Dan Campbell is quite the NFL character, and he’s good at delivering one-liners, but there’s one movie character he hopes the Detroit Lions are not like this upcoming season: Anchorman‘s Ron Burgundy.
There’s one iconic scene in particular that Campbell referenced when discussing the team’s game plan for the 2024 season. Burgundy, who is played by Will Ferrell, is a television broadcaster has a habit of only reading what is printed on the teleprompter, even if the crew messes with him and puts something inappropriate or wrong.
Unlike Burgundy, Campbell wants to make sure his team is able to adjust in situations and not just follow what is written down on paper.
“We know what it says on paper, but we can’t do the Ron Burgundy,” Campbell said Thursday. “We can’t just continue to read off the teleprompter. And that’s the next step, that is the next evolution, because that’s what San Francisco [49ers] did to us, quite frankly. They played at a different level.”
Campbell referenced the Lions’ NFC championship loss to the 49ers back in January. This was the Lions’ first playoff run since the 2016 season.
MADISON WILLIAMS
Madison Williams is a Staff Writer on the Breaking & Trending News Team at Sports Illustrated, where she has covered the entire sports landscape since 2022. She specializes in tennis, but covers a wide range of sports from a national perspective. Before joining Sports Illustrated, Madison worked with The Sporting News. She hails from Augustana College and completed a Master’s in Sports Media at Northwestern University. Madison is a dog mom and an avid reader.
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