Notes: Dan Campbell believes it’s important to finish 2021 strong

Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell was a guest on NFL Network’s Good Morning Football this morning. You can watch the entire segment in NFL.com’s video archive, and it is chock full of good stuff.

After a question about the preparation that led to the huge win against Arizona from Peter Schrager, former NFL center Shaun O’Hara had high praise for Campbell’s leadership: “I love listening to you talk, I would love to play for you. You bring all kinds of passion to the team, to the game, and I love your leadership.” Campbell joked that he would have loved to play with O’Hara because “you got Super Bowls, man!” (the GMFB co-host played 11 seasons for the New York Giants and was part of the 2008 Super Bowl Championship team).

O’Hara asked Campbell to tell the viewers something people might not know about Jared Goff, and the coach spoke about his quarterback’s toughness. The example Campbell used was Goff taking a shot, coming off the field for a play to get his knee checked out, and then returning to the game to make the huge touchdown throw to Josh Reynolds at the end of the first half. Goff’s ability to bounce back from getting hit was apparent in Week 15 against the Cardinals, so you know the Lions fanbase has a good appreciation for it.

Brandt brought back a clip of Jason Cabinda raving about playing for Dan Campbell from an appearance the fullback did on Good Morning Football on December 9th:

Asked to respond to that, Campbell turned it around and said it was impressive how Cabinda made the transition from linebacker to offense and does so many different things for the team. The superback is a fan favorite for many reasons, and it’s clear he’s a coaching staff favorite as well:

Speaking to Rachel Bonnetta (filling in for host Kay Adams) on finishing out the season strong, the Lions coach was optimistic that the work being done now would have an organizational effect in spite of the rough win-loss record.

“We’ve talked about all year that this for us needs to be about building the foundation,” Campbell said. “You know, we’re pouring concrete right now and it’s not—you know there’s nothing glorious about it—it’s not always going to be fun. It’s hard work. There’s a lot of blood, sweat, and tears in it, but you want to see it start to pay dividends and I feel like we’re starting to get there now.”

To wrap it up, Schrager and Brandt finished on some light notes. First up, Schrags pulled a clip out of the vault of Jon Kitna throwing a touchdown to a tight end on Christmas Eve in 2006:

Hilariously, Campbell walks them through the route and the play, getting compliments from the hosts for a great “hands catch” and head fake on the touchdown. Brandt then closed it out with a most important holiday question: what is Dan Campbell’s favorite Christmas movie? Coach Campbell went with a classic, but later in the day, he had a bone to throw to those disappointed it wasn’t more action-oriented.

Again, you can watch the entire nine-and-a-half-minute interview on the league’s video site or on the Detroit Lions’ video archive. Really nice segment and lots of fun. Now, on to the rest of today’s Notes:

• Also from the Dan Campbell media session that happened later in the morning after the GMFB segment:

• This week’s episode of The Sideline with Dannie Rogers went up on the team’s official YouTube account this morning.

• O’ RLY:

• Whether or not Josh Reynolds returns to Detroit after this season, you know the team will be looking at wide receivers. MLive’s Ben Raven has an article on five prospects Lions fans may want to know more about in anticipation of the upcoming offseason.

• Okay, this is a good quote pull from MLive’s Ben Raven. Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn telling us why the Lions went after Kyler Murray hard in Week 15:

• Dave Birkett from the Detroit Free Press wrote about ball-handling issues. One the team is putting work into (Igwebuike) and one the team is not concerned about (Jack Fox placeholding).

• Someone on the Lions’ media team is an outstanding cookie decorator: