You could hear the passion in Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell\u2019s voice on Tuesday morning as he faced another barrage of questions about the team\u2019s lackluster start to the season\u2014this time courtesy of John Jansen and Jim Costa, the hosts of 97.1 The Ticket\u2019s morning show. As the interview progressed, Campbell got more and more passionate with his answers, even admitting at the end of the interview that, \u201cI am fired up, man. I am. I\u2019m going forward, not backward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a breakdown of the biggest takeaways from Campbell radio appearance.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s not accepting mediocrity from the offense<\/p>\n
Campbell has received a bit of criticism for continuing to point to the offense needing to be better, when the Lions defense is arguably the worst in the league. On Tuesday, Campbell set the record straight, noting that the offense is too talented to accept what has been a relatively mediocre performance. When asked if the defense is putting too much pressure on the offense to be perfect, here was Campbell\u2019s emphatic response<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you want to be great, they should want to score 35 points a game at a minimum. That\u2019s what greatness is. That\u2019s what they\u2019re charged with. We\u2019ve got plenty of weapons on offense, and if we\u2019re going to accept mediocrity, then no. Then yeah, we can make all of the excuses in the world. But if we want to spit and sputter and be average, that\u2019s one thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not going to be average. We\u2019re going to raise the floor on these guys. Man, we\u2019re going to push them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got too much offensively right now. Our quarterback\u2019s too good. Our playmakers are too good. And we\u2019ve got a young, hungry offensive line that\u2019s got a ton of room to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the offense ranks in the top-10 or top-five in many stats, there are some significant areas to improve that could be described as average. In the running game, they\u2019re just 16th in yards per rush (4.2) and 17th in rush EPA. They are also just 14th in third-down conversion rate (39.1%), and they\u2019ve gone three-and-out t-17th most<\/a>.<\/p>\n Where the defense needs to improve most<\/p>\n Jansen led off the interview asking Campbell if he could pick one thing for the defense to improve upon this week; what would it be? Campbell\u2019s answer was a familiar one:<\/p>\n \u201cI want our guys to be where they\u2019re supposed to be when they\u2019re supposed to be there. We need to be on point. Our discipline has got to clean up,\u201d Campbell said.<\/p>\n This matches almost verbatim what Campbell said after Detroit\u2019s loss against the Bills in Week 2.<\/p>\n \u201cBe where you\u2019re supposed to be when you\u2019re supposed to be there and do it with urgency across the board,\u201d Campbell said after the Bills game.<\/p>\n As to what is causing players to be out of place, Campbell listed a few things. For one, players are compensating for other players\u2019 mistakes. Then, he believes the Lions are getting undisciplined with their eyes.<\/p>\n \u201dProbably boot(legs), dirty eyes on some stuff,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cThe slam boots, the overs. That\u2019s where we\u2019re getting in trouble a little bit. It\u2019s not really man or match coverage.\u201d<\/p>\n Ultimately, Campbell believes that despite the coverage issues, they have capable players in the building.<\/p>\n \u201cInevitably, somebody\u2019s going to be locked up one-on-one with no help, and you\u2019ve got to win. And we have the guys that can win,\u201d Campbell said.<\/p>\n Looking for someone on defense to step up vs. tight ends<\/p>\n