The miscommunication seen 'round the world has had two days to settle. Dan Campbell is ready to move on.
The Lions coach said as much Monday, explaining he's prepared to put the controversial and confusing result of Detroit's Week 17 loss to Dallas behind him.
"I'm good. I woke up yesterday -- I'm ready man. I've got controlled fury, and I'm ready to go," Campbell said. "I'm absolutely ready to go.
"I don't go the other way and the team won't either. We are on a mission and we're not going to feel sorry for ourselves and wallow in everything. We had plays to make and we didn't make them. It's a tight game, a good opponent, playoff-type atmosphere and you have to make that one extra play, and we didn't. So, we will use this as fuel. I got pure octane right now. I woke up and I'm ready. So, we're moving forward."
Detroit is in an unfamiliar place this season. The Lions are division champions for the first time in 30 years, and were in a battle for the NFC's top seed until referee Brad Allen's ruling negated a successful two-point try that would have given Detroit a great chance of defeating the Cowboys Saturday in Arlington.
For any average viewer who might interpret Allen's ruling -- which was either a mistake, the result of unfortunate miscommunication, or a combination of both -- as displaying bias against the upstart Lions, who have maintained they followed player reporting protocol properly and didn't see the fruits of their process, Campbell disagrees with that notion and pushed back against even entertaining such thought.
"Don't buy into that. Don't live in that world, man," Campbell said. "That will just pull you down. If it makes you feel any better, the NFL is against every team, all right? Because look, I was in New Orleans, so, I know what that feels like. And, but you know what? We walked away. Even in that game, we had chances to win before all that happened, but that one ended it. That was it, man.
"We walked away, packed our bags and left. This one, we got a taste of what that's like, but we still got a chance. We haven't even started the tournament (playoffs). So, I think it's a blessing. I would tell fans, 'Don't do it. Don't even believe that.' We're just getting started."
For the first time ever, Detroit will host a playoff game at Ford Field in just a couple of weeks. And before the Lions arrive at that point, they'll have one rematch with a division rival at home to close the season.
That's the focus now; not an official's ruling, not a perceived bias, but just beating Minnesota to complete a season sweep. He knows his players are in the same frame of mind.
"Honestly, I feel great about it. Because I'm for the most part until you guys asked me the questions, I'm over it," Campbell said. "I don't even want to deal with it. … I'm done. I'm good. I just want to go and get ready for Minnesota. Our players will be ready to roll, I know they will."
