Tag: dan campbell

Lions GM Brad Holmes, coach Dan Campbell embrace high expectations

ALLEN PARK — Lions GM Brad Holmes’ expectations are “very high” that the Detroit Lions can win the NFC North this season.

He is not alone. All of a sudden the Lions are NFL darlings. The hype train has been rolling for months.

They will get their first test — a huge one — when they open the season on Thursday at the Kansas City Chiefs, the Super Bowl champs.

“I do think that we took our medicine in the past couple years. Me and Dan (Campbell) talk about it all the time,’’ Holmes said on Friday. “We’ve coached the Senior Bowl, we’ve done ‘Hard Knocks,’ we’ve done all of that. We’ve got through a lot of darkness to get to this point.

“That’s where the grit comes in place in terms of just not really wavering, put your head down or get discouraged. We put the focus on building the best roster we can,’’ Holmes added.

Last season ended on a good note when the Lions won eight of the last 10 to finish 9-8 and out of the playoffs. Then throw in a good draft and a few key free agent signings and the Lions look like possible contenders.

Holmes said the hype was a little surprising since they didn’t make the playoffs last year.

“I love how we ended the season, but I didn’t think it would lead to this magnitude. But regardless of how much positive news is coming out we’ll still keep the same mindset,’’ Holmes said. “We’ll always be the hunters.’’

Holmes explained he wasn’t just looking for the most talent but he and Campbell have a vision of the type of player they want.

“It starts with football players first. What’s a football player? Smart, passionate, instinctive, relentless, tough, gritty. We have football players with talent,’’ Holmes said. 

There’s that word grit again. Last year’s second half was all about toughness, resilience and, yes, grit.

“We won’t sacrifice our identity for anything. I think we’re a pretty resilient group. That’s where I believe it all starts,’’ coach Dan Campbell said on Friday. “For us and for anybody that’s been around this game. Look, we’re going to hit some hard times, it’s the teams that can come out of that the other way and they can come out the other end unscathed and I think that’s what this roster is built for.’’

Holmes said they are not afraid of the expectations.

“The expectations are earned through what we’ve built and what we’ve done up to this point in terms of how we finished the end of the season and our player acquisition process,’’ Holmes said. “Now we just have to prove them right.’’

Lions rookie S Brian Branch turns thoughts to Mahomes, K.C. Chiefs

ALLEN PARK — While the final preseason game is Friday at Carolina, forgive the Detroit Lions if they’re overlooking that game. Of course, it’s key for evaluations and could help determine who earns a roster spot.

Still the clock is ticking until the regular season opener at the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday, Sept. 7.

Quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the gang are coming off a Super Bowl season, their second in four years. The Lions haven’t won a playoff game since 1993 – but that was the old Lions. This talented new bunch is looking to make a statement.

“I’ve been thinking about Mahomes since last week. I think I’m going to start watching film on them this week, just to see what their tendencies are,’’ rookie safety Brian Branch said on Wednesday. “They’ve got a great quarterback, we also go against a great quarterback here (Jared Goff(. I feel he’s prepared us, we’ll see.’’

Branch,  second-round pick out of Alabama, feels he’s improved and learned much since the start of training camp and the OTAs. He had an interception on Wednesday, the last day of training camp. During Tuesday’s full contact inter squad practice he made a handful of huge plays.

Branch said playing for the Crimson Tide helped prepare him for the NFL.

“Alabama has prepared me tremendously. Being at a school like that you’re not necessarily a pro but a ‘baby pro’ in a way you have to learn to do things on your own when coaches aren’t around,’’ Branch said. “Being used to that, I feel like it’s helped me take this to the next level.’’

Explosive running back Jahmyr Gibbs, his former teammate at Alabama, could give the Chiefs’ defense a few problems.

“Jahmyr is my dog. The stuff you are just now seeing I’ve been seeing at Alabama,’’ Branch said. “It’s not new to me, I know what he’s capable of doing. I expect big things from Jahmyr.’’

UP NEXT: The Lions play their final preseason game at the Carolina Panthers at 8 p.m. on Friday. Final roster cuts are due at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 29.

Detroit Lions can’t find offensive rhythm in preseason loss to Jaguars

Bridgewater gets start; 5 rookies have standout games

DETROIT — Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater made his Detroit Lions’ debut, playing most of the first half, in the Lions’ 25-7 preseason loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars at Ford Field on Saturday.

“It’s tough to lose no matter what time of year it is and what you’re doing. You don’t like to lose that way but also you have to keep in perspective it is about evaluation,’’ coach Dan Campbell said. “We’re trying to put these guys in position where you can find out about them a little bit and I felt like we found out a few players today that we have to know.’’

Bridgewater, whose first practice with the team was on Monday, got sacked on his first snap. He didn’t get many reps in the joint practices with the Jaguars this week, so playing time was crucial. 

“I thought Teddy was solid. I mean there are always going to be things to clean up, but in my head it was always about getting him in a flow, let’s get him in there, let’s get him used to how we run our offense, our cadence, our shifts, our motions and just go play a little bit,’’ Campbell said. “It wasn’t that he was going to have a perfect quarterback rating.’’

Bridgewater completed five of 11 passes for 34 yards and carried the ball once for negative-8 yards playing behind the second-string offensive line. Most of the offensive starters were on the sidelines. 

“There’s some throws you wish he had back, a couple of things. But also I thought he made some really good throws too,’’ Campbell said. “He had probably three drops that could’ve been for conversions.’’

Quarterback Nate Sudfeld (9-of -18, 80 yards and one touchdown) took over with 1:45 left in the first half and finished the game. Campbell said the original plan was for Bridgewater to play three series, but since they were three-and-outs, he wanted him to get a chance to get into a flow.

While offensively the Lions couldn’t get into a rhythm, Campbell found other positives.

“I thought we had some really good returns on special teams. I thought on defense – we had a couple things early – but ultimately I thought our defense made some critical stops and played pretty good football for a while,’’ Campbell said.

The defense, second- and third-stringers, gave up 399 yards of offense to the Jags who started quarterback C.J. Beathard.

While most Lions’ starters did not play, a few rookies made the most of their time against the Jags. Some of them including Sam LaPorta and Jahmyr Gibbs did not see action. Here are five rookies — four of them undrafted — who stood out:

1. Not surprisingly, first-round pick Jack Campbell’s impact was tough to miss. The linebacker led the Lions with seven tackles and played into early in the second half. “I felt like it was let’s let him go a little bit, let’s let him play. His was just speed of the game, picking it up, playing faster. We feel like the more he plays the more we’re going to see out of him,’’ Campbell said.

2. Wide receiver Chase Cota is trying to make a case to fill a spot on the roster. He picked up where he left off in the preseason win over the Giants when he had four catches for 60 yards from Nate Sudfeld. Against the Jags, he returned a punt for 28 yards and finished with one catch for 8 yards while playing with Bridgewater. With Sudfeld in the game, a wide-open Cota caught a 1-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter. “We got a call, it was like a bunch of cross and stuff and so I knew as long as I could get hidden in there I could come out the backside Scot-free kind of,’’ Cota said. “It worked out really good, we executed and everyone pulled their guys away. It was exciting to celebrate with the fans.’’

3. Cornerback Steven Gilmore gave up a deep catch in the first quarter but came back and saved a touchdown with a pass breakup in the endzone on a third-and-9 play. He followed that up with an interception. The ball was touched by Tracy Walker and bobbled into Gilmore’s arms. “Those are the types of things you’re looking for from these young players. These things are going to happen, you’re going to get hit on a play, something bad is going to happen, you may get a flag thrown on you, it’s all about what happens next,’’ Campbell said. “You want to know if these players are resilient, I would say Gilmore that was encouraging. You give up a big one and then you go right back, don’t bat an eye and you get a knockdown in the red zone then he gets a ricochet interception those things are big.’’

4. Wide receiver Dylan Drummond, who has been solid throughout camp, caught two passes for 29 yards — including a 23-yarder — on five targets.

5. Cornerback Starling Thomas, a standout during training camp so far, returned two kicks for a total of 66 yards and picked up four tackles on defense.

NEXT UP: The Lions play their final preseason game at 8 p.m. on Friday at the Carolina Panthers. The roster must be cut to 53 players by 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 29. It’s the only NFL cutdown date this year.