Lions Head Coach Admits Fans Doing The Wave Distracted Him While Agreeing To Risky Play: ‘I Look Up And We’re Throwing It To Penei’

Detriot Lions head coach Dan Campbell admitted he was too focused on the fans in the stands conducting the wave that he did not realize he agreed to a high-risk play on Sunday.

The Lions defeated the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday 34-23. The Lions, who have won three out of their last four games, have positioned themselves to make a late push to try and secure a playoff spot.

With under two minutes to go in the fourth quarter, the Vikings only had two timeouts remaining, and a Lions first down would secure their win, so Detroit called a play that had quarterback Jared Goff throw a pass to Penei Sewell, an offensive lineman, which he caught as his first career catch for a first down.

Campbell was on The Pat McAfee Show Tuesday afternoon after his team’s big win on Sunday but was asked why he decided to call a risky play and throw it to his right tackle, who was reported as an eligible receiver for the play.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Campbell said. “Like, ‘man, we got to throw this guy a ball’ because he’s too good of an athlete.”

“It just felt like, ‘hey, it was the right time,'” Campbell added.

The Lions’ head coach admitted he did not recall the conversation he had in his headset with their offensive coordinator, Ben Johnson, in which he agreed to have Sewell run out for a pass because he was distracted by the fans in the stands.

“Here’s another thing that happened,” Campbell continued. “These things happen during the game, but, so,  we’re in that situation, and the fans are doing the wave around the stadium, so I’m just watching. And I hear Ben Johnson, and he’s like, ‘hey coach do you want to…’ I’m so focused on the wave, and I say, ‘yeah, that’s fine.'”

“And I look up, and we’re throwing it to Penei, and I went, ‘what the fuck are we doing?'” Campbell said. “‘Coach, you said it was fine,’ but it worked out great.”

Campbell knew the play would work because of how well Goff and Sewell ran it in practice, but he was only concerned if Sewell knew situational football and would not run out of bounds to stop the clock.

That’s good situational football,” host Pat McAfee added.

Watch above via The Pat McAfee Show.