NEW LIONS COACH GIVES EMOTIONAL PRESS CONFERENCE

Dan Campbell is empathic about the hard times people have had in Detroit, in their lives and as fans of the Lions.

And, the new coach of the long-suffering franchise is fired up for an opportunity to help the NFL team and people in the Motor City.

“We need to bring some hope back into this place,” Campbell said Thursday, a day after he signed a sixyear contract with the Lions and general manger Brad Holmes was formally introduced.

The 44-year-old Campbell is the latest coach to try to change the conversation about the lowly Lions.

“I wanted this job — bad — because I felt like I know this community, I played here,” Campbell said in a emotionally charged opening statement that lasted about 19 minutes at his virtual news conference. “This place has been kicked, it’s been battered, it’s been bruised.

“I could give you coach-speak all day long. I could give you, `Hey, we’re going to win this many games.’ None of that matters and you guys don’t want to hear it anyway. You’ve had enough of that.“

Campbell went on to say some sensational things as he described how the team will take on Detroit’s identity.

“This city’s been down and it found a way to get up and it has found a way to overcome adversity,“he said. “This team is going to be built on, we’re going to kick you in the teeth. When you punch us back, we’re going to smile at you. And when you knock us down, we’re going to get up and on the way up, we’re going to bite a kneecap off.”