Uncategorized – Page 96

Five things to watch as the Lions face Vikings, looking for 1st win

Each week brings a possibility that the Lions will pick up their first win of the season.

On Sunday the Lions (0-10-1) face the Minnesota Vikings (5-6) at Ford Field. The Vikings are coming off a 34-26 loss at San Francisco but had won the two previous games against the Packers and Chargers.

Somehow coach Dan Campbell has managed to keep the team’s energy up throughout the season.

“I think that it starts with the staff. I think the staff has done a good job of keeping the energy alive and keeping hope there and just continuing to coach up the details of the game,’’ Campbell said on Friday. “All of these players, they want to know that you care about them and that you’ve got some tools for them that are going to help them be better. And, that’s what our guys do.’’

Campbell, in his first year as head coach, also gives credits to the players.

“Look, we’ve got – the vets we’ve got on this team – they’re good vets. They understand it’s about – at some point, when you don’t get the wins, it’s still about pride and it’s about the way you want your play to look on tape and ultimately what we want to look like as a team,’’ Campbell said. “And then, we’ve got a lot of young, hungry players that want an opportunity to play. And, a lot of them are getting that opportunity, so that helps, too.”

Five things to watch on Sunday:

1. The Vikings will be without running back Dalvin Cook (shoulder) however Detroit’s defense will have its hands full with Alexander Mattison. In the first meeting — a 19-17 Vikings win on Oct. 10 — Mattison carried 25 times for 113 yards. “He’s steady, he’s solid, he’s one of those guys you can’t sleep on. They’ve been running that scheme for a while. He understands that he’s a good back in that system. As he proved game one, it only takes one to kick out of there and change a game and he’s got that ability,’’ Campbell said, calling him a workhorse.

2. The Lions will be without running back D’Andre Swift (shoulder). “It’s not easy to replace a guy like him, as dynamic as he’s been. … I think it really becomes that production is by committee now,’’ Campbell said. “Where does Swift’s production go now to get it back? And, I would say we’re trying to find ways to spread it throughout this roster of skill players that we do have. Swift is going to take – I mean, Jamaal (Williams) is going to take a lot of that. So are the other two backs, (Jermar) Jefferson, Godwin (Igwebuike), and then some of the other just pass production is going to have to come from our receivers and tight ends.”

3. The Lions’ defense has to bounce back after allowing the Bears to stay on the field for 8 and a half minutes in their final game-winning drive on Thanksgiving. “To me, I look at playing this game in general just like you play the position of corner. You can have 59 great plays and that one bad play and you ultimately looked at that bad play, and that’s just what it is,’’ defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said. “That’s just defensive football. So, I looked at that last drive, as good as we played, after the game I looked at that last drive as a black eye for us because we looked at it together as a defensive staff and there were like three plays we could’ve gotten off the field.’’

4. Injuries again play a role. Along with Swift, sitting this one out for the Lions are OLB Trey Flowers (knee), CB Bobby Price (shoulder) and LB Jalen Reeves-Maybin (shoulder). Questionable are RT Penei Sewell (illness/shoulder), T Matt Nelson (ankle) and DE Michael Brockers (knee).

5. A few of the Lions know Oxford football coach Zach Line who was a linebacker with the Vikings and Saints. Tate Myre, a standout player for Line, was one of four students killed in the Oxford High School shooting on Tuesday. The Lions will have decals on the back of their helmets to show support for Oxford. They also had T-shirts and hats made. “We’ll have a moment of silence before the game certainly, but those guys are on our minds. We want to represent them on Sunday,’’ Campbell said. “I know there will be a group of those students and kids and people that have been affected that will be watching this game. Right now, that’s the best way to help them.”

PREDICTION: Vikings 21, Lions 14

Five things to know about Lions Thanksgiving loss to Bears

In the annual Thanksgiving Day game, two series with back-to-back-to-back penalties stalled the Lions’ offense.

Then late in the game the defense was in disarray. Back-to-back timeouts were called which is illegal in the NFL, cost a penalty and then the Bears kicked the game-winning field goal.

It was another Lions’ game — a 16-14 loss — that left a bitter taste in the mouth.

The Lions (0-10-1) are still looking for their first win. The Bears (4-7) provided a good opportunity to punch it in at Ford Field. Instead it was just another punch in the gut.

“It’s just a matter of we have to learn how to win. Once we learn how to win then we can begin to see the fruits of our labor a little bit,’’ coach Dan Campbell said. “The effort is there, the fight and the fact that here we are, it’s 3 games in a row we’re right there at the very end.

“There again, I see improvement. I sit there and watch and I see some of these guys get better and better. What encourages me is I know the core of this team and I know the vets we’ve got and the young guys. These guys aren’t going to lay down, that’s not what these guys are made of, that’s what keeps me hopeful to know we are building something,’’ Campbell said.

It’s a familiar refrain for this team years after year, decade after decade. Rebuilding since 1957.

Five things to know about the Lions loss:

1. On two Lions’ offensive series there were back-to-back-to-back penalties.In the second quarter Detroit had first-and-10 at Chicago’s 29-yard line. They were in field goal range and then a false start by T.J. Hockenson was followed by a holding call on Evan Brown and then Jamaal Williams was called for a false start. All of a sudden it’s first-and-30, then second-and-26, then third-and-32, then punt. Campbell said some teams can overcome penalties but the Lions can not. “The bottom line is we put ourselves in those third-and-a mile situations and that’s on us. Those things kill you,’’ Campbell said. It happened again in the fourth quarter. Fans booed loudly when Goff completed a 7-yard pass on a third-and-32.

2. Jared Goff who returned after missing Sunday’s game due to injury completed his first dozen passes, but the offense had trouble establishing the run game finishing with just 76 rushing yards. Goff had a different outlook on the penalties. “The false starts are absolutely on us, that can’t happen,’’ Goff said. “You can call holding on every single play, it’s no excuse we’ve done it too much and I know those guys are hard on themselves up front. Back there they can throw that flag every play and to me it seemed like it was a little too often on that call.’’ D’Andre Swift left the game with a shoulder injury which affected the offense but still no excuse.

3. When a defense holds an opponent to 16 points, the team should be able to find a way to win. Campbell praised the defense repeatedly for keeping them in the game. And yet when the Bears got the ball with 8:30 left in the game, the Lions defense could not get them off the field. They went down and kicked a game-ending, game-winning field goal.

4. Calling back-to-back timeouts in the final minutes is inexcusable. The defensive players have to understand and know what is going on. Here is how Campbell explained it: “It was a check by what they were doing. So you don’t get it until it’s in the middle of the play, but it’s something that we had talked about. And so you don’t get it pre-snap, it’s a call and it’s got basically a check on it to what they’re going to do and what they line up in offensively is what happened. So we had half in one call and half in another. So the first thing in my head is, ‘Well, we’ve got a blown coverage and they’re about to score a touchdown, so I do it, which you can’t do and now it’s a penalty. But I know that if he threw it out in a flat it was about to be a touchdown.’ Can’t do it.”

5. Coaching has to be under scrutiny. Not just the conservative play-calling, but also having guys prepared. That whole back-to-back timeout situation is a perfect example. And the Lions finished with a season-high 10 penalties costing 67 yards. In Week 12 that should not happen. No excuses.

UP NEXT: The Lions host the Minnesota Vikings (5-5) on Sunday, Dec. 5, at Ford Field.

Five things to know about Lions vs Bears on Thanksgiving

A Thanksgiving tradition like no other — a winless NFL team playing a struggling, dysfunctional team.

Pass the Tums.

The Lions (0-9-1), who started playing Thanksgiving games in 1934, will face the Chicago Bears (3-7), who have lost five straight which sparked rumors about Coach Matt Nagy’s tenure. It’s the second meeting of the NFC North basement dwellers after the Bears won 24-14 on Oct. 3.

“We did some things good the last time we played them and the turnovers killed us. And so, I think some of that is us just trying to be smart when we get down there and give ourselves a chance to possess the ball and then see if we can get it in there,’’ Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “But, we ran it pretty good until we got behind and then we weren’t able to run it anymore. Look, we scored with (Kalif Raymond) Lif down there, but certainly those turnovers killed us.”

Five things to know about the nationally televised Thanksgiving game:

1. Boy did the Lions ever miss Jared Goff in the loss at Cleveland on Sunday. On Tuesday, Campbell said Goff is improving and it looks like he could play. He is officially listed as questionable and was able to practice on limited basis. Still it could be a gametime decision. Certainly Goff gives the Lions a better chance of winning than Tim Boyle who struggled in his first NFL start on Sunday.

2. Once again, the Lions will face a backup quarterback. Andy Dalton will start for the Bears. Rookie Justin Fields is out with bruised ribs. It will be Dalton’s third start this season where he’s amassed three touchdowns and one interception.

3. Campbell said there are a couple calls he’d like back after calling the offense in the past two games. “I think that certainly finding some runs has been pretty good. I feel like just mixing it up and letting those guys go up front has been pretty good and it’s helped us,’’ Campbell said. “We’ve kind of found a running game here, but I think that maybe there were a couple of calls there where – it’s tough to say because you could say, ‘Well maybe we ought to pass it here.’ But also, wanting to be mindful of – the first week you’ve got a guy who you don’t feel like can push the ball down the field, you want to be smart, the conditions aren’t good and then we come back with another game where the conditions aren’t great. Boyle hasn’t – it’s his first start. You go back and forth on that. Do you try to take care of them? Do you try to get it with (D’Andre) Swift on the ground or do you put it in his hands? You play that game a little bit, but certainly there are things I wish I could have back, but I’m growing at it as well.”

4. “I think what’s going to help us is getting a first down. If we can get a first down to sustain a drive, then we get a couple more plays to try to put it in the hands of our receivers, whether that’s a run or a short pass. I think to be able to really helps those guys out, I think we’ve got to convert on third down. We’re way too low right now. Even if you can convert one or two more times in a game, you allow yourselves a minimum of six plays and then you don’t know where that’s going to go. I think everything starts there.”

5. The defense has been doing a good job of creating turnovers and they need to keep it up. “I think you’re always talking about them. You’re always preaching them. You’re always working. Like, we work turnover drills. We’ve been doing them all year, but sometimes it just takes – you’ve got to get a little momentum and all of a sudden you get one and guys start feeling it and smelling it,’’ Campbell said. “And next thing you know, one guy sees his teammate doing it, he starts doing it, and then the next one starts doing and it does, it becomes contagious. Unfortunately, it’s no different than offensively. If you start fumbling the ball, pretty soon that becomes contagious the wrong way.”

PREDICTION: Bears 24, Lions 17