3 Ways in Which Dan Campbell Can Improve His Play-Calling

Read more on the three ways in which Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell can improve upon his play-calling.

Life can be challenging as a first-time play-caller in the National Football League, and Detroit head coach Dan Campbell is finding that out the hard way. 

However, as someone who was mentored by Bill Parcells, there are three easy fixes that can make things better.

1.) Take a good, long, hard look at how Parcells’ Giants did things. 

The Giants under Parcells were about as no non-sense of an offense as anyone has ever seen. 

Ironically, the Giants did not have any household names at wide receiver, either, just like the Lions. The Giants also had a star tight end in Mark Bavaro back then, just like Detroit currently has with T.J. Hockenson. 

The biggest difference offensively was that the Giants were all about pounding the football in the run game and controlling the game clock. The Giants played smash-mouth football. They ran the ball and then ran the ball some more, with the likes of Joe Morris and O.J. Anderson. 

The problem with Detroit’s offense this season is that it has tried to be too cute, and cute is the one word nobody will ever use to describe Parcells. 

The Lions went out and even got the perfect sledgehammer back when they signed Jamaal Williams, but for whatever reason, they have stayed in love with D’Andre Swift instead. 

Granted, Williams has gotten 15-17 carries the past couple games, but that is not at all what we are talking about. Williams’ number of carries needs to double.

During the last three games, Detroit has been passing the ball 57.41 percent of the time. That number needs to get down to at least 50 percent of the time, if not lower. 

2.) Run the offense out of the 12- personnel scheme. 

In the NFL, it is about being able to create mismatches in the passing game. “Twelve personnel” is a terminology the league uses to describe when an offense goes into a formation that features two tight ends and one running back (and two wide receivers). This formation is right up Campbell’s alley, because he is a former tight end. 

While the No. 2 tight end behind Hockenson is Brock Wright and he is inexperienced catching the ball, it is worth trying. 

Being in this two tight end look, or “12 personnel,” is the second-most popular personnel grouping in the league. However, it is used only about 20 percent of the time. If it were to be used as Detroit’s base offense, it could create mismatches, because opposing defenses are not as used to seeing it all the time. 

Interestingly enough, Wright also had two (targeted three times) catches for 28 yards just last week against Minnesota. So, even though he does not have many NFL or college receptions, it does appear he can catch the ball. 

Attempting to work the ball downfield to the wide receivers has not consistently worked well this season for Detroit. If the Lions decide to instead throw the ball a lot to their tight ends out of this set, it could prove to work better. 

Running Williams out of this formation also adds another run blocker to the mix, by having Wright -- or a second tight end in the game -- help clear the way.

3.) Campbell needs to come up with his own “Wildcat" offense. 

There are a couple ways to dominate in this league. One is to have superior talent to the opponent, and the other is to come up with something different schematically, like when Parcells oversaw things in Miami as the executive vice president of football operations in 2008. 

Miami installed the "Wildcat,” which involved directly snapping the ball to the running back instead of the quarterback. 

It was an innovative wrinkle in Miami’s offense, which helped the Dolphins go from being the worst team in the NFL, to the playoffs the following season. It was the biggest turnaround in NFL history. 

Trick plays and innovation are a great equalizer. At this point, Campbell has nothing to lose by going “outside the box" and calling plays that catch opposing defenses by surprise. 

Anything is better than dialing up screen passes on third-and-longs and than punting on fourth downs. Remember, that is how this team ended up 1-10-1.