A moment from the Detroit Lions’ 44-22 victory over the Washington Commanders went viral. In the video, captured by FOX sideline cameras, coach Dan Campbell is seen becoming emotional after making a play call. Moments later, Jared Goff threw a touchdown pass to Jameson Williams to put the team up 32-10 in the third quarter.
Many people, including the NFL’s official Instagram account, interpreted the moment as Campbell knowing the play would work and getting fired up before the play was even run.
It turns out that is not what happened at all. On his podcast episode this week, Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown explained what actually happened in that moment.
St. Brown was right near Campbell on the sideline during the play and watched his head coach try to get the play call in late. But when the play clock drops to 15 seconds, communication between the play-caller and quarterback abruptly shuts off. That was the moment we saw on the sidelines, with Campbell being frustrated that he didn’t get the entire call to quarterback Jared Goff.
“I’m looking at the play clock, Dan’s calling the play, and it’s getting down to like 17 seconds, and then Dan starts calling the play. Boom. He’s trying to get it out,” St. Brown recalled. “I’m like, ‘Oh shit, did he get it out?’ Then right when it hits 15 seconds—I don’t think he got the last part of it. He didn’t get it out. So Dan was like, ‘Fuck!’ Because he felt like this was a play that could score.”
I asked Goff to give his perspective of the play. He wasn’t sure if Campbell got the entire play communicated to him, but it was enough for him to recognize the play. That, alone, is the value of a quarterback who knows his playbook front to back. But Goff took it a step further. He had the wherewithal to know that with the play clock running low, he had to ignore the motions that come with that play and just get to the line.
“Sometimes if I love the play so much, I’m like, ‘Guys, line up. I don’t want them to call a timeout. Let’s get this thing snapped,’” Goff said. “And I had a pretty good feeling about that one, so I was like, ‘Screw the motions and the shifts. Let’s just get lined up and snap it.’ Sure enough, Jamo ran a great route and scored.”
Campbell, who took over play calling for the first time this week against the Commanders, noted several times this week how Goff bailed him out a few times during the game. He also noted how quickly he’s able to pick up game plans and plays—like he already has for this week’s big game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
“In this walkthrough, this is the first taste of this game plan going into Philly. It’s just unbelievable, what he’s able to grasp, retain, get us into the right play, and we literally just gave it to him,” Campbell said. “You don’t even have time to digest it. You’re running onto the field, and now you’re going through it, you’re walking through it. That’s one of his superpowers.”
Goff is a little more modest about it.
“That’s a great compliment, but I think it’s part of my job really,” Goff said. “I think it’s kind of like the baseline of what I’m supposed to do is retain it and be able to spit it out and then be able to kind of do my best to coach it on the field and help these guys where I can.”
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