Did Detroit Lions Quit on Dan Campbell against Patriots?
The Detroit Lions' roster under Dan Campbell has been built to compete hard and not give up, despite whatever adversities are faced.
Campbell, the coaching staff and the front office must be scratching their heads during the bye week, wondering why the game against the New England Patriots ended up being so uncompetitive.
"I think we’ve got plenty here to win with," Campbell told reporters Monday. "On this roster, on the practice squad, we’ve got plenty. And, man, there’s a number of combinations we haven’t even tried yet. So, we’re going to look at everything, we’ll take a peek at everybody. There again, we’ll adjust what we need to as coaches. But yeah, I think that across the board, our FBI (football intelligence) has got to become much more important, and I do think that’s got to be an area that we really focus on moving forward with our guys.”
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A former member of the Lions' offensive line, T.J. Lang, expressed some concerns about the demeanor of the roster when he broke down the game on 97.1 The Ticket this week.
"Seemed like this team, it felt like they were flat," Lang said on the "Stoney and Jansen" morning show. "It felt like they were flat. Like they were dead. Like no energy, no juice on the side. You know what I mean? And, I think that's concerning, because that's two weeks in a row. Last week was the defense, just absolutely no juice. And, then yesterday was the offense. That's a concern for me."
A flat performance from the Lions was likely more frustrating for all involved, due to what was at stake in an important game early in the season.
Starting 1-4 before the bye week has taken the wind out of the sails of supporters, and the team lost convincingly, 29-0, to a Patriots team playing its third-string quarterback.
"I know you don't like to look too far forward as as a coach or as a player, but you got the bye week coming," Lang continued. "That's something -- like sell out, man. You want to do everything as possible as a player to head into that bye week on a positive note. And, I'm just telling you, man, like it's been two weeks in a row now. I've been looking at that sideline, and I've been waiting when things start going bad. When they start hitting adversity, who's going to be the guy that steps up that gets those, gets the guys going? Huddle them up. Rip somebody's ass. Whatever it is, you know? Anybody? Anybody?
"I haven't seen it for two weeks now. It's like they just come down and sit on the bench and stare at the ground. It's like they expect , like, what's going on? Like they expected it to happen. For me, that's a concern."
Lang concluded with a concerning assessment regarding the lack of competitive fire from a young roster looking to take a step forward in 2022, following a disastrous 3-13-1 2021 season.
"That is a major concern right now about this team, because they normally lose at least close. They compete to the end," said Lang. "Yesterday, there was no compete, there was no competitiveness. There was no rebound. You know, come back from adversity -- boom, you know, counterpunch, whatever you want to call it. There was none of that. It just looks like they laid down and just limped into the bye week, and just wanted to get the hell out of there. That's what it looked like."
