Inside the locker room: Dan Campbell says that was the best environment ever

DETROIT — Dan Campbell won one division title as a player with the Giants, and another with the Saints. He won four straight division titles while he was an assistant coach with the Saints, and was a member of Super Bowl teams both during his playing days as well as an assistant.

That man has seen what big-time football looks like.

And that, he said, was the best environment he’s ever seen.

The Lions prevailed over the Los Angeles Rams 24-23 in a wild-card game that won’t be soon forgotten in Detroit. They hadn’t hosted a playoff game in 30 years, and fans took a couple generations of heartbreak out on the Rams during a frenzied game at Ford Field.

“Man, that was arguably the best environment I’ve ever been in,” Campbell said. “That was absolutely electric. And I think what’s crazy is I was coming down for pregame warmup, and you could just feel it. It was humming. The building was humming. And I swear you could feel the electricity down the tunnel from where I was coming down, and it only just grew from there.

“Our fans showed up in a big way. I thought for two years now that building’s been rocking. It was different today. That was a whole other level. It’s what the playoffs are all about. So, our fans showed up in a big way. They helped us win this game.”

The roars grew before the Lions even took the field, then broke into cries of “JARED GOFF” as the quarterback walked down the tunnel to take the field. After leading the Lions on a 10-play touchdown drive to open the game, Goff was serenaded to chants of “JARED GOFF” again as he retook the field for the next possession.

Then as he was kneeling out the win in the final seconds of the fourth quarter, he raised his hands to the sky, and the crowd cheered his name again.

“Yeah, it was pretty unbelievable,” Goff said. “The people here are special, man. I’m grateful and I’m grateful for their support and today with the circumstances that were there, it meant a lot and it was special. It made me feel pretty good. It was exciting. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced anything like that. VBut yeah, man, I love these guys.”

And they clearly love him. There was a lot of talk about how the fans would greet former Lions great Matthew Stafford, and in the end, the greatest quarterback in the modern history of the franchise was booed a few times, while the crowd couldn’t get enough of Goff.

Goff was up for the moment too, completing his first 10 passes and leading three straight touchdown drives to oen the game. He finished 22 of 27 passing for 277 yards, hooked up with tight end Sam LaPorta for a fourth-down touchdown and played turnover-free football. He finished with a passer rating of 121.8, blowing away his previous career high in the playoffs.

Goff was booed plenty during his early weeks in Detroit. But he’s been on a tear the last two seasons, and now he’s done something Stafford never did in 12 years here by leading the Lions to a postseason win. No quarterback had won a game in this city since Erik Kramer all the way back in 1991.

“This place is special to me,” Goff said. “And like I just said, these people are special. That’s the best home atmosphere I’ve ever played in front of, and I expect next week to be on top of that or second. It’s a special place to play, and I’ve only been here for three years, but to see us come from where we were, to where we are now, and the fans endure some of that, it’s special to be able to get this ‘W’ for them and for this group in our locker room.”

The noise clearly bothered the Rams, who had a couple procedure penalties and were forced to burn two timeouts late in the play clock in the second half. That prevented L.A. from stopping the clock after two late passes by Goff bookending the 2-minute warning, and Goff took three knees to seal the win.

Detroit will be looking for more of that when it hosts either No. 4 Tampa or No. 5 Philadelphia in a divisional-round game at 3 p.m. Sunday at Ford Field.

Rams head coach Sean McVay’s opening statement after the game: “First of all, congratulations to coach Campbell and those guys. What a great atmosphere, great environment, came down to the wire. Thought we had our chances, but I’m so proud of this football team. And the finality of it is still kind of — it doesn’t totally resonate, but man did I learn a lot and really appreciate this group. They helped me find my way again and how much I love this and love the people that I’m around. And it’s certainly always about people. It’s these players, these coaches, you don’t take away the credit that the Lions deserve. Thought there were some opportunities for us to be able to come away with that game. I really liked the way our defense played in the second half, and I think the difference in the game was the red area. We were 0-3, they were 3-3. There were certainly some chances that I think we’re capable of executing and we’ll go back, and we’ll look at it and always try to be able to learn. But more than anything, just the appreciation and the gratitude is what sticks out to me about this team and hats off to the Lions for finding a way to be able to get it done. I’ve got nothing but respect for that group.”

McVay on the play by Lions QB Jared Goff and Rams QB Matthew Stafford: “I thought they were excellent. Jared was really efficient, you can see the command that he has. I think there’s a lot made of it, but I’m really happy for him. Obviously, we wanted to come away with the win, but he’s done a great job and I think the grit, the resilience and the way that he’s done his thing here over the last three years, I’m happy for Jared and I certainly am appreciative of the four years that we had together and I wouldn’t want anyone else as our quarterback other than (Rams QB) Matthew Stafford. He was outstanding, he was gritty, he was gutsy, he made tough throw after tough throw. The rush was barreling down on him, and he stood in there and was dropping dimes all day and we just came up a little bit short in the red area, but he certainly gave us a chance and we would’ve never been in this situation without Matthew Stafford’s leadership, his guidance, his resilience. He was one of the main catalysts for what was right about this football team, and I know he’ll be excited about coming back next year as well.”

Lions C Frank Ragnow on what this win means: “We’ve been through a lot of not-so-fun days. This fanbase. This team for my career, at least, and before that. To see us kinda climb toward the top here, and hopefully, we just keep on going. It’s been pretty cool. And just to see how the fans have stuck with us through that. And now, showed up tonight? And more than I expected. It’s pretty awesome.”

Lions LB Alex Anzalone on if he ever thought he’d be remembered as a Lion: “Yeah, and that was really my goal when I re-signed. I probably told you this before, this is an opportunity to leave a legacy for where we’re at right now and to be a captain on this team, to be a leader, it’s an honor and it’s really like, what your legacy’s made of. It’s the best and it just makes me honored and proud to be apart of it.”

Anzalone’s message for fans coming to next week’s game: “Yeah, just do the exact same thing next week. It’s very helpful. It had a big impact on the game, obviously, delay-of-games, forced timeouts. So yeah, it was awesome. It’s the best. They’re passionate. They love us. And we love them.”

Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown on what this win means for the fans: “I mean, everything. You see after the game, they stayed. They waved to all the players as they got off the field. They were loud all game, amazing. I don’t know how many timeouts they caused, but I mean, you see at the end, how big that was. They had one timeout left. So, being able to be here with the fans and be so into it, so loud, I know they’ve been waiting for this forever. So, I’m glad to give them this.”

Lions OT Penei Sewell on the atmosphere: “The energy was crazy. I had to do some little breathing exercises to slow me down ‘cause I was getting too hyped, truly. I loved it, though. Everyone that came out, appreciate the love, you guys were loud so can’t wait for next one … when I do the speech, I get a little crazy, so after that I just slowed myself down and kept going.”

Sewell on the postgame locker room experience: “Oh man, it’s amazing. The vibes in here, seeing the smiles on everybody’s faces, you can’t trade that for anything in the world. Those are the times where you really gotta soak in the moment and don’t ever take for granted.”

Stafford on what he’ll remember about this game: “Honestly, probably opportunities missed. That’s kind of the way it goes when you don’t get the result that you want. Like I said, I mean I’m so proud of this team, all the guys that worked their tail off to get us to this point. I said earlier in the week, nobody gave us a chance to even be sniffing where we are right now, and gave a really good football team a run for their money. Didn’t get it done, but proud of the guys, proud of their effort from the coaching staff, players, everybody involved in it. It was a fun year, a hell of a year and something to be proud of.”

Stafford on the fan reception on Sunday: “I don’t know. You’re testing an old man’s memory here, but no, I am — you almost hope they would, right? I mean the guy’s — he’s their quarterback. He’s playing great. He led them to a win today. I’m happy for him. I thought he played excellent today. He’s leading an offense that’s playing at a really good clip right now and they should be proud of him. They should be cheering for him.”

Ragnow on Stafford: “He’s had a lot of those comebacks. So, I think we knew we had to finish it off. I mean, I just got to say this about No. 9 — He’s one of the best. He’s one of the classiest dudes of all time. One of my favorite teammates of all time. And I just appreciate him. All class through everything.”