth stop, and you know, the next carry he has — where he just breaks it down the sideline — you know, you could feel it. So he was big for us, and we felt like he had to be big for us to win that game He was pretty much everyone those guys that were going to play well for us, but we felt like Gibbs could kind of be the x-factor here, and he did, man. He showed up in a big way in the run game and the passing game.”

On today’s performance exemplifying the identity of the defence:

“Yeah, I mean, I think with where we’re at, look at it, there’s no secret. Like we have to be able to play a certain way and the recipe is right as long as our guys play light out. They do exactly what they’re asked, they work as a unit and they go after the football. And if we do those things, we can be effective, and they did today, man. I just felt like they played high , high energy. They did exactly what the coaches asked them about, everybody did their part to a T and you see the results of that. And so yeah, it’s a special group, man, it’s a special group.”

Jahmyr Gibbs Gashes Vikings, Lions servant no. 1 seed after 31-9 win

On whether he can put into words the significance of the team’s regular season performance thus far:

“I don’t know if I can put it into words, you know? There are so many things on my mind that I’m not ready to share if that makes sense? So no different than anybody else on that team, on the coaching staff and driven by different things, and so we did what we had to do here. You know, it was a big matchup. We came off a Monday night game against an opponent that had us last year and our guys didn’t bat an eye. They show up, they compete, they play to win – and we knew what was at stake and our guys just came out and played. At the end of the day, when you sit back and go through a game like this, you say, ‘Man, did we have enough? We talked to the coaches, ‘do we have enough? Is that right? Is it too much? Have we really gone through the finer details of this? What if they do?’ And you finally step back and say, “Man, our guys show up, they always do.” Our players are going to show up and play because the core of this group has been doing it for four years now, and we’ve been adding to it, and those guys have just kept adding to it and helping us along, and improving, and they did it again now. Our guys did it again.”

The defense said something about the attack after Terrion Arnold’s injury and the atmosphere on the sidelines:

“No, look, we were good. Our defense was, we had talked about all along, we knew we had to play a certain type, a certain type of game, and it didn’t quite play out that way because of the circumstances. But our defense was ready. If things didn’t go right our defense was ready to go on the field and do what they had to. And you know you don’t go on the field and you’re have to get a stop and they did, you know, and they really set the tone for us.”

On CB Amik Robertson’s performance and impact on the team:

“Yeah, he is, look, that’s why we signed him, you know. We were lucky enough to play him, had crossover ties last year. He’s competitive, he’s as competitive as they come. He doesn’t turn down any challenge, and you know, whatever you can say, ‘Hey, cover that guy,’ and he’s going to give you his best—he’s not going to back down from it, he’s not going to fear that. He has skills, he has abilities and it’s not always going to be perfect but you know you can trust what he’s going to give you. And once again, man, he showed up for us. And look, we doubled up some – you know, we trick over him, we had it where he had help at the forefront – but then we also wanted to pick him and you know, Amik has just been, he’s really one of the guys that has helped us play a really good defense this year and play it style of defense that we want to play and (Defensive Coordinator Aaron) AG (Glenn) wants to play to be able to challenge more on the perimeter. That’s big for us.”

On the injury update for CB Terrion Arnold:

“I’ll know more tomorrow. I mean, obviously it was enough to where he couldn’t finish the game, you know, so take it for what it is.”

On Lions CB Terrion Arnold getting X-rays:

“He did. The x-rays were negative, but that doesn’t mean…he was pretty sore, you know.”