Lions Talking Will Not Make 'SOL' Go Away
On paper, the Lions were clearly not the better team going into their Thanksgiving Day matchup with the Buffalo Bills.
The Bills, led by dual-threat passer Josh Allen, contain a myriad of weapons on both sides of the ball. On offense, there's high-end talent like running back Devin Singletary and wide receivers Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis. Meanwhile, on defense, there's proven players such as defensive end Von Miller, defensive tackle Ed Oliver and linebacker Matt Milano.
Detroit, in its current state, truly can't contend with all the firepower that Buffalo possesses.
© Kirthmon F. Dozier / USA TODAY NETWORK
© Lon Horwedel-USA TODAY Sports
Yet, for all 60 minutes of Thursday's loss to the Bills, the Lions hung in there with Buffalo -- a preseason favorite to make the Super Bowl out of the AFC -- and had a chance to win the game.
It was a sign of how far Dan Campbell's team has come in the last four weeks (since its now-expired three-game winning streak began), yet how far it remains from being on the same level as a Super Bowl title contender like Buffalo.
"Well, I think just for them to know when you play a team like this, it doesn’t always have to be perfect. But, when you’re playing that caliber team, the margin for error is very minute. And, every play is significant, which we talked about before," Campbell said after the game, while reflecting on his takeaways from the loss. "But, I also want them to understand it should sting that we lost that game, because we had our opportunities. But, that doesn’t mean we took a step back, either.
"I still felt growth today, I feel like we are continuing to take a step. We are figuring some things out."
Detroit should receive a bit of credit for going toe-to-toe with a team that had seven wins and was tied for first place in its division (the AFC East) going into the Thanksgiving Day tilt.
However, it doesn't make up for the fact that the Lions ultimately lost the game, and along the way, made some miscues that were "Same Old Lions"-esque.
"That’s a (Buffalo) team regarded as one of the best in the NFL, and truthfully, I didn’t feel we were outmatched at all,” Detroit offensive tackle Taylor Decker said. “It hurts even more, because we were right there. I said it before, this isn’t the f------ 'Same Old Lions' anymore. We’re gonna go out there and get our respect.”
Campbell was at the forefront of arguably the most glaring "SOL"-caliber mistake on Detroit's final offensive drive of the contest.
The Lions had driven all the way to Buffalo's 33-yard line, and faced a third-and-1 situation.
If you would've polled the masses gathered at Ford Field in that moment, the majority would've likely drawn up a run play featuring Jamaal Williams, who's become a short-yardage specialist for Detroit. I know I would have.
On this third-and-1 play call, though, all logic went out the window for Campbell and his offensive coaching staff. They inexplicably opted to have Detroit signal-caller Jared Goff take a shot down the field to DJ Chark. And, to no big surprise, the throw went wide of Chark, and resulted in a fourth-and-short.
"I wish I had thrown a different ball," Goff said postgame, regarding his errant third-down throw to Chark. "I thought the play-call was great and had some options what to do there. And yeah, if you had to do it again, do you do something differently? I don’t know, maybe. But, if I throw a better ball, it might not matter. But yeah, unfortunately, that’s going to be the play that gets focused on, but there’s a lot of plays that could have gone either way today, as well.”
Then, instead of going for it on fourth-and-short, Campbell & Co. proceeded to settle for a 51-yard field goal from Michael Badgley, which tied up the game at 25.
The typically super aggressive Campbell shockingly took the three points, instead of going for the gusto and the win in regulation. And, most notably, on two consecutive short-yardage plays, he chose not to hand off the ball to Williams, his bull-dozing back, to extend the drive.
Sure, there were only 0:32 remaining when Campbell and his staff called for the pass from Goff on third down.
However, the second-year Lions head man was also equipped with two timeouts at the time. So, he could've run it with Williams, and after calling a timeout, he still would've had an ample amount of time to take a shot to the end zone. And, honestly, he would've had time for more than one Goff throw to the end zone.
But, instead, Campbell settled for the tie, and it cost him and the Lions dearly.
On the Bills' subsequent drive, Allen and Diggs connected on a big 36-yard pass play that helped put Tyler Bass in position to knock down the game-winning field goal.
"Well, I just stay true to what we are, and what we know in there, which I’ve told them. ‘You just put your head down and go to work.’ And we’ve got to clean these things up to get better," Campbell said about the loss. "Here’s what we’ve been doing to win, and why we’ve been able to stay in games and play against these opponents, play it close. And so, that’s all we can worry about, because man, if you start looking at -- ‘Well, we went toe-to-toe with this team, and how we’re playing this team.’ Because we’ll get the ‘You should beat this team.’ And, that doesn’t matter. You’ve got to show up every week, man. You’ve got to be loaded, locked in, mentally focused, urgent, everything -- or you’ll get beat."
Campbell and his squad might have gotten a little better as the result of Thursday's highly-contested game with the Bills.
However, when you're riding a three-game winning streak (as the Lions were prior to the Thanksgiving clash), you don't want to just feel like you were close to beating one of the best teams in the NFL. You want to close that team out, because guess what, there are no moral victories in the NFL.
Campbell and his players, no matter the true quality of the roster, are paid to win games. And, with how they were playing prior to Thursday, they should've expected to beat Allen & Co.
If Detroit wants to be respected like the Bills, it has to start coming out on top in hard-fought games like they do.
No excuses. Period.
And, until that happens, Campbell's squad -- whether fair or not -- will continue to have to deal with the "Same Old Lions" treatment.
