While much has been made of the Detroit Lions’ red-hot offense over eight games, the defense has overcome the loss of eight significant players to injury.
And yet, they keep on fighting and winning key battles.
The next test comes in the nationally televised game on Sunday night when the Lions (7-1) face the Texans (6-3) at Houston. The Texans coming off a loss to N.J. Jets while Lions rolled over the Packers, 24-14, at Green Bay.
Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn doesn’t usually get much screen time, but in the pouring rain at Green Bay, he just stood and called plays as if it was a sunny day while his glasses were covered in rain drops.
“At one point, and I don’t know – we were in the heat of battle there and I just remember – I said something, ‘AG, we got to be ready for this and wipe your glasses off.’ He’s like, ‘I got you.’ Yeah, that was pretty good. He doesn’t need eyes to coach,’’ Campbell said.
Glenn was just thinking of the next play call and how to put the guys in position to be successful.
“He doesn’t have bad days, he’s not one of these guys. Doesn’t mean he doesn’t get – he can get pissed off, believe me, he’s a fiery guy, but he just doesn’t live like that. Everything is, ‘Hey, you tell me what it is, you tell me what we’ve got and we’re going to make it work and we’re going to make the most of it and we’ll be good,’’’ Campbell said. “And it’s – he’s just positive, upbeat, grinder. I can’t say enough great words about him. Everybody respects him and those guys play – they play hard for him.”
Five things to watch:
ONE: Once again, Jared Goff and offense face another tough defense in the Texans who have the NFL’s second-rated defense. Goff has gone five games without throwing a touchdown and obviously the Lions have won all of them. He’s on a roll that shows no sign of slowing down. He said he does have to filter out some of the noise. “You’re just trying to find a way to stack Ws and I think you get caught up in sometimes not only the bad stuff but the good stuff at times. It can be dangerous,’’ Goff said. “So yeah, you just try to keep stacking wins, people are going to keep telling us how good we are now and then if something were to go wrong, they tell us how bad we are. So, it’s how it goes and just try to keep doing the work, put your head down and go in a hole and keep stacking Ws.”
TWO: Running backs David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs could likely each be a starter on any other team. Halfway through the season and they haven’t had a bad game yet. It could be because they don’t get tired.”It’’s so hard for a defense when you get a fresh one of them, it seems, every other drive. A lot of these guys that are carrying the ball 25, 30 times, they aren’t fresh the whole game,’’ Goff said. “These guys are coming in the third quarter and they’re fresh. It’s Gibbs then it’s Montgomery, then it’s Gibbs and then it’s back and forth and it’s tough. It’s tough for a defense and I think they kind of get pigeonholed at times like, ‘Gibbs is the fast one, D-Mo is the tough one.’ It’s like no, they both kind of do it all. They both can run away from you, they both can catch the ball, they both can run you over and that’s really hard for any defense.”
THREE: Houston’s C.J. Stroud hasn’t thrown an interception in three straight games but he hasn’t faced the Lions secondary. Safety Kerby Joseph returned an interception for a touchdown in Green Bay, it was his sixth pick of the season. Brian Branch has four. Stroud will present a challenge. “ He’s a big man, he has quick release, he’s effective when he gets outside the pocket of making plays. He’s not a true runner per se, but he can run to create plays,” Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said. “So, the thing that we’ve got to be careful of is, man, these receivers that he has and the running backs that he has, of not allowing him to be able to just dice us up, getting the ball out to these guys, because they can really make some plays..”
FOUR: Za’Darius Smith, who paid Broc Wright to give up No. 99, could ease his way onto his new team. He’s 32, an NFL veteran, so making a transition shouldn’t be too tough. He’s not a replacement for Aidan Hutchinson but will help against the run and can pass rush. Campbell is confident he will be a good fit. “We’ve got enough people that speak highly of him that I know, players and coaches, and they all say the same thing about him. Team guy, hard worker, tough, loves the game, and then you watch the film, and it backs it up,’’ Campbell said. “So, I can’t imagine that all of those guys would lie to me.”
FIVE: The Lions have proven themselves to be road warriors by winning all their games away from Ford Field so far. Their only loss was to the Bucs at home. Oddly enough, wining on the road is what could lead to more home playoff games. “If you want to make that happen then you have to win a lot of games and we’re only about halfway there but we’ve done a good job to this point and if we want to find a way to have it come through Detroit, we have to keep winning,’’ Goff said.
LIONS INJURY REPORT: LT Taylor Decker (shoulder), DL Brodric Martin (knee), LB Jalen Reeves-Maybin (neck), S Ifeatu Melifonwu (ankle), CB Emmanuel Moseley (pectoral) and LB Malcolm Rodriguez (ankle) are out; Za’Darius Smith is questionable.
TEXANS INJURY REPORT: DE Will Anderson (ankle) and RB Dameon Pierce (groin) are out; WR Nico Collins (hamstring). WR Tank Dell (back), DT Folorunso Fatukasi (groin/shoulder), LB Jake Hansen (ankle), DE Jerry Hughes (hip) and CB Jeff Okudah (quad) are questionable.
PREDICTION: Lions 35, Texans 28
