ClutchPoints
On Sunday afternoon, the Detroit Lions hit the road in Maryland to take on the Washington Commanders, looking to put last week’s dud against the Minnesota Vikings fully in the rearview mirror. Some fans were quick to notice that it appeared to be head coach Dan Campbell calling the plays for the offense for the first time this season, which had some confused on why the team elected to shake things up.
During halftime, Campbell spoke to FOX sideline reporter Megan Olivi about the decision.
“It’s just a changeup. We wanted to mix things up,” said Campbell, per Mike Garafolo on X, formerly Twitter.
Overall, the early returns on the decision were encouraging, as the Lions were able to put 25 points on the board in the first half against Washington, and quickly continued that momentum into the second half.
The Lions are still trying to fully recapture the magic they had on offense last year under head coach Ben Johnson, who helped lead the team to 15 wins, albeit with an early playoff exit to show for it.
While that explosive offensive unit has shown up in spurts this year, overall it hasn’t been nearly as consistent as Lions fans have grown accustomed to.
Still, the Lions are in solid position to make a playoff run, and depending on how the rest of the season goes, they could position themselves to peak at the right time heading into the postseason, as opposed to last year, when the team was starting to fall victim to both the injury bug and their own overconfidence ahead of an eventual loss to the Commanders.
In any case, at the conclusion of the Washington game, the Lions will next take the field next week against the Philadelphia Eagles in a high profile matchup between two NFC contenders.
The post Why did Lions’ Dan Campbell take over play-calling duties for Commanders game? appeared first on ClutchPoints.
