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With a Sunday Night Football showdown against the Philadelphia Eagles rapidly approaching, Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell was asked by local reporters for a scouting report on his next opponent.
An offensive coach at heart who played a decade at the NFL level at tight end, Campbell gave some props to Nick Sirianni but really gushed about Vic Fangio, who is still one of the very best defensive coordinators in the game despite getting his first coaching job three years after the Lions head coach was born.
“They have a style and they’re very good at it. And I wouldn’t say there’s anything necessarily complex about it, but it’s very sound. It’s very sound across the board,” Campbell noted.
“Like I say, Nick’s done an unbelievable job. And then Coach Fangio, I mean, he’s a legend, man. It stood the test of time, that style of defense, the way they play, the coverage, the rush goes hand in hand, and it’s a pain in the a**. It’s hard, it’s hard to deal with offensively. But I just think it’s good, it’s good sound football. And they don’t beat themselves.
“I mean, at the end of the day, they don’t beat themselves. And when they need a critical play, they come up with a critical play. And that’s what champions do. And that’s why they’ve been able to have the success that they have.”
As crazy as it may be to believe, Campbell actually faced off against Fangio when he was a player twice. In 1999, a rookie Campbell was with the New York Giants when they faced Fangio and the Indianapolis Colts, and in 2002, his G-Men again took on a Fangio-coached defense in the Houston Texans. The Giants lost both games.
Will the Lions be able to use Campbell’s first-hand knowledge to best the Eagles and prove they are the premier team in the NFC? It’s hard to say, but as Campbell noted, it’s not so much about knowing what Fangio brings to the table as being able to stop it, as even now, his time-honored scheme remains among the NFL’s best.
Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell has a lot of respect for the Eagles:
“Coach Fangio, he’s a legend…That style of defense, the way they play… it’s a pain in the ass.”
— SPORTSRADIO 94WIP (@SportsRadioWIP) November 12, 2025
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