Tag: dan campbell

Five things to know about the Lions win over the Vikings

While the Lions have excelled at losing games in the waning minutes this season, they had never had the ability to seal a win. Until Sunday.

With four seconds left on the clock, quarterback Jared Goff threw a perfect 11-yard pass to rookie wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown to win the game, 29-27, over the Vikings at Ford Field.

“I’m proud of our guys. I’m happy for them, of course I’m happy. We’re all happy. I’m happy for the coaches, I’m happy for everybody. But it’s like, you want this so bad for the players. Because they’re the ones who put in all the hard work and the sweat and the tears. And yeah, we all do—and so do the coaches,’’ coach Dan Campbell said. “But it’s also—that’s what makes this great. When you lose, it hurts. It’s hard, it’s hard. But it’s also why winning is so great in this league. Because it’s not easy to do and when you get them, man, it’s special. I’m just proud of those guys. I’m proud of them.”

The Lions are now 1-10-1, and some weight has been lifted from their shoulders

Five things to know about the win: 

1. Goff operated a 75-yard, 13-play drive with 1:50 left and one timeout remaining. The offense knew its role, knew to get out of bounds when possible, knew that it had to be nearly flawless to get the win. “We made some mistakes and we weren’t perfect. We played well in the first half, but that second half offensively we stalled, I threw the pick, made the fourth down turnover. We weren’t good,’’ Goff said. “We weren’t perfect, but having the ability to overcome mistakes is a sign of a good team and a winning team and that’s something we did today.”

2. Keep an eye on St. Brown. They’ve been trying to get the ball to him more often. In fact, three weeks ago they started working on the touchdown play in practice. He knew with 4 seconds left he had to catch the ball in the endzone. He was surprised by the Vikings’ soft coverage and took advantage. We’ll be seeing more of the rookie wide receiver. “I’ll be honest with you, we have a lot of trust in him. We have for a while, it’s just trying to get him the football here a little bit and staying on the field and being able to—we did a good job of first, second down today. We stayed efficient and we were able to continue to gather some drives because our third downs still weren’t good enough. But our first- and second-down efficiency was really good, so we were able to stay on the field and spread the ball around a little bit. But we have a lot of trust in him. He’s one of those guys who has become pretty dependable for us,’’ Campbell said. Goff on St. Brown: “He’s a stud.”

3. The defense kept the Lions in it after they watched their 20-6 halftime lead disappear and fell behind late in the fourth quarter. Also, the Vikings tried and failed on three 2-point conversions thanks to the defense. That could’ve been the difference i the game. “(Aaron Glenn) had a good beat on what they were going to do over there. And it’s just—we were prepared. Our guys did a good job,’’ Campbell said. “You can’t prepare them for every look you’re going to get, you just have to play the odds by personnel and looks that you get and hope that they play their roles. And they did a good job today. We did and it made a difference.”

4. Goff and Campbell shared a big hug in the post-game celebration. It’s been a tough season. Several weeks ago Campbell took over the offensive play-calling and was first to admit he needed some polishing. “I thought he called a great game today. I think today was kind of – we had the Pittsburgh game with the weather and I had the oblique thing, the Cleveland game where I didn’t play, and we also had weather. Last week was kind of our really first shot at like him really kind of trying to dial stuff up,’’ Goff said. “And then this week, I thought he really settled in well and was really good. It was really smooth. You guys saw the operation, it was smooth. I don’t think we had any false starts. I don’t know if we had an offensive penalty outside of the delay-of-game, but it was really good.”

5. The team needs to build on its first win. “Look, I think you acknowledge that this is what it took for us to win. We should all feel good, but man, what about these mistakes that could’ve cost us? We had some of those and you guys know it. So, we’ve got to continue to coach the negative because now, that’s not only how you win, that’s how you get better at winning if you can get to that point,’’ Campbell said. “And so, we just have to coach up those little things and continue to improve. So, Denver is not going to be easy either. None of these are easy, but this was a good start. And, I’m proud of them. They’ve continued to play, they played one more time and now let’s see if we can get them to play again, which they will.”

 NEXT UP: Lions at Denver Broncos, 4:05 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 12.

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