Lions News

[whatever_gong82]

I had forgot about him. Always thought he was terrible. I was right. They were talking about him on Ermanni and Edwards yesterday. Reminded me of what an asshole he is.

He's from New York, I believe, but even that market can't stand him, and that’s saying something.

[El Axe]

In the presser, Campbell was very measured in his comments about Brodric Martin while praising the recent practice squad pickups. Looking like Holmes' first draft bust. Willing to give him one more training camp, but it's not looking good.

[whatever_gong82]

Some quick thoughts on Detroit Lions' potential to play internationally in 2025

Justin Rogers
Dec 11




Allen Park — On Wednesday, the NFL announced it will play its first international game in Berlin, Germany. Of course, Detroit Lions fans are curious if they’ll ultimately be selected to participate in the contest, which will be held at Olympic Stadium next season.



While there’s an expectation the Lions will eventually play a game in Germany — especially given the team was granted global marketing rights in the country earlier this year — next season is bordering on unlikely.

The primary reason is international games are typically hosted by teams with an extra home game. The exception is the Jacksonville Jaguars, who had a three-year agreement to host one game per season at Wembley Stadium starting in 2022.



Since the NFL expanded to a 17-game schedule in 2021, the AFC and NFC have rotated which conference gets nine home games. This year, the NFC had the extra home game, and the four international games not hosted by the Jaguars were hosted by NFC teams. In 2023, the home team for each of the five international matchups was an AFC team.

That means all eight of next season’s international games should be hosted by AFC teams. Of course, that doesn’t preclude the Lions from being a visitor for one of those contests.



Two of Detroit's three AFC road opponents for the 2025 season are already determined, the Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals. Interestingly, they are two of seven franchises yet to establish a global market through the league. That obviously doesn’t prohibit them from playing internationally but does make them unlikely choices for a game in Berlin, given 10 teams, including four AFC franchises, have market rights in Germany.

The Lions' third AFC road game will be against a to-be-determined opponent; the correlating finisher in the AFC West. If the Lions can hold off the Vikings to win the NFC North, it's a near-certainly to be the Kansas City Chiefs. But if the Vikings overtake the Lions down the stretch, they would play the second-place finisher in the AFC West, either the Los Angeles Chargers or Denver Broncos. Both teams are 8-5 with four games remaining.



Of note, from that trio of teams, the Chiefs are one of the four AFC franchises with global marketing rights in Germany. What’s unclear is if the league would be willing to send them back there so quickly after the Chiefs hosted in Frankfurt in 2023.

Meanwhile, the Broncos have global marketing rights in Mexico, where the league intends to return in 2025 after a three-year hiatus. The Chargers, like the Ravens and Bengals, do not have a global marketing tie.



Here is when each of those potential AFC opponents last played internationally:

The Chiefs played in Germany in 2023

The Ravens played in London in 2023

the Broncos played as a visitor in London in 2022

The Chargers played in London in 2018 and Mexico City in 2019


The Bengals played in London as a visitor in 2019

Whether one of Detroit’s three AFC road games moves internationally won’t be determined until next year. The announcement of the 2024 slate came in May.


Regardless of that outcome, what feels far more likely is the Lions host an international game in 2026. Germany would make sense, given both the global marketing rights and the heritage of star receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, who has a German mother.

Detroit hasn’t played internationally since 2015.



Email: jrogers@detroitfootball.net

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[CGVT]

I saw Rob Parker calling Campbell a bad coach in the past week. I can’t remember the last time I thought Rob made sense with one of his “hot takes”.

When he asked Marinelli if he wished that his daughter had married a better defensive coordinator was the only time he has ever said anything that I agree with.

[Blue Lagoon58]

Still a dick bag question asked by a huge dick bag.

[Meano.Culpa]

In the presser, Campbell was very measured in his comments about Brodric Martin while praising the recent practice squad pickups. Looking like Holmes' first draft bust. Willing to give him one more training camp, but it's not looking good.

Good hands. Worked hard last off-season to add functional strength, which wasn't bad to start. Question mark remains footwork.

[CGVT]

Still a dick bag question asked by a huge dick bag.

I disagree with half of that statement.

Any time somebody takes a shot at Nepo-incompetence in the NFL it is a good thing. The question, in context, was pretty fucking funny as well as Marinelli totally losing his mind over it with his, "leave my family out of this" bullshit rant

But I do agree. Parker is a huge dick bag.

[whatever_gong82]

Pressers and scrums: MVP talk dismissed, Lions loving NFC rivals keeping pace and Sheppard ready for DC opportunity

Justin Rogers
December 11, 2024


Allen Park — Here are the greatest hits from Wednesday’s media access at the Detroit Lions practice practice facility.


MVP chatter not moving needle

The outside world might view this week’s game between Buffalo and Detroit as a matchup between a pair of MVP candidates, quarterbacks Jared Goff and Josh Allen, but that’s predictably not a conversation in the building.



“I guarantee you that’s not Goff’s focus,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “Winning the MVP, that’s icing on the cake, but I know for us, man, if you just focus on the win and what it’s going to take to win this game, whatever comes out of that, the individual accolades will follow. You’ll turn around, look back and you’ll realize, ‘All right, this is what’s transpired because we’ve won.’ So, I’m not worried about it, he’s not worried about it, we’ve just got to find a way to win.”

Goff, who typically talks on Wednesdays, also wasn’t interested in the conversation. Asked what it meant to be listed among the contenders for the award this late in the season, the QB was dismissive.


“To be honest, not much,” Goff said. “Sure, I’ve been playing well, but a lot of guys have been playing well though. If you’re a quarterback on a good team, you’re probably going to be in that conversation and it’s a credit to all the guys on the squad. We’ve had a really good year up to this point, we’ve got to finish it off. Sure, it’s cool to be recognized in some ways but it doesn’t really mean anything. I want to be holding that trophy at the end of the year, and I know that’s what matters.”

According to FanDuel, Allen is the sizable favorite for the award at -450. He’s followed by Eagles running back Saquon Barkley (+550), Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (+1400), then Goff (+1700).


Allen pulled away from the pack with a six-touchdown performance in last week’s game against the Rams, throwing for three and running for the other half. On the season, he’s posted a 23-to-5 touchdown-to-interception ratio, while adding another 416 yards and nine touchdowns on the ground. All totaled, he’s leading the league in QBR.

Goff, meanwhile, has a better completion percentage and has thrown for more yards and touchdowns, but has twice as many interceptions, with next-to-no impact as a runner.


Shootout on tap?

The Bills rank second in the NFL in scoring behind only the Lions, but the Bills' consistency is something to behold. They’ve scored at least 30 points each of their past seven games and 10 times this season, overall.


Last week, the Lions played another high-powered scoring attack, which factored into the team's decision to go for it on fourth down five times in the contest.

I asked Campbell if he was feeling a similar way heading into this matchup, believing the Lions will need to score at least 30 to keep pace.


“Yeah, I mean, certainly we need offensive output, that goes without saying,” Campbell said. “I mean, this team, even when you play good, it’s going to be hard to completely shut this team down, shut this offense down. But yet, there again, the guys that we do have that have only been here for a short period of time, I expect them to be better than even last week. And I made the point, all these guys(we added) are football players. It’s not like these guys can’t play football that are in here. So, I expect us to be better in that area.

“We’ll have a good gameplan and I just see us playing better defensively,” Campbell said. “I think we’re going to show up. We’re going to do some things, offense has got to, certainly, score points, preferably touchdowns, not field goals, and then we need something out of our special teams. Our special teams unit needs to show up for us. Field position will be huge in this game.”


What shines through in those comments is a confidence the defense will be better prepared with the newer additions having an extra 10 days to get acclimated to the scheme and their expectations in it.

The Lions could also be getting some reinforcements on that side of the ball, although it remains to be seen. All of Detroit’s injured players took part in practice on Wednesday, in a limited capacity. Their status for Sunday’s game won’t be revealed until later in the week.


Praise for ownership

Because she works behind the scenes and rarely comments publicly, the impact of owner Sheila Hamp doesn’t get the attention it deserves. But any chance Campbell gets to talk about what his boss means to the operation, he’s ready to lavish her with praise.

“In my opinion, without having the right ownership, it’s hard to get to a point where you can have success and sustain it,” Campbell said. “I think it’s very hard. So, we have the right ownership, and Sheila’s outstanding, she gives us everything we need, she is very supportive, and she speaks her mind with me, and I appreciate that.”


Loving the pressure cooker

Last week, ahead of the team’s game with Green Bay, Campbell made an unprompted comment about being happy the Vikings had pulled off a come-from-behind win to top the Arizona Cardinals.


That’s not a sentiment shared by the fanbase, who would prefer the Lions have more than a one-game lead over the Vikings in the NFC North race. Regardless, Campbell elaborated Wednesday, expressing a preference for constant pressure.

“I love it,” Campbell said. “I think it’s great. I think it’s great for us. I think it does, it keeps you sharp. I’ve mentioned this before, I think we do well with pressure and it’s the right kind of friction and stress that we need and it’s motivating. So, yeah, I love it, I think it’s great. Look, nobody’s going to lose, nobody’s losing, so we’re going.”



The Vikings moved to 11-2 over the weekend, beating the Atlanta Falcons and former quarterback Kirk Cousins. They’ve now won six in a row after back-to-back losses that started with a Week 7 home defeat to the Lions.

The teams are slated to play again in the season finale. If the Lions win the next three games, they’ll lock the division up. But if they slip up at any point during that stretch, and the Vikings maintain their winning ways, the finale would decide the division and potentially the No. 1 seed in the NFC.



Wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown used his time off this weekend to check out the competition. He watched both the Vikings and Eagles, the conference's other top contender, on split screens.

"Yeah, I think you can never really exhale in this league," St. Brown said. "With everyone winning, it definitely keeps us motivated, keeps us going. Sometimes, at this point in the season, you're like, 'All right, let's get to the playoffs' or 'We can't wait for the regular season to end,' but we've got to keep going and build this momentum up to the playoffs. I think that's the biggest thing.


Jack be nimble, Jack be quick

Fans tend to ignore Pro Football Focus’ grading if it doesn’t tell them what they want to hear, but in the case of linebacker Jack Campbell, the publication is as high on the performance of the second-year linebacker as anyone.

Among players at the position who have logged at least half of their team’s defensive snaps, Campbell is ranked sixth out of 57 players.



Position coach Kelvin Sheppard agrees Campbell has been meeting and exceeding expectations.

“I couldn't be happier than the way he’s progressed,” Sheppard said. “I think if you go back to the spring, I spoke with some of you all about his progression as a player coming in last year; no matter the route he went, the vision me, (defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn) AG, Dan had for that player, from what we saw on his tape, we knew there were things that needed to be corrected. And Jack took full accountability. Now you're seeing that out there on the field.”


Sheppard said he told Campbell before the Green Bay game that he was playing among, if not at the best level of any linebacker in the league the past month.

Campbell is pacing the Lions with 98 tackles (five for a loss), 1.5 sacks, three pass breakups and a forced fumble.


Rounding a corner


After the second week of the season, when running back Jahmyr Gibbs caught seven passes for a paltry 22 yards, I asked position coach Scottie Montgomery what the back needed to do to unlock better production as a backfield receiver.

Montgomery acknowledged Gibbs still had some rust to knock off after missing a significant portion of the offseason program, but the coaching staff also needed to do a better job getting him the ball facing the defense.



It didn’t happen overnight, with zero receptions in the next two games, but Gibbs’ receiving role has been steadily growing. He’s now on the cusp of surpassing his rookie production while averaging 9.2 yards per grab vs. 6.1 in 2023.


“That’s what we get to see when we practice,” Montgomery said. “A lot of times people don’t get to see practice, but whether we’re in one-on-one drills or we’re in RVAs, which is what we call 'route versus air, you can just see the development. His feet are getting tighter, he’s got much better pad level, he’s changing direction with full-speed routes.



“…He does have the natural ability to run the football with speed, but there are vision things, also, that you have to do in the run game. And then in the pass game, really it's his body control. A lot of times, as a back, you’re always in control until you can burst full-speed. But at the receiver position, you’re full speed, and then you have to get body control.”


Montgomery also noted Gibbs has been putting in extra work with Goff in between practice segments, which is further bolstering the chemistry between the QB and the target.


Next coach up

Many are expecting Glenn to earn a head-coaching opportunity this offseason given the impressive performance of Detroit’s defense in the face of a staggering number of injuries.



If that happens, Sheppard is expected to be among the internal candidates to backfill the defensive coordinator position. On Wednesday, the linebacker coach was asked if he felt ready for that opportunity.

“I would be lying to you to say no,” Sheppard said. “Absolutely. And that's what happens here. It's not just the players within the building (who are developing), but it's the coaches, as well. I’m very appreciative of the way that Dan, (general manager) Brad (Holmes), AG have structured this thing to kind of put you in leadership roles within your own room. There are many times AG allows me to speak up in front of the defense and things like that. They don't have to do those things.


“I have friends that coach in other buildings, and I know that they're not afforded those opportunities, so I don't take them lightly,” Sheppard said. “Every day I step foot in this place, it's an unbelievable opportunity to grow as a person, as a player, being able to watch how Dan operates. I had the ability to watch him operate, being in the locker room as a player down in Miami, and now as a coach, so on both ends of that spectrum. I can tell you I would rather not have the opportunity to learn from another man than him. And then schematically, the things that AG has done with the personnel these last four years, I mean, he's (finally) just getting this kind of, I guess, recognition.”


Sheppard played eight seasons in the NFL. After a year as the director of player development at his alma mater, LSU, he joined the Lions coaching staff in 2021. Initially leading the outside linebackers, he was promoted to take over the entire room ahead of the 2022 campaign.


Injury report

As is our new tradition, here’s a link to the latest information on all of Detroit’s injuries.

https://substack.com/redirect/2eab1b86-5332-4084-8a47-eadf5fa0e887?j=eyJ1IjoiMzVxMTBzIn0.wp_lrySeINMQApeOgPbyP4JdYEaoRg7xrAxPgu5AdSc

Email: jrogers@detroitfootball.net

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Bluesky: Justin-Rogers

[edindetroit]

[whatever_gong82]

If Detroit Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell gets his 13th win this Sunday, he'll join a very exclusive club:

https://x.com/_MLFootball/status/1866921300020621328?t=Ppru_BfQcQcJeszdQWtjwA&s=19

[whatever_gong82]

The embodiment of resiliency, Kwon Alexander eager to put it all on the line for Lions in 'legendary' pursuit of a ring

Justin Rogers
Dec 12



Allen Park — Kwon Alexander’s relationship with football is unbalanced, his burning love often unrequited. You could argue the game has been downright abusive to the linebacker, now in his 10th season.

But through it all, Alexander’s passion remains undiminished.

His body is covered in tattoos. They hide the scars. He’s torn an ACL, a pec and a bicep. He’s shredded his Achilles not once, but twice. Yet he keeps returning for more, rehab after grueling rehab, because he loves what he does even if it doesn’t always love him the same way.



The biggest tattoo, covering most of his back, isn't concealing a physical scar. Instead, it serves as a permanent reminder of an emotional one. The mural depicts Alexander, in full uniform under stadium lights, holding a ball and pointing to the sky where an angel looks down at him. It’s his younger brother, Broderick Taylor, who was murdered in 2015.

“I think about him a lot, man,” Alexander said. “Every day. I just know he's always with me so, shoot, I don't have to worry about anything.”



Two days after the killing, Alexander suited up for the seventh game of his rookie season and delivered what remains one of his finest performances, racking up 11 tackles, intercepting a pass, and forcing and recovering a fumble. He was ultimately named Defensive Player of the Week for the only time in his career.

Alexander doesn’t like to talk about what he’s been through, particularly the injuries. He’s had those conversations before and he’d rather not have them again. At this point, the decision is part psychological, part superstition.



“When I talk about it, it affects me up here,” Alexander said tapping his head. “And then it seems like something always happens.”

The sad reality is the constant betrayals of his body have prevented Alexander from living up to his lofty potential or sticking long in one place. Remember, this was a guy who once looked destined for NFL stardom. In his second season — one of just two in his career where he appeared in every game — he racked up 145 tackles, 3.0 sacks, an interception and a forced fumble. And despite appearing in just 12 games the following year, he was named to the Pro Bowl.



Then the injuries overwhelmed the trajectory. The ACL tear happened in the sixth game of the 2018 season, the final year of his rookie contract with the Buccaneers. Fortunately, that didn’t stop him from earning a big payday from San Francisco in free agency, before he missed half of his first season there with a torn pec.

The next year, the 49ers punted and traded Alexander to the Saints. The next thing you know, he’s opening four consecutive seasons on four different rosters. He went from New Orleans to New York to Pittsburgh to Denver before the Detroit Lions — desperate for reinforcements to their injury-ravaged linebacking room — poached him off the Broncos practice squad on the final day of November.



“I told the staff immediately that you're going to love the practice habits of this player, from walkthrough to true practice habits, because of how intentional he is about his work,” Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said. “He's very, very vocal. He understands, as a linebacker, that you lead the team, from that aspect, and he does a good job of that. He's a violent player. He plays fast. His instincts, to me, are on another level with understanding the game.

“When you have a player like that you've been around, you want to get as many players back as you can,” Glenn said. “For us to have a chance to get that player back, it was important for us.”



That’s a theme in Alexander’s journey that shouldn’t be ignored. Even though teams are no longer willing to place a long-term bet, the coaches who have worked with him can’t help but come back for a second helping.

Robert Saleh was Alexander’s defensive coordinator in San Francisco before signing off on bringing the linebacker to the Jets three years later. Sean Payton, who traded for the defender in New Orleans, was happy to add him to the locker room in Denver this year. And a couple more connections Alexander made in New Orleans, with Dan Campbell and Glenn, are why he’s now in Detroit.



“If anybody gives you a second chance in this league, that's big, man,” Alexander said. “A lot of people don't get this far in the league, especially with everything I've been through, so whenever I get a call, I love to go work hard for those guys and put everything I can into it.

“As long as teams keep picking me up, it means I'm doing something right,” Alexander said. “So I try to stay focused on whatever team I'm on and making as many plays as I can and racking up as many W's as I can.”



Alexander’s football character unquestionably fits Detroit. Even though the franchise has rounded the corner from scrappy underdog to Super Bowl favorite, the foundation laid by Campbell is concrete made from grit and determination. Plus, general manager Brad Holmes has an affinity for guys with chips on their shoulders and something to prove.

Despite all the injuries and all the setbacks, Alexander, now 30 years old, continues to play like his hair is ablaze. It’s a fitting idiom for a guy with locks that remain dyed fire-engine red from his days in Tampa.



“Kwon will bring a whole ‘nother energy,” Campbell said. “He's all energy. He is a relentless player, he is an aggressive player. And he can run and hit. He'll fit that room nicely and bring us a little something different.”

Of course, if you think about it, how could Alexander not fit in Detroit’s linebacker room? The overlap between his experiences and position coach Kelvin Sheppard’s is bordering on unbelievable. The two grew up two hours apart, went on to star at LSU, and battled through the challenges of a journeyman’s career in the NFL. Sheppard even played for Dan Campbell and suited up for the Lions late in his career.



It makes it easy to relate, at least on most things.

“We had a similar career besides he got, like, a $50 million contract,” Sheppard quipped. “I want that to be noted. We're similar, but different there. But yes, just as far as our path, yes. It is similar.



During Alexander's first week in Detroit, the two worked tirelessly to prepare him to play despite a short turnaround. In some ways, it was a full-circle moment in the linebacker's career. In 2020, he was traded midseason to the Saints and immediately thrust into the starting lineup — ironically displacing Lions defensive captain Alex Anzalone.

These circumstances are a bit different, but this situation was the same. Days after joining the Lions, who run a similar defensive scheme to those Saints, Alexander got the start where Anzalone would normally line up. And while it ended up being just 17 snaps, Alexander looked like he’d been here for months, flowing to the ball and coming up with a couple run stops.



“I kinda liked the way I played Thursday,” Alexander said. “You can always be better with certain things, but just getting my feet wet again, going out there and making plays, it was fun.”

Now that he's reoriented, Alexander is weighing the bigger picture. In 2019, he fought back from one of his many injuries to return for the playoffs, making it to the Super Bowl with the 49ers before the team fell short.



It’s not lost on him that this isn’t just another opportunity in Detroit, but one where he can earn the championship that has eluded him throughout his career. He’s been here less than two weeks but notes the vibes in the building are remarkably similar to what he experienced in San Francisco.

“Hell yeah, my energy is up,” Alexander said. “I thank God for this. He's put me in a great situation knowing everything I've been through in my career. He's giving me a chance to go out there and do it again, to make a run at a Super Bowl again. I'm going to put everything on the line for that. You just never know. This is a legendary team, we just have to go out there and make it happen.



“My goal is to make it through these seven more weeks, lock in as much as I can, go out there, play fast and get a ring.”

For anyone who has been around Alexander for more than 15 minutes, you’ll quickly realize legendary isn’t just his favorite word, it’s his mantra. If he can play even a small part in bringing a Super Bowl to Detroit, there might not be a more fitting description.




Email: jrogers@detroitfootball.net

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[whatever_gong82]

https://www.freep.com/story/news/columnists/neal-rubin/2024/12/12/baker-family-members-spent-60-years-as-detroit-lions-mascot-now-heir-in-bismarck-hopes-to-try/76919331007/

https://www.freep.com/story/sports/nfl/lions/2024/12/12/detroit-lions-injuries-linebackers-kelvin-sheppard/76934314007/

https://www.freep.com/story/sports/nfl/lions/2024/12/12/josh-allen-mvp-jared-goff-favorite-free-press-voter-poll/76928848007/

https://www.freep.com/story/sports/nfl/lions/2024/12/12/lions-defense-rallies-around-new-nickname-given-by-dan-campbell/76924519007/

[whatever_gong82]

Everyone has a voice at Lions' headquarters. That's a huge part of all the winning

Paywall article.

Shawn Windsor
Detroit Free Press




Every week during the season, Taylor Decker and his offensive linemates choose their six favorite run plays and give them to Hank Fraley, the Detroit Lions offensive line coach.



Fraley shoots them up the ladder to offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. Johnson lays out a game plan and, in turn, loops in head coach Dan Campbell.

“It’s a good bet,” said Decker, “that four or five of our favorite runs are going to be in the first 15 plays.”



Those plays are scripted. And while Johnson scripts them, he uses input from nearly everyone who plays or coaches offense for the Lions, including, obviously, Campbell.

The same is true on the defensive side, where linebackers and safeties are free to make suggestions, and where position coaches run ideas up the pole to defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn all week.



Yet it doesn’t stop there.

Each week, for example, linebackers coach Kelvin Sheppard addresses the entire defense. Glenn wants his input, along with the input of all his positional coaches. And Campbell wants all his coaches to learn to do some of the things a coordinator or head coach does.




“I’m very appreciative of the way Dan, Brad (Holmes) and A.G. (Glenn) have structured this thing to kind of put you in leadership roles,” said Sheppard, “... they don’t have to do those things. I have friends in other buildings, and I know they're not afforded those opportunities, so I don’t take them lightly ... It’s an unbelievable opportunity to grow as a person.”

Sheppard doesn’t prepare remarks for his weekly address to the defense. He may think about a theme or a few points he wants to hit, but he wants to speak off the cuff, from the heart. Campbell taught him that.



“It’s all raw and natural,” Sheppard said of his talks. “That’s what I think is different here. Like nobody’s walking up in front of players with some (script). It's authentic, its genuine feelings, its honesty. Most coaches wouldn’t do that in front of their players, they’ll go upstairs and do it and then come down and smile in the player’s face. That’s where the disconnect happens in a lot of buildings. Whatever is said upstairs is said downstairs, that’s throughout every room.”

That disconnect used to be in this building, here in Allen Park. Sheila Hamp started the change. Holmes and Campbell have run with it. Everyone gets a voice, everyone is heard, collaboration is fundamental.



The Big Lebowski's military base


So, too, is accountability. Think of it as a military base that welcomes hippies. Or a commune that houses soldiers.



“That’s one of the biggest things here and what makes it so fun to play here and to be a part of this winning culture that we have is that they listen to us and they are collaborative,” said Jared Goff. “We’ve talked at length about the stuff that Ben (Johnson) and I do and the work we do, but I know on defense there’s guys over there that are constantly talking to A.G. and Shep and those guys, seeing what they can add or help with or ideas they had. I come up with a lot of ideas. They don’t always get used, but sometimes they do, and those ones are fun and it’s a lot of fun to be a part of.”



Fun? In football? Nah, it ain’t possible, right?

Just don’t mistake fun for undisciplined, or a lack of focus or intensity. This isn’t balloon animals and slip-n-slides fun. It’s fun that derives from being seen, and heard, and then being held to account to what is seen and heard.



“Our guys have ownership in this team,” said Campbell. “They have buy-in, they know it’s their team, and we try to honor that. I mean, we do, and our team speaks volumes ... I listen, we listen, because that’s the way it should be.”

But?



“You fall in line,” he said, “or it doesn’t work out.”



See what he is doing here? What he is stitching together?

Yes, share ideas. Collaborate. And then show up on time, every time. And follow the consensus, even when the consensus is laid out by Campbell. Because sometimes the voice is singular, and it has to be. It’s just easier to trust when that singular voice comes out of all those other voices.



Natural born leader


Campbell credits his childhood, his father, former coaches and his exposure to team sports for his leadership meld. Yet his vision didn’t solely come from environment. Nature is part of the nurture equation, too. He has a gift of vision. He understands what it means to be human. And he isn’t worried about getting credit.

He’s instilled that humility in his coaches. Or, more precisely, he’s hired coaches with a similar sense of self.



“You see how our coaches are on the field just asking for feedback on plays,” said Decker. “There’s zero ego involved with any coaching staff or any of the players around here. I feel like that comes from Dan, because he doesn’t have any ego about anything when it comes to, you know, anything in this building.”

Campbell famously told Sheppard not to cut his braids when he hired him to be his linebackers coach, for example. That may seem like a small thing. But Campbell wanted Sheppard because of who Sheppard was. That included his hair. He wasn’t worried about outdated societal norms, or some unspoken protocol, or that somehow the hair might reflect on him.



Where does that come from?

“Team sports were always a big part of my family,” he said. “And then, certainly my dad – I’ve said this before, he’s a marine, and so, just the teamwork was always preached ... not complaining, no excuses, do what you’re told to do, give it everything you’ve got, if you’re going to do something then give your all on it, don’t half-ass anything.”



He also had an uncle who coached high school football. Cousins that played.

“So, sports, teamwork, all of it,” he said.


And?



“I’ve been in different organizations, and you play against different ones and you kind of see the dynamic of places,” he said. “We’ve got the right recipe, we do. I would love to know who’s got it better than us?”

No one, he would say. Then again, he’d listen if you had a different idea.



Contact Shawn Windsor: swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him@shawnwindsor.

[mason reese]

Not sure if this article is paywalled so here’s the text

https://www.prideofdetroit.com/2024/12/12/24319484/dan-campbell-4th-down-column-opinion-tedy-bruschi-detroit-lions-aggression-good

Dan Campbell is already coaching like the Lions are on top


By: Ty Schalter

After Dan Campbell’s gutsy decision to run it down the Green Bay Packers’ throat, finishing them off rather than kick a field goal and trust their defense, fans and analysts everywhere took issue.

“Don’t put Dan Campbell on my sideline. I just don’t know, I don’t know the emotional control of this coach,” ESPN’s Tedy Bruschi said after the game. “Let me tell you, Detroit Lions fans, there’s no more ankles and kneecaps to bite. You’re on top. Start playing like it, and start coaching like it.”

Bruschi knows about being on top, having won three rings at the heart of Bill Belichick’s original New England Patriots defense. He was considered a throwback guy even in his playing days, and that shows in this analysis: when you know you’re the best, you don’t take risks to win—you play it safe, play the percentages, and trust your personnel and coaching advantages to win the game.

But that’s exactly what Campbell is doing.

Way back in 2009, The New Yorker published Malcolm Gladwell’s “How David Beats Goliath,” a great article that beget a bestselling book. The article focuses on a Silicon Valley-area girls’ club basketball team, and a hoops-newbie parent who realized their band of geek-family kids were never going to beat teams full of bigger, better athletes who’d grown up on hardwood and blacktop.

He couldn’t teach his kids to get better at basketball, but he could teach them to out-hustle their opponents with a swarming full-court press. Though a full-time press is usually a risky strategy, what’s the risk when you’re expecting to get whipped? With an all-out, all-hands-on-deck approach to defending even inbounds passes, Redwood City made a deep run in the national championship tournament.

The takeaway? When the most likely result is you losing, you can’t play it safe.

Many Lions fans and writers, like A to Z Sports’ Mike Payton, responded to Bruschi’s critique by saying Campbell’s team isn’t on top. Since Detroit hasn’t rung up a bunch of rings like Belichick and Bruschi once did, they’re better off continuing to play the way that’s gotten them this far: like underdogs.

But Campbell’s aggressive fourth-down calls against the Green Bay Packers weren’t an example of an underdog strategy, because going for it on fourth down isn’t inherently riskier than kicking a field goal or punting.

Right around the time when Bruschi was hanging up his pads and Gladwell was getting ready to publish his book “Outliers,” a former aerospace engineer named Brian Burke was turning heads in the sports-blog world with his site, Advanced Football Analytics. Among many concepts he pioneered, explored, explained, or popularized, he created a fourth-down calculator that many analysts used to explain why NFL coaches (and talking heads) were getting it all wrong.

In fact, I once had a weekly column at VICE called Inopportune Knocks where I frequently used it to run down the coaches who most egregiously traded better chances of winning for the fool’s gold of staying in the game. Like most fourth-down models, then and now, Burke’s calculator took the point spread at kickoff into account—meaning, the models adjust for whether the team making the call is the favorite, or the underdog.

Burke wrote a very smart (and, fair warning, very math-y) explainer of what playing like an underdog really means, and why it results in a better chance of winning. Put very simply, a high-risk strategy opens up the range of possible outcomes; the wider the possible range of outcomes, the better the chance that a less-likely one—an upset—occurs.

“Even if employing a high-variance strategy is non-optimum, it can still help,” Burke wrote. “Underdogs should employ a high-variance strategy from the beginning of the game. It shouldn’t wait until the 4th quarter and become desperate. Go for it on 4th and short, run trick plays, throw deep, and blitz more often. Roll the dice from the get-go.”

For favorites, the opposite is true.

“Play as consistently as possible,” Burke advised. “The lower the variance the better.”

And how do you reduce variance? By relying on talent advantage. By avoiding mistakes and turnovers. By controlling the ball and chewing clock, reducing the number of times the other team gets the ball. By reducing the chances the other team has to make something unexpected happen.

By playing, in other words, the percentages.

Back when Bruschi was playing, people would invoke that phrase having no idea what the percentages actually were. They just assumed that playing it safe was playing it smart, since that was the received wisdom of great old football coaches like Fielding Yost and Amos Alonzo Stagg—who, by the way, almost always had better teams. Of course low-variance strategies were optimal when you were coaching Army at the end of World War II and you’d cornered the market on able-bodied young men.

But our understanding of the percentages in 2024 is also better than it was in 2008—whether we were NFL middle linebackers at the time, or we were thinking we might be pretty good at blogging about the Lions if we gave it a shot. Taking decades’ worth of every-team, every-play data, smooshing it all up and adjusting by point spread might be a much smarter baseline than asking Bear Bryant, but it doesn’t capture the odds of the Lions converting that last fourth down against the Packers.

Instead, as Mike Sando wrote for The Athletic on Monday, today’s NFL teams build and consult their own models. ESPN’s current model, built by Burke, thought Detroit should have kicked the field goal. But Sando wrote that another NFL team’s in-house model thought going for it was actually the optimal play—while a third team’s numbers said Campbell was nuts for trying it.

Sando cited several factors that might either have been built into Detroit’s model, or accounted for on the fly by Campbell: The “fourth-and-1” was really only about half a yard to go, they have a run-blocking line as good as anybody’s, running back David Montgomery has the highest success rate in the league, and the Lions’ defensive front seven had been trying for 59 minutes to hold back the Packers with just Za’Darius Smith, Jack Campbell, some practice-squad guys and a few street free-agents.

Add it all up, and Campbell thought they had a better chance to win by relying on their talent advantage to control the ball—and in the process, avoid a less-likely outcome (like a missed field goal, or a Packers Hail Mary) that could have cost them the game.

So the traditionally “risky” call, to go for it, was really the safer play.

This is an extension of the low-variance strategies Campbell’s pursued all season long. Despite having the second-most effective passing attack in the NFL by EPA per play, the Lions have called the fifth-largest share of run plays of any team in the NFL, rank third in rushing attempts, fourth in average clock length of drives, and third in per-game time of possession.

We’ve seen Campbell coach like an underdog before, and that’s not it. Remember his first season, 2021, when after losing all of their first six games, they went to play against just-departed quarterback Matthew Stafford and his hot new Los Angeles Rams?

Detroit got a touchdown on their opening drive, followed it up with a surprise onside kick, which they recovered, extended that drive with a fake punt, and then kicked a field goal to take a shocking 10-0 lead. They successfully faked another punt in the second half, and then (unsuccessfully) tried to convert a fourth-and-1

That’s what an aggressive, high-variance strategy looks like: pulling out all the stops, using every trick in the book, blitzing like crazy on defense and hoping you catch more than a few breaks. The winless Lions really had no business going into the fourth quarter with a 19-17 lead against a team about to go win the Super Bowl, but Campbell’s aggression gave them every possible chance.

When you’re an 0-6 team trailing the best team in the league by six points in the fourth quarter, calling a fourth-and-1 run that sends D’Andre Swift at Aaron Donald is an act of desperation.

When you’re a 12-1 team driving for the game-winning score that’ll put your division rivals all but out of the race, calling a fourth-and-1 run that sends David Montgomery behind Kevin Zeitler and Penei Sewell to gain seven yards is an act of dominance.

[CGVT]

When you’re a 12-1 team driving for the game-winning score that’ll put your division rivals all but out of the race, calling a fourth-and-1 run that sends David Montgomery behind Kevin Zeitler and Penei Sewell to gain seven yards is an act of dominance.

Egg fuckin' Zactly