Lions’ Dan Campbell strangely calls out offense despite poor defensive showings originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Detroit Lions‘ defense has been a major problem early in the season, and it has to change for this team to be what it wants to be. The Lions were expected to be a below-average defensive team, but to say that things haven’t gone as planned would be putting it lightly.
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They allowed 30 points to the New Orleans Saints, 41 to the Buffalo Bills, and 32 to the Carolina Panthers. Outside of their 31-24 win against the New York Jets, and even in that, with Geno Smith throwing for 321 yards, the Lions haven’t been able to stop a nosebleed.
That’s a major problem for a squad expected to be Super Bowl-caliber, though head coach Dan Campbell isn’t ready to put all the blame on the defense.
In fact, he sent a message to his offense, suggesting that if they’re not prepared to score 35-plus points in a game and don’t want to, they’re going to be mediocre.
“Man, if you want to be great, they should want to score 35 points a game at a minimum. That’s what greatness is,” Campbell said, H/T Heavy. “That’s what they’re charged with. We’ve got plenty of weapons on offense, and if we’re going to accept mediocrity, then no. Then yeah, we can make all of the excuses in the world.
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“But if we want to spit and sputter and be average, that’s one thing. [But] we’re not going to be average. We’re going to raise the floor on these guys. Man, we’re going to push them.”
I understand what Campbell is trying to say here, but I don’t necessarily agree with his message.
This doesn’t exactly feel like a team that can do enough on either side of the football to suggest that it’s a Super Bowl contender right now, even if the offense has an opportunity to be above average.
With the offense needing to put up as many points as it has to for the defense not to be an issue, Detroit’s offense will have to be a lot better than it already is, which is saying something.
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