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Coming off of an impressive season, the Detroit Lions are ready to run it back and build off their success as being one of the top threats of the NFC. Lions head coach Dan Campbell spoke to CBS Sports' Jonathan Jones to touch on how the team looks at themselves heading into the upcoming season with an NSFW response that should motivate any fan of the franchise.
In terms of the vantage point other teams look at Detroit, it is very much different as they were perceived for a long stretch of time as an afterthought. Now, the Lions are top to bottom arguably one of the best teams in the entire NFL as even Campbell said to Jones that they have “targets” on their backs.
“I think our guys know where we’re at,” Campbell said. “I would say this: the motivator is we still have things that we circle, too. We have our own s***list. So we’re the team with the target on our back, but we’ve circled some people too now. We have targets, too. It’s not like we just ran through everybody last year and blew everybody out. We had losses and tough games. We have division opponents. We lost in the NFC Championship Game. So we’ve got our own targets man. And that’s the motivator.”
Campbell talks about the Lions players stepping up as leaders
The run of success started when Campbell took the job to be head coach for Detroit which no one saw as a great destination to revitalize the team. While the first season ended with a 3-13 record, the win total shot up to nine the next season, and eventually the 12-5 record the team had from last season.
Campbell has always known to be a fiery and energetic head coach which was popularized during a press conference speaking to the media where he said he wants the Lions to “bite the kneecaps” of opponents. Though he is no doubt a vocal leader, the goal always was to have players step up as leaders.
“Until they take the reins, then it's my job and the coaches' job. Until they find their own voice and they lead this team, then myself and this coaching staff will lead this team,” Campbell said. “And the best teams are led by their leaders and by their teammates and peers. It's not from the coaches. And that's what's happening, and it's always been the vision.”
Jared Goff stepping up as Lions' leader amidst huge season and contract
One of those players was star quarterback Jared Goff where after several solid seasons with the Los Angeles Rams, they traded him to the Lions where some people thought his run of useful production was done. Last season proved those same people wrong as he threw 4,575 yards (second in the NFL behind Miami Dolphins star Tua Tagovailoa), 30 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions.
The exceptional season led to a contract extension lasting four years and worth $212 million, showing that the Lions feel Goff is their franchise quarterback. It would not be Goff's first rodeo as he would also have an extension with the Rams in the past, but said this one was “much harder and had a deeper meaning” according to Jones.
“I do feel a lot different,” Goff said via CBS Sports. “This was obviously much harder and had a much deeper meaning to the city and the fans. And I had to go through a lot personally to get to this point. That's the main difference. I think the last three or four years have taught me that every single day is valuable.”
“I feel like every day I have to prove myself, because at one point it was reality,” Goff continued. “Well… it is reality, but I feel that in my heart and I don't think that'll ever leave me. And I think maybe when I was in year 3 with a new contract I thought, ‘Oh I'm just the starter.' And you don't know any better sometimes. I feel like because of everything I've gone through, I feel like every single day I have to go out here and prove myself to myself and teammates and coaches that I'm the guy to lead them.”
Goff not letting contract extension get to his head
However, Goff would rather have the mindset that not anything in the NFL is given, but continues to be earned. So there will be no room for coasting as he looks to “actively proving myself every single day.”
“But it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks,” Goff said. “My thought process has changed to that way and I think that's the way to be. How long am I going to play football for? I don't know. Hopefully a long time, but maybe one day I won't be playing here and I hope to look back and say every single day I went out there and tried to prove myself. Whether it works or doesn't, at least every single day I was never resting on my laurels. And I don't believe I was and I don't mean that to be the case. But I'm more aware of it now.
“I'm much more aware of actively proving myself every single day,” Goff continued. “And even though people may say, ‘Well you've proven it. You're the starter and you've been the starter for eight years.' I don't see it that way. And I don't know that I ever will. And that's the way I am.”
Detroit is hungry to prove themselves again in 2024
There is no doubt that the Lions had the their most successful season in decades as they went all the way to the NFC Championship game and were even close to making it to the Super Bow. However, they blew a 24-7 lead to the San Francisco 49ers to lose the game which no doubt will make this Detroit team even more hungry this upcoming season.
“The more has got to be the focus on the details,” Campbell said. “One of the things I always felt we did a great job of and preach around here was handling pressure. When everything's against you and your back's against the wall and you don't have timeouts and defense you're pinned down in there, that's when a lot of people crack. And we don't crack. We find a way to get out of it. And that game, we did. We cracked. And that team did not. They came to life and found their momentum and that's why they went where they went.
“That's the little next step we have to get over,” Campbell continued. “We have to be able to handle it at that level, even if it's on the road against the top tier opponent. That's the next level.”
The last time the Lions made a conference championship game before last season was in 1991 and the last time they won it was 1957. They look to break that streak and win the NFC North once again as they open the 2024 season against the Rams on Sunday, Sept. 8.
