Dolphins Opponent Breakdown: Detroit Lions
The Miami Dolphins will look to make it two in a row and improve to 5-3 on the season when they face the Detroit Lions at Ford Field on Sunday afternoon.
The Dolphins will face an NFC opponent for the second time this season after losing against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 6. The game will match the Dolphins against Lions head coach Dan Campbell, who was their interim head coach for the final 12 games of the 2015 season.
The Lions will go into the game with a 1-5 record following their 24-6 loss against the Dallas Cowboys last Sunday.
To get some answers on five major questions related to the Lions, we turned to Publisher John Maakaron of SI Fan Nation sister site All Lions.
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1. Why is that former Dolphins interim head coach Dan Campbell just can't seem to get the Lions going in the right direction yet six games into his second season in Detroit?
JM: For most losing football teams, a lot of reasons are causing the results to not be where they should. The Lions are among the youngest football teams in the NFL and injuries have played a significant part in the losing. D'Andre Swift, Detroit's talented running back, cannot stay healthy and last week Amon-Ra St. Brown was spotted out of the game against the Cowboys due to the new concussion protocol rules. The defense struggled early in the season and is still ranked in the lower third in the NFL. While the offense got off to a hot start, their performance has fallen off drastically the past two weeks. It seems when Campbell addresses one issue with the team, two more appear.
2. From the outside, the Lions look like they should have better than a 1-5 record. How close (or far) is this team from being competitive?
JM: This football team is not anywhere near being a winning football team, at least not in 2022. The team has holes on defense and simply lacks high-end talent. Detroit is choosing to add players with grit, a positive attitude and a love of football to the locker room. In future drafts and free agency, it is time to bring in a couple more "superstar" type players who can be counted on weekly to make impactful plays. So while this season is about monitoring the evaluation of young players, the team must record more victories in 2023.
3. What has happened to the offense the last two games after the team led the NFL in scoring through the first four weeks?
JM: Turnovers are killing the Lions offense. A normally reliable Jamaal Williams fumbled the football twice against the Cowboys and lost the football when the team was about to score a touchdown to take the lead. Quarterback Jared Goff has reverted back to his days with the Rams, when he led the NFL in turnovers. He had four turnovers himself against the Cowboys last week.
4. Conversely, was the defensive effort at Dallas last week when the Lions shut down the Cowboys for most of the game, a sign that perhaps there's hope on that side of the ball, and what did they do better in that game?
Detroit has young talent on the defensive side of the football, including Aidan Hutchinson and Jeff Okudah. Hutchinson recorded 1.5 sacks and has benefited from playing more out of a two-point stance. Okudah, who has been scrutinized heavily, has performed at a very high level in 2022 and has started to change people's minds regarding the investment the team made drafting him with the No. 3 overall pick in 2020.
5. How would you assess the first six games of 2022 second overall pick Aidan Hutchinson's NFL career?
Hutchinson has had an up-and-down start to his rookie campaign. He shows flashes and then has performances where he is not recording as many pressures or sacks. The bye week and the return of two defenders, John Cominsky and Josh Paschal, allowed the talented defensive lineman to play well against the Cowboys. The coaching staff is open to hearing from the young rookie as to how he should line up. He is playing more from a two-point stance and is able to use his natural instincts to read and recognize plays. He has performed admirably compared to others in his rookie class and the hope remains very high he will be a player that performs for Detroit for many, many years.
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