'They're Going To Do It': Lions Confident Secondary Will Step Up
Part of the reason a certain portion of the Detroit Lions fanbase is uncomfortable heading into the playoffs this week is the play of Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford.
Winners of seven of his last eight games, the former Lions signal-caller has been able to develop chemistry with a talented rookie wideout (Puka Nacua), and the Rams' defense has gelled in the second half of the season.
Despite efforts to improve at limiting top wideouts, Detroit's cornerbacks have not been able to cut down on the number of explosive plays.
The safety group has been a source of confidence, and can be considered one of the best units for Detroit this season.
Appearing on 97.1 The Ticket for his weekly radio interview, Dan Campbell expressed confidence in defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn and the secondary limiting the impact of the Rams' top offensive weapons.
"I'm very confident. Here's why I'm confident. Because that's what it's going to take to win this game. And, they're going to do it. So, we got our hands full," said Campbell. "Those are both two really good receivers. Certainly, (Cooper) Kupp has got a full resume here. The young guy (Puka Nacua), he's a rookie and has had a really good year in his first year here. And, they got a guy (Stafford) who can throw it. He's highly accurate. He's a highly accurate passer.
"But, man, we got to go to work, you know? We got to challenge these guys, and we got to be able to make our plays on the back end," Campbell explained further. "We're playing pretty good defense now. We have for a while. We've been aggressive. I think we're physical and disruptive. And, uh, and our back end will be ready, as well."
Aaron Glenn, who will again be involved in the latest round of NFL head coaching interviews, is expected to devise a gameplan to put his young defensive roster in the best position to stifle Sean McVay's squad.
"A.G. (Glenn) is going to put guys in the best position to have success," said Campbell. "Going to ask guys to do what they do well and ask you to do that, and do it at a very high level. And, all we can do is, is give you a one-on-one, and now it's your turn to go win it. There'll be nothing different for this game. We'll have a good gameplan put together. A.G. is going to find the things that we feel like we can attack them with and how we need to attack them. And then, it'll just be about our guys going out and making plays."
