Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell's postgame press conference after victory over Patriots

Well, the effort of all of our players, I thought, was outstanding, man. The energy, the attitude to get ready for this. And I tell you what, just the, man, the support, the support that we felt as a team. I know Saint probably just spoke on that, but you could feel that immediately, especially with his first big play. You know, our defense takes the field. We end up holding the field goal, but then Saint's big catch, man, makes somebody miss. Runs it in. Our guys are running down. They help him in the end zone, and you can just hear the crowd erupt. So this has been an unbelievable experience. It's been very special because we did feel like this was a home game. We felt like this was our home, and that was important. Everybody's taking unbelievable care of us all week. I mean, just the hospitality has been unbelievable here, so this is icing on the cake. Well, yeah, I got mine two nights ago, all right? I went ahead and got my victory beer because I don't know if I'm going to be able to get it tonight. We've got to get right back on the plane and get ready for next week's game, but I'm with you. We're going to enjoy this victory. This meant a lot to us, and, you know, when you're able to win and be in this environment that we were able to be in, it's one of those things you'll never forget. I spoke to him before we left, and he is. He's in good spirits, and he continues to get better every day. I did not get into details of this trip. I just wanted him to know that, hey, I'm still thinking about you, and just stay the course. That was really it. Yes, sir. Very proud. You know, and I mentioned that the starting point for all this was going to be energy, you know, our attitude or energy, and that showed up early. You know, it was there. You could feel it. But our O-line, D-line, we're going to need to. Man, we're going to need to be able to establish the run and stop the run, you know, to do what we needed to do. And you could feel our O-line running off the football. And then, listen, you run off the football and you get guys on blocks, you put a hat on a hat, Gibbs will do the rest. You know, he'll do the rest. So, but you could feel it, man. The O-line really showed up today. I was proud of those guys. And the defense. That's one moment. Yeah, well, I'll tell you what. I'm just going to give you the whole experience. Um... Look, there's a number of things in the game, but, you know, we do the national anthem of both. That was pretty cool. There was actually two. It was pretty cool. That, you know, it's very prideful. Like, look, I'm not from Germany, but I can feel it. I can feel it, and that's pretty cool. You can feel the sense of pride here. And number two, a song that I know very well, in the third quarter, John Denver, Country Roads. I'm like, whoa. You know, I wasn't expecting that. And everybody in the stadium knows it. It blew me away. I'm like, wow, okay, that's a little piece of home. And, you know, it was cool. It was just very cool. Okay, so we got this code. We're gonna locate it on the ground. Yeah. Nothing new. We'll know more when we get back in the States. But any time you lose a player of his caliber, type of teammate he is, he's a captain of ours, that doesn't make things easy. But I thought guys stepped up. You know, in his wake and, you know, showed up for us today and helped us out. Well, I think, look, you know, it's what I just mentioned. Anytime you lose a player like that and you don't know the entirety of it, you know, but knowing Hutch for who he is, you know, it's like he doesn't stay down long. You know, it does, it hurts a little bit. But as far as this game was concerned, our guys stepped up and finished, man. We stayed strong. This is not the second, this is the second time this has happened. Our guys have responded in a tough situation and didn't bat an eye. We just went back to work, and that's not an easy thing to do. But no, certainly you don't want to know that, you know, a player like that is down. Well, we like him. That's why we acquired him where we did. And I know this, Derek Moore gets better every game. The more reps he gets, he gets better. It was good to get Wanham back today. We know what Mack is. You know, Sky, you know, can create in there. So can Ty Lee. And so, and all those guys, even Levi and Lacey, they bring a different flavor. But they push the pocket. They've got length. But I think the important thing here is, man, we did what we had to do to get out of this game. Um, you know, with a win, played really good defense, and I really thought the back end played outstanding. We played some sticky coverage today and bought us a little bit of time. Those other guys, it's, we're improving. We got to go. You know, we got to go. We'll see where Hutch is at, but we, like, we got to step up now. We need some guys to really step up, and if that is the case, fill that void. I'm sorry, say it again? Yeah, just, um, well, I, I... I know this. Before we started this trip, we talked about it, and it's a three-game season for us. You know, yeah, we came into this, whatever, we played eight games, and now we had three. And it started with going to Germany, going to Munich, and playing New England. That was one. We've got two more. And so those guys know it. We're on a three-game schedule here. Um, and this was the next one and we're not going to use excuses. We're going to get back on this plane. We're going to go over and, and we're going to get ready for the next opponent, which is Tampa Bay Buccaneers back at home. Uh, I don't, you know, I don't get too much into that, uh, necessarily as far as we, we have really good, you know, we acquire players that, that, uh, we got a lot of faith in the good, the good people. Um, listen, that doesn't mean they're perfect. That's not, I'm not perfect. But the point is, you know, they know how to handle their business. And then you just kind of give them a nugget here and there and show them the way a little bit, and they're great, man. So those guys, they were locked in for this trip, you know, knew what we had to do for this game, and they'll be ready to get back on this plane and go back to the States and get ready to play again. Thank you. Well, I don't know if it always comes off. He's very driven. He is highly competitive and very driven. When you put him in those situations, if you... You're just in a setting where we're sitting here and we're talking. He's very easygoing, fun-loving, great sense of humor, just very, man, he just, you know, he's the sunshine. All right, guys. You would never know or think that anything could rile him up or get him to that different, you know, whatever that is. And that shows up. You roll the ball out there and you tell him you're in a one-on-one or it's a competitive setting, and all of a sudden, man, the animal comes out. And he's been blessed by God, but he's made the most of what God's given him to. I mean, he really shows up and does everything he can do with that ability. Thank you. First step.