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Here is the transcript of Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell’s postgame press conference after the team defeated the New Orleans Saints, 31-30 in overtime, to begin the 2026 NFL regular season.
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Opening Statement:
“Look, give them credit, you know, they played hard. We knew they’d come in here ready to fight. They got that whole O-line back after last year. Quarterback’s kind of what I said, man. He’s here to stay, I think. He’s a good player. But man, our guys showed up when we needed it most and it came in waves. But we kind of talked last night about, at any given time, man, you’re going to have to rely on the unit next to you, the man next to you. And when somebody goes under, man, you got to pull them up. That was really what happened today. We found a way to get the win, and now with the win, we can clean up what needs to be cleaned up. Man, defense, three takeaways, that was huge. That was huge for us, and we were able to turn those into points. I thought (WR Amon-Ra) St. Brown and (Lions RB Jahmyr) Gibbs had some really big-time performances for us. O-line blocked it up pretty good. There’s some up and down in there, but you rush for 160, and we’re close to breaking three or four of those. (EDGE Aidan Hutchinson) Hutch played really well. That was big by (Lions CB) Rock (Ya-Sin) at the end. And (LB) Derrick Barnes was all over the field. You could really feel that. And then special teams (WR) Tay Martin, man. He was a difference maker today. Good to get the win and it’s good to have the win where you know you can clean it up, and you don’t have the L to where you got to clean it up. So we’ll take that.”
His emotions after the game that felt like a 12-round fight:
“I mean, Week 1, you just – you never know. You have a feeling, and you never know the way it’s going to go, but you know, especially a team like that, man, that’s up-and-coming. They’re young, they’re hungry. Man, this is their new hope for the season. They’re going to throw it out at you, and they did that. It became that kind of game, and we hung in there and made the last play. We made the last play to win it, and that’s the most important thing. So yeah, I’m going to go home and prop my feet up for a minute – my foot, my one foot. Prop my feet up for a minute and then get on to Buffalo. Clean this up and get on to Buffalo. But we’ll take that.”
What changed in the third quarter after a 21-0 Lions lead:
“Well, really, I think more than anything, when you’re able to get more swings at the bat, and they come a lot quicker, you can find a little rhythm. And that’s kind of what happened. We were playing pretty good defense. We possessed the ball a little bit more in that first half, and then we fizzled on offense. And so, if I’m going one way or another, I’m like, man, we got to be more efficient on offense. We kind of spit and sputtered there, and then they get more cracks at it. Then they’ve kind of found a little rhythm, you know, had some tempo going. They trickled it in the first half and then came back to it in the second. (Saints WR Chris) Olave got going. He got through the defense. There was a couple of things where – and we know what Olave is, he’s dangerous. If you don’t get hands on him sometimes, man, he has entry into the defense and if he’s able to hold, (Saints QB Tyler) Shough’s able to hold it for a minute, he can find him. So those plays were significant, but at the end of the day, man, the three takeaways were big for us. We shut down the run game, which is our bread and butter. That’s got to be our bread and butter. We were able to pressure this quarterback. At the end of the day, the very last, the two-point conversion, we got pressure, and (Shough) had to get rid of it, and it worked out.”
On his theory of deciding to play or not play starters in the preseason:
“Yeah, I mean, to each his own. Man, that’s up to you. However you want to, you know? You want to play them, you don’t want to play them. That’s each coach’s own decision. I have no thought. I know what I did and why I did it, but we’re all good.”
On what he thinks of Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs’ increased workload in Week 1:
“Well, I thought it was a very promising Week 1. Certainly, we know what Gibbs is, what he’s capable of, and he’s still not there yet. And I mean that in a good way. I’m telling you, we were this close to breaking three or four more of these, like breaking them wide open. I mean, shoestring away, just a little longer block at the second level. We were close. We’re going to get that cleaned up, and he’s going to get better. Week 1, yeah, I like where he’s at. I’m glad he’s here.”
On if he is OK with Gibbs having 24 carries before overtime and being on pace for more carries this season:
“You know what I like? Winning the game, man, and we were going to win this game. That guy’s our hot hand, and ultimately, do I want to set records with how many carries? No, that’s not something I want to do. When you look at a guy, and you feel like, ‘alright, man.’ He’s in good shape. I mean, he had a really good camp, and he is in phenomenal shape. He’s in the best shape I’ve seen since he’s been here. Now that doesn’t mean we’re not going to monitor, and we’re going to keep an eye on this guy because we understand that too, but we did what we had to do today.”
On if he expected the Saints to go for the two-point conversion at the end of the game:
“Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I think, man, it turned into that kind of game. You got it all the way to overtime. You had the last possession, you score, it’s time to do it. At that point, yeah, maybe they could answer back, you know, we could answer back. There’s two minutes left, whatever. The point is, I just know if I’m (Saints Head Coach Kellen Moore), I’m doing that. Man, you’re going for two. You’ve battled, you slugged it out for that long. Over 60 minutes, it’s time. Because you get that, and now it breathes a little life into your group there.”
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On if Saints QB Tyler Shough’s ability to pick apart the defensive pressure is any cause for concern in regards to the Lions secondary:
“Well, no, I’m not concerned. I don’t know if concern is the right word. I know there are some things that we got to tighten up on. There are things we need to tighten up on mentally. We know the responsibility. We got to get there a little bit quicker and a little cleaner and know where your help’s at on some of these. But we also know by what we were doing, we’re going to get strung out a little bit, you know, that can happen at times. Your guys got to get there up front. They have to. That’s the trade-off now, that’s the trade-off. Somebody’s going to get a one-on-one, one of our guys, and they have to win. And if they don’t, our back end could get strung out a little bit. I don’t care who you are. If it starts getting long, it turns into a five-second play. There’s some of that, but I’m not concerned. I just know we can tighten some of it up, and we’re going to get better on defense. Just like offense. We’re going to tighten some stuff up, and we’re going to get better.”
On how much of this game can be chalked up to the uncertainty of Week 1:
“Well, I mean, there’s nothing I can say that’s going to convince anything one way or another. I think we all know that. But, I think that, man, Week 1 is always, you never know. The most important thing is find a way to win and you’re going to have some areas you’re going to have to clean up, you’re going to have to correct and you got to correct them in a hurry. And that’s the most important thing. Look, I’ll just go back to this one. I can’t even remember what year it was, the Saints. It may have been 2017. I don’t know. We started like 0-2 and man, it was doom and gloom, but we got better every week. I mean, Weel 1 to Week 2 to Week 3. Even though we even lost in Week 2, we were significantly better. Now, we played a better opponent in Week 2, and we just got better and better. And that’s it, man. Just clean these things up. Don’t do those again. We can’t have repeat errors. And collectively we get a little bit better. We play a little faster. You know where your help’s at, and you continue to grow in real time against real opponents, real games, 60 minutes, full speed. And so, I’m not worried. I know we got to clean it up and we will. And now it’s hard to do on a short week, but Buffalo will be on a short week too. So, glad we got the W.”
On an update on Lions OL Christian Mahogany’s injury:
“I don’t really know. I hate to say one way or another. We did do a scan that really ended up being negative, so that’s good news, but that doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods. Sounds like it could be more hip-ish maybe, but we’ll see.”
On if he considered going for it rather than punting at the end of regulation:
“Yeah. I mean, it certainly crossed my mind and I wanted to, however that thing played out, let the clock run and drain as much as we could and just get enough to where we could get in (Kicker Jake) Bates range to swing at one potentially. But I didn’t want to use a timeout just in case it didn’t work out and it goes the other way. But I thought about it, but I also felt like, man, our defense kind of had the hot hand. They’d found their footing a little bit again and let’s put it back with them and see what happens here.”
On explaining the call reversal on Goff’s sack-fumble:
“Well, I think it was just the fact. Look, I’ll take that one. I’ll be the first to say, man, I thought we lost that one. But, the arm was going forward. It had a forward motion. That was how they saw it. We got one. We’ll take that.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/nfl/lions/onsi as Everything Dan Campbell Said After Lions Defeated Saints.
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This story was originally published September 14, 2026 at 3:00 AM.