Tag: jared goff

Five things to watch as Lions face the Giants; plus injury update, prediction

While the Giants have lost five straight, Lions coach Dan Campbell will not overlook them when they play at Ford Field on Sunday.

Again, the Lions (6-4) are coming off a loss and again they look to bounce back. They haven’t lost back-to-back games since October 2022 and they intend to keep that streak alive. Campbell said the urgency is always there.

“We’ve had urgency. We’re an urgent team. Things haven’t gone our way that we would like. I mean we would love to be sitting here undefeated right now and that’s not the reality, we’re not undefeated,’’ Campbell said. “But there’s an urgency that’s there. And I know this, if you say, ‘Well let’s ramp up more urgency,’ that’s when you start making mistakes, that’s when you start panicking, that’s when guys start doing things they shouldn’t do. They’re trying to make plays and then they cost us all. That’s where bad stuff really happens because that means you don’t really believe in what you’re doing. You’re grasping for straws.

“I know what we’re doing, I know what we need to do. We go back to work, we clean up the little things, we adjust, we adapt, we move on and let’s find a way to get a W,’’ Campbell added.

Five things to watch:

ONE: The Lions defense played its best game of the season at Philadelphia. Coordinator Kelvin Sheppard saw a never-blink mentality and said they never wavered at any point in the game.  Still, he would like to see more takeaways. “The way that game was structured on that night our offense needed one more possession, that was the nature of that game,’’ Sheppard said. “That was the one thing if I could, kind of a little teeny thing that we would have improved upon it would’ve been to steal a possession for our offense.’’

TWO: Can the Lions offense rebound? Jaredd Goff said he isn’t worried about the offensive inconsistency, he’s concerned about winning games. “I don’t care if we have 100 yards. If we win the game, that’s all that matters. The output of the offense, of course, yeah you’d love to score 40 every week and 500 yards like we did 10 days ago or two weeks ago, whenever that was,’’ Goff said. “But yeah no, you have a bad game, you learn from it. The output is not nearly as important as just finding a way to get a W, and we didn’t do that last week.”

THREE:  If the offense is to bounce back after their worst showing of the season in loss at Eagles Goff and WR Amon-Ra St. Brown will have to connect like they have been until the Eagles debacle. “We’re good. Again, I consider that an outlier for what we’ve done in our career together,’’ Goff said. “You learn from it, you look at it, we talk about different ways we can get better. Yeah, no grand conversation about it, no.” Goff targeted St. Brown a dozen times but only connected on two at Philadelphia.

FOUR: Rookie Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart is out because he hasn’t passed concussion protocol which means veteran Jameis Winston will start. Campbell said they have been preparing for both, but thought they would face Winston. “I think the run game itself stays intact, I think the pass game – there is some vertical pass game to it. I don’t think it changes a ton,’’’ Campbell said. “And look, I know Winston very well, man. This guy, he can put it on a dime. He’s not afraid to freaking rip it in there, he’s a competitive, smart guy. And so look, he’s going to give him a chance. He’s played a lot of games, man, won a lot of games.’’ Campbell knows Winston well since both were with the New Orleans Saints in 2020. 

“Well, I think there are a lot of things that – I think the core of what they do, and the pro-style offense itself is not going to change. And I think even if Dart had played, there wasn’t going to be a ton of quarterback run, things of that nature. So, I think the run game itself stays intact, I think the pass game – there is some vertical pass game to it. I don’t think it changes a ton. And look, I know Winston very well, man. This guy, he can put it on a dime. He’s not afraid to freaking rip it in there, he’s competitive, smart guy. And so look, he’s going to give him a chance. He’s played a lot of games, man, won a lot of games. But we’ve been prepared for both, we’ve made sure that we prepared just in case if you got a little different flavor with Dart. But we kind of felt like Winston was probably going to be the guy.”

FIVE: The offensive line needs to step up. Goff was twice but pressured all game long. He had a difficult time connecting with pass-catchers because he had no time. The run game averages 30 rushing yards per game but was held to 74 in part – not totally – due to the offensive line getting beat in the trenches.

LIONS INJURIES: OUT — CB Terrion Arnold, S Kerby Joseph, EDGE Marcus Davenport, OL Miles Frazier, EDGE Josh Paschal; TE Sam LaPorta likely out for rest of the season. QUESTIONABLE — LT Taylor Decker, CB Khalil Dorsey, C Graham Glasgow, G Tate Ratledge, CB D.J. Reed, RT Penei Sewell, WR Isaac TeSlaa and RB Sione Vaki.

GIANTS INJURIES: OUT — QB Jaxson Dart, DB Paulson Adebo, TE Thomas Fidone, LB Kayvon Thibodeaux; QUESTIONABLE — DB Tae Banks, RB Eric Gray, DB Tyler Nubin.

PREDICTION: Lions 38, Giants 17

Lions Dan Campbell remains optimistic about offense after coming up short against Eagles

After a rough outing in the 16-9 loss at the Eagles, Lions coach Dan Campbell still believes in his offense and, in particular, the offensive line.

“I believe in these guys, I do. I just think the more they play together and they mesh and we do things we do well,’’ Campbell said on Monday.

The Lions averaged just 3.5 yards per carry in the run game. “That’s not enough for us, that’s everybody that’s all inclusive,’’ Campbell said.

The Lions were 3-of-13 on third downs and 0-of 5 on fourth downs – not exactly a winning formula. Although due to the weather conditions, a field goal was not viable on three of those. And on one of them they ran a fake punt and Grant Stuard failed to advance. 

“It was really a combination of missed throws, we had some pressures, tipped balls, a couple of drops and there was a couple of bad calls by me,’’ said Campbell who made the offensive playcalls for the second straight game. “There’s some calls I want back, bad.’’

The Lions dropped to 6-4 and third place in the NFC North, but there are seven games left and neither the Packers, Bears or Vikings are a lock to win the division.

Against the Eagles’ defense, Jared Goff was 14-of-37 for 255 yards, a touchdown and an interception. He targeted Amon-Ra St. Brown a dozen times but he only caught two of them. 

Campbell remains positive about his team.  He takes his share of the blame but has faith his guys will be ready to get back to work to face the N.Y. Giants on Sunday, the first of three home games in 12 days.

“I just go back to I believe in these guys, I think they’re good enough, they know how to play together, we’ve just got to be a little more consistent in areas,’’ Campbell said. “It takes everybody. We’re so close. We can be so potent. Jamo is taking off, Gibbs is taking off. I’m not worried about the connection with Saint and Goff, that thing’s coming, it’s always there, it was just one of those days yesterday,’’ Campbell said. “We all elevate a little bit, including myself we’re going to be just fine.”

Campbell said they still haven’t quite played their best game in all three phases.

“Once we get there I think there’ll be no looking back,’’ Campbell said.

UP NEXT: N.Y. Giants (2-9) at the Lions (6-4), 1 p.m. on Sunday at Ford Field.

Five reasons for the Lions loss to the Eagles; don’t blame the defense

Campbell said they will learn from it and get better

Coach Dan Campbell loves complementary football and when he sees it from his Lions, they have a good chance of winning. He did not see it on Sunday night in the 16-9 loss at the Philadelphia Eagles.

While Detroit’s defense played their tails off and executed a good game plan, the Eagles’ defense nearly shut down the Lions offense all night long.

The Lions turned the ball over five times on downs. Five times. Detroit was 3-of-13 on third downs. 

“Look, we know the type of team we just faced, a good team. We had our chances but we didn’t get it done,’’ Campbell said. “They made the most of the opportunity, we didn’t. But we’re right there. We understand what it is. We understand we make one or two more plays in certain areas then you’ve got the legit shot to win the game at the end. As bad as it semes, as bad as it is, we’re so freaking close.’’

The Lions drop to 6-4 and third place in the NFC North while the Eagles are now 8-2 and hold down first in the NFC East.

“They made the plays at the critical moments there at the end to win it. That’s what they’e done. I was proud of the way the guys played,’’ Campbell said. “I thought they played their tails off, played hard, I thought we tried to finish plays, I thought we were disciplined for the most part.’’

He credited the defense for playing really, really well and said the offense could never get in a rhythm, taking some of the blame for his play-calling.

“I believe this is the best thing for us. You don’t want to say that, it doesn’t feel good,’’ Campbell said. “We’re going to learn from this, we’re going to get better, we’re going to adjust and we’ll be hitting our stride when other teams start hitting their adversity toward the back end of the season.’’

Five things to think about after the loss:

ONE: None of the blame can be placed on the Lions defense. They were put in horrible field positions and held on. Early the Eagles were on Detroit’s 11-yard line following an interception after a deflection and the defense held them to a field goal. It was like that the whole game. No blame here. Defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard drew up a good plan and they executed it.

TWO: The Eagles defense was too much for the Lions offense to handle. The offensive line could not protect Jared Goff. Plus the Eagles defensive line deflected five of Goff’s passes — three by Jordan Davis. The quarterback had no time to get the ball to his intended receivers. The offense just could not find any kind of rhythm.

THREE: Goff was 13-of-37 for 255 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception – just a wretched night. It was not all on him. Some, yes, but not all. He had someone in his face all night. So much pressure that he hurried the passes. Amon St. Brown was targeted 12 times and caught just two for 42 yards. That’s startling when you think about it.

FOUR: Jahmyr Gibbs had a good night, but he could not do it alone. Gibbs ran 12 times for 39 yards and caught five passes for 107 yards. Jameson Williams had 4 catches for 88 yards and a touchdown He was targeted 7 times. Sam LaPorta, who was placed on injured reserve, was missed big-time.

FIVE: This is the kind of game that the Lions have to win if they want to get to the next level. They had to find a way and they could not. It’s not the end of the road but it’s an issue. The Eagles, defending Super Bowl champs, have figured this out.

UP NEXT: N.Y. Giants (2-9) at Lions (6-4), 1 p.m. Sunday at Ford Field.