Tag: NFC North

Dan Campbell: Lions won’t hold anything back in first of 2 games against Vikings

Also updates on injuries, roster moves

ALLEN PARK — The Lions won’t hold anything back when they face the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday for a chance to clinch the NFC North division title.

In a strange scenario, they’ll face the Vikings twice in the last three weeks with a trip to the Dallas Cowboys in-between. The final regular season contest is against the Vikings at Ford Field on Jan. 7.

Lions coach Dan Campbell said the Vikings are a different team offensively and defensively than last season when Detroit split with Minnesota.

“It’s a little bit of a fresh take on them somewhat. That’s a good thing. Our whole focus is this is the first one, so let’s dive into let’s put the best gameplan we can,’’ Campbell said on Monday. 

The Lions (10-4) are coming off an impressive 42-17 win over the Denver Broncos while the Vikings (7-7) lost  27-24 in overtime to Cincinnati on Saturday.

“We can’t worry about game 2. After this, after Dallas, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,’’ Campbell said. “We can’t hold anything back, this is it, everything is about finding a way to get this one – the best gameplan we can possibly put together.’’

The Lions could clinch a playoff berth if Seattle loses to the Eagles on Monday Night Football. 

That would be great with Campbell, but the Lions’ focus on winning the NFC North remains clear.

“For us, that’s all you have to worry about. Let’s clean up what we clean up. We cleaned up the things from the Denver game with the team today — this is where we have to get better, this is what we did well, this is where we continue to go,’’ Campbell said. “We’ll put together a great game plan for these guys and we’ll know what we have to do against Minnesota.

INJURY/ROSTER UPDATE

LB Derrick Barnes injured his shoulder in Saturday’s win but returned to the game in the second half. WR Jameson Williams was banged up too, but Campbell said both appear to be fine.

Safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson and fullback Jason Cabinda will open their practice window this week. Gardner-Johnson suffered a torn pec in Week 2. Cabinda has been on injured reserve since Week 3.

Also, Campbell said rookie QB Hendon Hooker will likely be moved to the active roster.

UP NEXT: Lions at Minnesota Vikings, 1 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 24.

Five reasons the Lions bounced back with a 42-17 win over the Broncos

DETROIT — After losing two of three, and coming off a loss at the Chicago Bears, the Detroit Lions were able to get back in gear with a 42-17 win over the Denver Broncos on Saturday night at Ford Field.

“We just needed a win and we did that today. Look, we just cleaned up a couple things, focused on our job at hand, the details of it,’’ Lions coach Dan Campbell said “Honestly we didn’t start real hot early, we didn’t. We can’t do that, we can’t accept that – not with where we’re going. But we got out of it, the defense played well and found a rhythm. I thought (Jared) Goff played a really good game, a number of guys did.’’

With the win the Lions climb to 10-4 and can clinch a playoff spot with some help on Sunday. Two of their remaining three games are against the Vikings who lost on Saturday in overtime to the Bengals.

The Broncos had won six of seven entering Saturday’s game but were no match for the Lions who played one of their best games in several weeks.

Five reasons the Lions won: 

1. Jared Goff set a career-high with five touchdown passes. He started the game passing on the first five snaps which seemed odd but in the long run it worked. The ice was broken with a 19-yard touchdown pass to tight end Sam LaPorta early in the second quarter. Goff was poised and never threw an interception. In fact, the Lions never turned the ball over which had been an issue. Goff was 24 of 34 for 278 yards and five TDs.

2. While the offense took a bit to get heated up, the defense ran out of the tunnel on fire. They held the Broncos to just 75 total net yards in the first half and just 1 of 6 on third-down attempts. “I just thought we were well prepared, we had a real good feel on what we were going to get, we knew what we had to take care of, we couldn’t let (Courtland) Sutton get going, we couldn’t let him launch,’’ Campbell said. Sutton was held to five catches for 71 yards.

3. In the loss at Chicago, LaPorta and Amon-Ra St Brown never were much of a factor. That all changed. When you’ve got offensive weapons like those two, you get them the ball. LaPorta had 5 catches for  56 yards and an amazing 3 touchdowns. St. Brown had seven catches for 112 yards and a touchdown. 

4. Campbell gave credit to defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn for calling a good game. It was the same with offensive guru Ben Johnson. Nothing risky was needed since the Lions held a 21-0 lead at the half. They got key guys involved and made a few effective changes on defense.

5. Much of the game was about attitude. You didn’t expect this bunch to shrug their collective shoulders after losing two of the previous three games and they certainly did not. Campbell keeps them on track. “The ability for our team to win against somebody of (Sean Payton’s) stature, a Super Bowl winning coach who does it right. It’s good, it’s a good win because I know what he’s about,’’ Campbell said. “I’m happy for our guys, that we got the win here, we needed it. We got to 10, now we’ve got 3 to go.’’

UP NEXT: The Lions play at the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, Dec. 24, then at Dallas on Dec. 30 and finish the regular season at home on Jan. 6 or 7.

Detroit Lions prove that grit, belief and hunger is winning combination

Campbell: We’re still the hunters, not the hunted

Grit may be the motto, but believing is a major reason the Detroit Lions have jumped out to a 3-1 start.

“I don’t care how talented you are, if you don’t believe you can win games and you don’t believe the coaches can put you in position to win games or you don’t believe the guy next to you is going to do his job, it doesn’t matter. You’ll struggle to win and you’ll always have doubt,’’ coach Dan Campbell said on Friday, the day after the Lions crushed the Packers, 34-20, at Green Bay.

“This team believes, this staff believes. We know we can go into any and every game and we’re going to have a chance to win it as long as we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot,’’ Campbell added.

For starters, they dominate on the offensive and defensive lines. They’re getting contributions across the board including from rookies. Are they perfect? Absolutely not.

“Something else we’re doing well right now, we’re making some errors, but we’re able to overcome those right now and that’s a sign of a good team,’’ Campbell said. “You win back-to-back wins, you can overcome some of your own errors, you can win on the road, those are signs of a good team.’’

All seems to be going well for Campbell’s bunch and another big reason is that he wants violent, physical play and he’s getting it.

The Lions will open as favorites against Carolina on Oct. 8 and it looks like it could continue that way down the stretch. They may have invisible targets on their jerseys but Campbell doesn’t see it that way.

“Our focus has still got to be we’re not hunted, we’re still on the hunt. I said this back in training camp, if you’re hunting us you don’t have to look far, we’ll be on your front porch when you open the door,’’ Campbell said.

After the 34-20 win at Green Bay on Thursday night, the Lions are alone atop the NFC North at 3-1.

“We still have a lot to prove. We want to win this division, we’ve done nothing yet. We’re on course, we like where we’re at. We’re still hungry, we have to approach every game that way no different than last night,’’ the coach said.

He was asked when he’ll be able to let himself dream about how good this team can be.

“I’m not going there. We’ve got our standards and we have our own goals, it started that way it’s always going to be the focus,’’ Campbell said. “You have to look at each game individually.’’

Campbell is more a hunter than a dreamer. That’s exactly what he needs to see from his team for the next 13 games.

UP NEXT: Carolina Panthers (0-3) at Lions (3-1), 1 p.m. on Oct. 8 at Ford Field.)