Detroit Lions Press Conference: Dan Campbell Drops Blunt Assessment On Baker Mayfield and Buccaneers: “Ton of Respect”

The Detroit Lions just beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a playoff competition. The 31-23 victory has come after decades and the Lions will next take on the San Francisco 49ers. After the Buccaneers game concluded in Detroit’s favor, the head coach came forward to give his two cents on their win. It was the second consecutive home playoff game for the Lions after they beat the Los Angeles Rams 24-23 last week. That was their first playoff victory in 32 years.

The Detroit Lions have now won two postseason games for the first time since 1957. Thus, Campbell expressed his gratitude for making it so far but also praised the opposition for the tough game they played. He mentioned how the Lions are one of the last four teams remaining in the playoffs despite all the odds. He shared that this was the “kind of game he envisioned” against the Bucs.

Further, Campbell said, “Baker, I thought played really well. I got a ton of respect for coach Bowles and what he’s done with them, that’s a tough team. Somewhat a mirror image of us.” He also mentioned the kind of physical game that the Lions had to play to win. “We delivered body blows and you know, ultimately, we did what we had to do. Win that game.”

The final moments of the game seemed to have made the Lions desperate as they scored two touchdowns in the last quarter alone. Baker Mayfield passed for more touchdowns, and had more yards than Jared Goff, but still couldn’t clutch the game. The teams were head-to-head till the 3 quarter and then the Lions decided to step it up a notch.

Dan Campbell praising Baker Mayfield wasn’t unwarranted!

Baker Mayfield made 26 of his 41 passes for 349 yards. He also had three touchdowns, two interceptions, and a completion rate of 63.4% by the end of it. Further, he extended multiple plays to avoid sacks, including a 13-yard completion to Cade Otton along the sidelines. It was his second straight game with 300-plus yards and three touchdown passes. Further, he is the only quarterback in team history to do that even once in the postseason.

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“It sucks because I know what type of group we have here. We fought to get to this point, we fought to be in this game. We weren’t supposed to be here, but we believed in each other and we fought for it. This one’s going to weigh on me for a while,” he said when talking about their loss. But his stats are better on paper when compared to Jared Goff’s numbers. The difference is that Goff made more passes, but for lesser yards.

Goff made 30 of his 43 attempts for 287 yards and had two touchdowns throughout the game. An interesting thing about the game is that Goff didn’t throw any picks but was sacked twice throughout the course of the game. The game ended with the Ford Field crowd chanting “Jared Goff”. Per ESPN, Goff is ranked second as far as the QBs are concerned.

The Lions will be taking on the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium on January 29. Whose side are you on?

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