Category: NFL

Lions Dan Campbell remains optimistic: ‘We write our own story’

ALLEN PARK — Dan Campbell’s message, coming off just the Lions’ second loss of the season, was simple, direct and very Campbell-esque.

“Look, nobody writes our story, we’re the only ones who write our own story. We have the pen, there’s a lot of football left and I think we’re looking forward to this,’’ Campbell said on Wednesday. “So you pick yourself up, dust yourself off and go back to basics.’’

The Lions (12-2) started preparing for Sunday’s matchup at the Chicago Bears (4-10), following Sunday’s 48-42 loss to the Bills. During the loss, defensive lineman Alim McNeill and safety Carlton Davis III were injured and lost for the season. No other NFL team has sustained so many losses on defense. 

Still no one can convince Campbell that the sky is falling. 

“I don’t believe it. We’ve got plenty here. I’ll tell you what, when we come out of a game and everything that we said we had to do, including our identity, we do that for 60 minutes and we lose a game, I’ll stand up here and tell you, ‘You know what, we just don’t have enough.’ Until that happens, you’re not going to hear me anything about what we have or don’t have, can we do this. We’ve got plenty here on the whole roster – we’ve got plenty on defense.’’

His belief in his squad is unwavering and genuine. And the fact he believes in them gives them more confidence.

“It’s funny, it’s relative because adversity two years ago was different than adversity right now. Watching him stand in the storm at 1-6, and 3-13 (in 2021) whatever, that’s for me what makes his words mean so much more now when we’re 12-2, facing our first loss in the last 12 weeks,’’ quarterback Jared Goff said. 

“If that’s our adversity right now, we’ll be just fine, we’ll handle it, we’ll move on. I think when he stands in front of the room people listen and the way we handle adversity as a team has been pretty good,’’ Goff added.

It is not just the mindset that is key to getting back on track.

“What’s interesting, there are two things that unfold. One is the loss, right? When you haven’t lost since September. So there’s the loss element and then there’s the injury element. Everything gets compacted, you really need to address both and that’s what we did,’’ Campbell said.

First they have to go back to work and reposition themselves to play Sunday and learn from what happened against the Bills. 

“And the other is to not lose confidence in the fact that we still have really good players here on defense and we have good coaches,’’ Campbell said. “We can play any way we need to play from that standpoint, as well as offense and special teams and still win games.’’

“It’s my job to alleviate stress in some areas and just balance the buoy, if you will, and we’ll do that,’’ the coach added.

This bunch is in an unusual position after winning 11 straight games. They’re still atop the NFC North where they are the only team without a division loss. Chicago is 0-4, Green Bay is 1-3 and Minnesota is 3-1.

Yes, it was a bad loss but the season is far from over. They’ve qualified for the playoffs but would love that No. 1 seed.

“That’s why our guys are so good, we’ve got a good group of guys, they don’t like losing,’’ Campbell said. “They don’t lose confidence, they get more aggravated like I do. We want to fix it, we don’t want to lose any more. That’s the plan.’’

INJURY UPDATE: Running back David Montgomery was getting a third opinion on his injured knee. Campbell said they are in a waiting mode with him so have not placed him on injured reserve. The coach sees it as a good sign. Initially, it was thought Montgomery might be out for the season. … Safety Ifeatu Melifonwu was back at practice, opening his window to get back in action after being on injured reserve since he injured his hand in Week 3. … Six players didn’t practice to get some rest on Wednesday. The injured sitting out were DB Brian Branch (calf), G Graham Glasgow (knee) and Montgomery.

Five reasons the Lions win streak was snapped in 48-42 loss to the Bills

DETROIT — The Detroit Lions’ 11-game win streak was snapped by a 48-42 Buffalo Bills win on Sunday. Touted as a possible Super Bowl preview, the game showed how much work the Lions (12-2) have to do.

It’s not like the season is over. 

“I think that’s a danged good team, we’re a danged good team. They played really well and we didn’t, that’s why the game was lopsided for most of the game,’’ quarterback Jared Goff said. “They’re the class of the NFL we’d like to think we are too. They came out and played better than we did.’’

Coach Dan Campbell took the blame for Detroit’s first loss in 91 days.

“I just feel like we didn’t play at the same level as that team. Honestly, I put this on me, I just didn’t feel like I had them ready to go, not like we’ve been,’’ Campbell said. “You get away, maybe if you’re not quite all the way to a 10, but not against the Buffalo Bills, the Kansas City Chiefs or Green Bay Packers or Minnesota. It’s not going to be good enough and it wasn’t good enough today.’’

Goff would like to see the team learn from the loss and move on to win the final three regular season games — at Chicago, at San Francisco and home to the Vikings.

“We’ll be just fine. I’m sure there’ll be a ton of stuff written about the sky falling but, no, internally we’re good,’’ Goff said. “… It sucks to lose. We would’ve loved to win every game out all the way through the Super Bowl. Hopefully, we can look back on this one as a good learning for us, move on and use some of the stuff we learned in this game to help us win the next three.’’

Five reasons for the loss:

ONE: Bills quarterback Josh Allen is a handful – the Lions knew this before they took the field but still could not stop him. He threw for 362 yards and two touchdowns and did plenty of damage tucking the ball under his arm 11 times and running for 68 yards and two TDs. “He got us a few times. We knew, unless we were in certain coverages, we had to keep him hemmed in there and it was going to take a lot of discipline up front,’’ Campbell said. “Look, he poses a huge issue, he’s tough. We knew that going in, certainly we wanted to be able to handle it better and it was one of those days we couldn’t counter it on offense.’’

TWO: The defensive injuries seemed to have caught up with the Lions who have 13 defensemen on injured reserve. However, Dan Campbell said, “I don’t buy it. We can be better, we should’ve been better. We know how good they are but that team was more urgent than us overall.’’ And it got worse for the defense losing three players during the game. Defensive back Khalil Dorsey (ankle) is out for the season while Campbell suspects it will be the same for CB Carlton Davis III (jaw) and Alim McNeill (knee).

THREE: Jared Goff became the first player in NFL history to throw for 400-plus yards (494), 5-plus touchdowns (5) and zero interceptions in a loss. Not a great claim to fame. The offense stalled on first 2 possessions and all of a sudden the Bills were up 14-0. Detroit got within 10 late in game but the Bills always seemed to have an answer. “We wouldn’t have had this production had our quarterback not played as good as he did,’’ Campbell said. “He played top-notch. That’s asking a lot of any quarterback with 59 attempts that was big time.’’ He was 38 of 59 for 494 yards.

FOUR: For the second straight game, the run game was not as effective as it should be. “We only had 15 rushes, we never got our run game going which was going to be a point of emphasis, even out of those 15 carries, we could never get it going,’’ Campbell said. “That’s two  weeks in a row it’s not good enough.’’ One reason is the way the game flowed, the Lions were playing from behind the whole way. Jahmyr Gibbs had just 13 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown while David Montgomery, who got a little banged up, had just 4. Gibbs also had 83 receiving yards and a touchdown while Montgomery had 31. The Lions had 48 rushing yards while the Bills had 197.

FIVE: Dan Campbell called an onside kick in the fourth quarter which was returned 37 yards to the Detroit 5-yard line, with a touchdown scored on the next play that gave the Bills the 45-28 lead early in the fourth quarter. “I thought we’d get the possession, I thought we’d get that ball. It was one of (Jake) Bates’ best kicks I’ve seen him have,’’ Campbell said. “Obviously sitting here hindsight, them taking it to the 3-yard line, yeah I wish I wouldn’t have done that, but it is what it is.’’

UP NEXT: Lions (12-2) at Chicago Bears, 1 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 22. The Bears (4-9) play at the Vikings (11-2) on Monday night. 

Super Bowl preview? Five things to watch as Lions welcome Bills

In what could be a Super Bowl preview, the Detroit Lions (12-1) host the Buffalo Bills (10-3) at Ford Field on Sunday.

It’s a good angle but not one that the Lions are emphasizing.

“The head coach said it best early this week, we have earned a spot in the tournament based on what we’ve done thus far. We still need to win the division, we still want to get the No. 1  seed, and everything will play out from there. But that’s all way too far out in the future right now,’’ offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said.

While the Bills, who lead the AFC East, are coming off a loss to the Rams, the Lions have won 11 straight despite having 13 defensive players on injured reserve.

No excuses, the Lions just march forward and keep winning.

“This whole year has felt like he’s preparing this club for these type of moments. Not just these type of moments but moments like fourth-and-1 where we were all excited when it happened and when it went down because we understand what we’ve been prepared to do,’’ Lions running backs coach Scottie Montgomery said.

“Coaches, players, administration, everybody we’re on the same page so we understand what’s going on. We’re happy to be in these moments and our guys understand the reason this is a big game is because they’re in it. That’s one big part – it wouldn’t be a big football game if we weren’t playing at a certain level,’ he added.

Coach Dan Campbell said the Lions need to be playing their best football.

“You don’t know what it’s going to take to beat the team that you’re getting ready to play. You don’t know what that’s going to be. We know that this is a good football team, I don’t know what it’s going to take. We know that Green Bay is a damn good team. We did just enough, but you don’t know what it’s going to take with the rest of these teams down the line and you don’t know exactly who’s going to be in, you don’t know – and so are you willing to say that it’s good enough right now? I’m not,’’ Campbell said. “I don’t want to take that chance, so we have to clean some things up and we will.”

Five things to watch:

ONE: The Lions running game was not up to standard in the win over Green Bay. Running backs David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs had one of their less productive games but it is not all on them. “You’re going to get four or five opportunities in a game where everything is blocked correctly – everything the perimeter, center, the interior – those have to be explosives. I’m not saying that happened this week but we have got to continue to make sure it happens,’’ running backs coach Scottie Montgomery said. “Then when there’s a 4-yard run you have to be able to get 5.’’ 

TWO: The defensive line welcomes back four who have been injured which will help in pressuring quarterback Josh Allen and  stopping running back James Cook. Alim McNeill, Levi Onwuzurike, Josh Paschal and D.J. Reader are all a go for Sunday.  “We’re going to put a lot on our defense this week. Our defense and special teams are going to play a critical factor in this game,’’ Campbell said. “So, yeah, it’s critical, but it’s going to take all three phases here and I expect our defense to play well.”

THREE: Lions secondary faces challenge in Josh Allen who has completed 64.1 percent of his passes and thrown just five interceptions against 23 touchdowns. Allen’s mobility is also something to watch. “I think they have an offense to where, man, they are distributing the ball to a number of different people, and I know they’re going to get some people back this week who are a huge part of their offense, so that’s going to be something we have to be ready for, also,’’ Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said. “But, man, this quarterback, he’s an MVP-caliber guy, there’s no doubt about that, and we know that. But we’re going to go out there and do everything we can to stop what he’s trying to do. It’s going to be a tough challenge and we know it.”

FOUR: Quarterback Jared Goff has kept the offense running smoothly so far and needs to keep going against the Billls. Goff and Ben Johnson work closely each week to help develop the game plan. “The things that he’s most comfortable with usually work on game days, so we want to give him a lot of liberty early in the week, ‘Hey, I think we can get a post if we do this or that.’ And we’ll try to find a way to make that an alert for him if we can call it against the right coverage,’’ Johnson said. “So, it’s just, call it an hour every day over the course of the week. We’ve got a good process right now from Monday to Sunday that we just keep pressing the reset button every week. We can’t get tired of it. But he’s doing a great job of that.”

FIVE: Lions must continue success on third downs.They’re ranked fourth best in the NFL while the Bills third down defense is near the bottom at 25th. In the win over the Packers, Detroit was four of five on fourth downs, they may be just as aggressive on Sunday while waiting for some key defensemen to heal up and get back in the game. 

LIONS INJURY UPDATE: LB Trevor Nowaske (concussion) is out. All others, who are not on injured reserve, are cleared.

BILLS INJURY UPDATE:CB Rasul Douglas is out. OL Tylan Grable, S Damar Hamlin, TE Dalton Kincaid, TE Quintin MOrris, S Taylor Rapp, DE Dawuane Smoot, LB Baylon Spector and DE Casey Toohill are questionable.

PREDICTION: Lions 35, Bills 31