Dan Campbell Press Conference — Oct. 19, 2026

[0:00] It's good. [0:01] Glad to be back, ready to go. [0:04] Questions? [0:05] What do you achieve during the bye week as coaching staff? [0:10] I got an extra hour of sleep a night. [0:12] I feel much better. [0:14] What about you talked about the self-scout, [0:17] trying to find things that you can hang your head on. [0:19] Yeah, well, there's some things that we took out of that, [0:22] I think, in all three areas, [0:24] some things that we feel like we can do more of, [0:28] some things that we need to pull out. [0:30] I'm not going to tell you what those are because those don't bode well. [0:34] Because then our opponent's sitting here listening to some of those things. [0:37] But I do think we've got some clarity, you know, and some things we can do. [0:43] I mentioned this. [0:44] Every opponent's different. [0:45] But I think we, you know, I think we are improving in areas. [0:53] And I think there's still a lot of room to improve. [0:56] But I do think we're beginning to figure out who we are a little bit here. [1:00] And we're getting some help. [1:01] You know, we're getting a little bit of help back in some areas. [1:06] So we just got to continue to improve. [1:08] That's this league, man. [1:10] You just got to, you know, [1:12] you're not trying to make this big jump every week. [1:14] You just have to try to incrementally improve and find a way to win that game. [1:21] Is it maybe good that this is your first division? [1:23] I wasn't even done finishing answering the question, Dave. [1:25] I was on a roll. [1:26] I just finally got hot. [1:27] I wasn't even going to answer it. [1:28] I did. [1:28] Go ahead. [1:29] I'm done now. [1:30] Sorry. [1:31] We just, I mean, you know, we're a third of the way through the season. [1:33] These are your first division games, which seems a little. [1:36] It's exciting. [1:37] Yeah. [1:37] I just wanted to, you know, all that means. [1:39] No, I know. [1:40] It's pretty exciting. [1:42] It's crazy because it does. [1:44] It feels like it's been, it's been a while. [1:47] I know that we finished with Chicago last year, but it just, it has. [1:51] It's, you know, you feel like everybody else has played each other [1:53] and we haven't had a chance to play anybody in our division yet. [1:56] So, so this is exciting, you know, to be able to, to open up with our division, [2:02] obviously at home against a really good opponent who's playing really good football right now. [2:07] Those, that's exciting. [2:08] So, you know, we, we'll be ready to go. [2:12] This will be fun. [2:13] Branch, Dan, you've talked about being really smart with his rehab throughout the process. [2:19] What was the process through this week to determine what kind of workload can he handle [2:23] or has this longer process been to set him up for a full boat right out, right out the game? [2:29] Yeah, I think that'd be asking a lot to say he's going to play 70 plays. [2:34] But we, you know, we, we feel like there's, we do feel like he can handle quite a bit here. [2:41] And, you know, we're, we're going to push him in practice here early. [2:45] You know, that's one of the reasons why we're practicing tomorrow and not Wednesday. [2:48] So we can push some of these guys a little bit, knowing they're going into a day off. [2:53] I think that'll help a little bit. [2:56] And then we'll have a, we'll have a really good idea by the time we hit the game. [2:59] I mean, we're already, you know, kind of have a range of what we're looking at for him, you know, [3:07] and for Kate a little bit. [3:08] You know, we're still back and forth on what do we do with him? [3:12] Do we, you know, do we work he and Juice in and out? [3:17] Do we, you know, in the center position, that's where you, it's a little different than a guard, you know? [3:22] That's somebody that's constantly touching the football. [3:28] But, but either way, you know, barring anything negatively happening between now and the game, [3:33] we plan on playing both of those guys. [3:36] Does high level of play kind of force you to think about that more, even with Kate coming back? [3:40] Yeah, that's the hard thing. [3:42] Juice is playing pretty good football for us right now. [3:44] He's done a good job. [3:44] He's gotten better every week. [3:47] You know, and Juice is a, you know, here's what you, Juice is a freaking team guy. [3:53] Doesn't mean he, you know, that if it comes to that, that he doesn't like that. [3:59] Because there's definitely an argument to keep him rolling because he's playing good football. [4:04] So, but he's a team guy. [4:07] He's all in. [4:08] He'll do whatever we ask him to do. [4:09] And, and the good news is one way or another, we get Cade work back in, you know, with Juice playing pretty good. [4:17] Mahogany's had a couple of good weeks. [4:19] Well, now we, we, we got some guys, you know, we got a pretty good, pretty good crew there to, to, you know, [4:27] to go with and get better as the season goes throughout. [4:30] Is that part of Juice's playbook to be able to maybe play some of the heavy sets, the extra tight ends, the, the, the extra linemen? [4:40] Is that in his skill set? [4:41] Could he work into that? [4:42] Or is that, is Larry Doug? [4:43] Yeah, I don't think there's any, there's not too much I don't think Juice couldn't do really, you know. [4:47] And, and obviously it, the guard comes into play. [4:50] I think some of it will need to be, depending on how much Cade can play is, you know, we keep Juice ready to go at center, you know, [4:57] because he's really plug and play in that regard. [5:00] The, you know, the, the IDs, the, all of those things. [5:04] And then the more comfortable we get, then he's, Juice is working the guard, the guard position a little bit with those guys. [5:13] So now you're, you're getting some really good competition. [5:16] You got depth, you got guys that can play. [5:19] But yeah, Juice has done a good job for us, man. [5:22] He really has. [5:23] He, he's, it was, you know, Brad did a hell of a job being able to get him out of Houston there for us, you know, in that trade. [5:31] It appeared Green Bay was disguising defenses on everything. [5:34] They didn't know what was going on. [5:36] How hard is it to prepare your offense for something that switches seams right before the snap? [5:42] Well, it's tough. [5:43] Look at Chicago, too. [5:44] It was a mirror image. [5:46] A lot of it was very similar, you know. [5:49] Man, you get in second and seven plus, and you might as well be in third down. [5:54] And now you're, you're in their wheelhouse. [5:56] You're playing in their wheelhouse. [5:59] You know, Coach Gannon's done a hell of a job with that unit. [6:02] And that unit's doing a good job. [6:03] I mean, between Franklin and the safeties, man, Williams and McKinney and Bullard, the nickel slash safety, man, their, their ability to disguise and, you know, their ability to disguise and, and, and then show one thing and then spin back out of it. [6:22] And, you know, it's the smarts and the, and their, their ability to produce on the back end makes it difficult. [6:29] And then those guys up front, boy, they can eat, you know, they run off the ball. [6:32] They can set edges in the run. [6:34] They just, they do. [6:35] They're problematic. [6:36] And if you, if you, if it turns into that kind of game, it makes it hard, you know, it does. [6:41] It applies a lot of pressure on your offense. [6:44] Every once in a while, but the cat and mouse game between Drew and, and Gannon, I mean, they spent three years together practicing every day. [6:51] How well do you think that they know each other and how does that maybe impact the prep for this game? [6:57] Well, there, there is, I mean, they know each other pretty well. [6:59] Um, you know, you would say they, they know each other pretty well now that being said, you know, um, you know, there, there was, you know, I think it goes to what we said last week. [7:13] There is, and there isn't, they both know each other, but yet you also know that you know each other. [7:18] And so do you, do you tinker with a couple of things? [7:21] I mean, I think you can go round and round with that. [7:23] Um, at the end of the day, it's really, what can your players handle? [7:27] What will allow them to play fast and make plays on both sides of the football? [7:32] And, uh, that's an improving unit right now. [7:35] I do know that, you know, they, they got good players and they're playing fast and they do the disguises and, and a number of things. [7:42] And the corners are playing good too. [7:44] Um, you know, I mean, it's a good unit. [7:48] It's a good unit. [7:49] It's exciting really. [7:50] I mean, these guys are, this will be good. [7:52] Um, it's a good unit. [7:54] As football, do you look at divisions the last few years and just to see how successful the NFC North top to bottom has been for a year? [8:03] Yeah, I mean, it's, it's been that way for a while. [8:05] I mean, we know, uh, we know what the division we're in. [8:09] It's got, uh, really good players, really good coaches, you know, it's top notch. [8:14] And, uh, and so you, you know, you gotta be on it every week. [8:18] Um, but that's why I said, you, you can't get too high. [8:21] You can't get too low. [8:22] You just got to try to improve every week, uh, incremental improvement and find a way to win, you know, and, uh, and then get to the next one. [8:30] So this is, this is a step to try to get to number four, you know, which is the plan and, uh, first division game. [8:37] And it'll be, it'll be fun, man. [8:39] We get it at Ford field. [8:40] So we'll be excited. [8:42] And you said you're starting to get the sense of your identity a little bit more is the improved play of the offensive line, especially from a year ago, kind of critical to figuring all this out. [8:53] It's very critical. [8:54] So, you know, there's elements of oddly enough, there's elements of, um, when you think about our buys earlier this year than last year, right? [9:05] We had last year was one of those rare years where we had it really right in the middle. [9:10] Um, but that being said, you know, we went in and I don't remember what we were, but we had just won and seems pretty good. [9:18] But there was, you know, there was, there was, there was some things that, that you could feel a little bit and, um, that, you know, in some regards, I feel better going into this by than I, even I did last year, you know, um, because I know we're ascending and we're young and we're growing and that's, that's exciting. [9:43] Sometimes you feel like you're, you're topped off and maybe you're beginning to deteriorate because of issues, worn down, age, whatever it is. [9:55] Um, so that's exciting. [9:57] I do feel like we're on the rise here a little bit. [9:59] We just got to keep getting better. [10:01] We got to keep testing ourselves and, uh, look, we're in for the long haul now and it's about to, it's really about to get geared up and the competition is about to really raise up another level and it starts with Green Bay. [10:12] We asked you a lot of questions about Panay moving over to the left side over the off season. [10:18] What do you, what do you thought about, um, how he's played through the first five weeks and have you seen like any sort of growth, uh, from him even, even after making that switch? [10:26] It's been outstanding. [10:27] You know, the switch has been outstanding and yes, I have. [10:30] I, I feel, um, I don't, I still feel an ascending player. [10:36] I, I feel like in some regards he looks even more smooth than he did at right. [10:41] And I never thought he'd, he'd look out of place at right or didn't look smooth. [10:46] It's just, it's, it almost feels like he's, he's found even another little gear here. [10:51] Um, you know, his, his ability to get out of his stance and anchor and punch and run off the football. [10:57] And it's just, but he, he can, um, it's a credit to him. [11:01] He's banked a lot of reps and honestly, he can go anywhere. [11:04] I mean, you can put him in the left, you can put him at right. [11:06] You, you know, that's why we move him a little bit. [11:08] And, um, but he, he's, yeah, he's, he's playing high level football right now at left tackle. [11:14] Dude back, coming back. [11:16] I mean, do you, I mean, do you think he plays? [11:18] How do you sort of prepare for it? [11:19] Does it change the running game too? [11:20] Well, I don't, I think, um, I feel like they would do a lot of what they're doing now, uh, have been types of runs. [11:31] Plus there's a couple of things that they, that they like with him that they've had in the past. [11:36] So I don't think it'd be something abstract. [11:39] I just think it, let's give him the football, you know, and let those guys, cause look, that's a growing unit too. [11:44] Now that old line, they've gotten a lot better, you know, and they, they got Tomlinson and those guys that's helped study them a little bit. [11:52] Center and the tackles have played pretty good. [11:54] And, but, but just having him brings a different element. [11:58] There's a kind of a downhill explosive element, um, you know, that'll certainly help. [12:04] Um, so I, I think more than that, it's just about to understand that, you know, he plays the attitude that it'll bring and we can't let him get going. [12:14] They just call it a little bit more than they have probably. [12:20] It's been a full season since you've been able to secure back to back wins. [12:23] And I'm just wondering as a coach, like how, how frustrating has it been to not be able to, to grab that consistency when that was kind of maybe a hallmark, the two plus previous seasons? [12:33] Yeah. [12:33] I mean, that's, you know, we, that's, that's tough, man. [12:36] You don't want to do this rollercoaster. [12:38] Um, you know, that's the, um, it can get frustrating and inevitably if, if you, we really want to be the team we need to be, uh, that we need to be, we want to be, you got to win back to back games, man. [12:53] And you got to do it more than once a year. [12:55] You know, that's that every winning team I've been a part of that's you, you start stacking wins. [13:01] And even after a loss, you'll stack a couple more. [13:04] So we got to find that again, see if we can get these back to back wins. [13:08] We're capable. [13:09] Uh, we just got to play 60 minutes football and, and we got to play better than we did at Arizona. [13:14] That's the truth versus these guys. [13:16] We're going to have to play a lot better and we can, and we should. [13:20] Thank you. [13:21] Thanks, Dan.