Pride of Detroit
When Dan Campbell was asked by 97.1 The Ticket on Tuesday morning what the one thing the Detroit Lions needed to improve upon after their lackluster performance in Week 1 against the Green Bay Packers, the fifth-year coach didn’t hesitate.
“Communication. Communication. Communication. It’s that simple,” Campbell said.
It’s a solid answer, because watching the tape from Sunday’s game, you could see there were several breakdowns in communication. Nowhere was that more evident along the offensive line, where several players had very visible missed assignments.
That has led some to question whether the Lions took the right approach in the preseason with starting guards Christian Mahogany and Tate Ratledge. Mahogany, in his second year after starting just two games in his rookie season, did not play a single snap during Detroit’s four preseason games. Ratledge, the team’s second-round pick in April, only played 24 snaps in the team’s second preseason game and did not play in the other three exhibition contests.
On Tuesday, Campbell was asked if he thinks they could have played both of those players more in the preseason, and he begrudgingly admitted they could have.
“With those two guys, yeah, we could’ve played them a little bit more (in the preseason),” Campbell said. “But, there again, you’re not playing against their starters. That’s why I like the joint practices. Now, just to get in the flow of the game? Yeah, probably. It’s not like more reps is going to hurt them. It’s going to help them. So, yeah, certainly, we could’ve played them a little bit more.”
This is far from a full admission of a mistake here, and it’s fair to wonder whether snaps for those individuals would have helped with communication of the entire unit—especially if the likes of Taylor Decker, Graham Glasgow, and Penei Sewell weren’t on the field with them during the preseason.
Regardless, Campbell expects that communication and chemistry to build over the next few weeks. The key will be finding that improvement while also making sure they tally some wins.
“That just takes time. It takes time, live reps, real bullets, on the road, can’t hear. All of that to where, man, you’re working in unison together, and you’re starting to figure each other out in real football games,” Campbell said. “So it’ll take a little bit, but we’re going to get there, man. These guys will grow, and as bad as it hurts, you’re only going to grow from this. There’s nowhere to go but up, and these guys are going to get better. There’s going to be banked reps here now, and we’ve just got to find a way to win, and develop and grow at the same time.”
Communication within the offensive line should be much easier this week, as the Lions open up their home schedule against the Chicago Bears, who lost their home opener to the Vikings on Monday. Despite the familiarity with Bears head coach Ben Johnson, Campbell says the focus is internal.
“It’s about...
