Notes: Trick-or-Treating with the Detroit Lions

One of the media availability sessions on Friday was conducted by head coach Dan Campbell. Naturally, there was a lot of good football information and talk about young players the team wants to continue developing, but also some fun stuff thrown in. Coach Campbell ran through some names he saw good progress from, and mentioned “Scrap” before correcting himself and saying he meant practice squad linebacker Tavante Beckett. When pressed about nicknames, Campbell was evasive: “you need to talk to (linebackers coach Mark) DeLeone, Jerm (Jalen Reeves-Maybin), and Anzalone, because... don’t ask me. I just - I go with what they’re named by. Everybody says that’s their name, so. You call them by their real name, they don’t even look at you.” The team posted the entire media session on their official YouTube channel:

Nine minutes into the video, for the final question Campbell gets asked about how he went trick-or-treating in rural Texas growing up. He didn’t hear the question at first, but once he realizes what he’s being asked about, the coach laughs and goes into storytelling mode with an “Oh, you know what, this is pretty good.” Either watch the clip in the video or check out the clip pulled by the Lions’ media team on Twitter:

We hope everyone stays safe and has fun as we head into Halloween weekend. Whether out getting your candy fix or staying home to watch some football, you can be sure all Lions fans will be hoping for a treat on Sunday in the form of the team’s first win of 2021.

Now, on to the rest of today’s Notes:

• Lions running backs coach Duce Staley was a member of the Philadelphia Eagles for many seasons during his playing career. He now faces them from the opposing sideline, and MLive’s Kyle Meinke has a piece on coach Staley’s thoughts heading into this weekend’s game against his former team.

• According to a chart posted by NextGenStats analyst @joeyanalytics, Jared Goff appears to be about average against relatively conservative two-high MOFO defenses but does not punish more aggressive single-high MOFC defenses enough. Seems about right. Side note: woe be to those who want to try and stack the box against Matthew Stafford.

• Justin Rogers with the Detroit News has an exclusive with Lions special teams coach Dave Fipp:

• Chris Burke and Jourdan Rodrigue have a heartwarming story (subscription required) about Lions linebacker Derrick Barnes and Rams offensive lineman Andrew Whitworth.

• According to the Lions Cheerleaders’ Twitter account, there will be a giveaway at this Sunday’s game: free tailgate aprons to the first 15,000 fans at the gate.

• Joe Marchert, a new media producer who works for the Detroit Lions, posted this fun clip:

• While special teams coordinator Dave Fipp has been away from the team due to COVID protocols, former Lions long snapper Don Muhlbach is helping fill in. MLive’s Kyle Meinke has more on the Muhldozer’s increased role this week.

• Fox 2 Detroit’s Dan Miller taped an exclusive interview with offensive tackle Matt Nelson, who wants to be a doctor after he is done playing football.

• The Detroit News’ Rogers also has a follow-up on that “Aaron Donald photo”: