Most of the stories for the week have been written by Friday when it comes to the NFL. Fans are just ready for the games after a week of endless chatter.
But every week in the Detroit Lions calendar ends with a Dan Campbell press conference on Friday, and, generally speaking, it can be a fairly news heavy. So moving forward, I plan on posting the main takeaways from Campbell’s pressers on Friday as one last news dump for the week.
Offensive line health update
The Lions currently have four offensive linemen on the injury report:
- LG Christian Mahogany (hip)
- LG Ben Bartch (foot)
- RG Tate Ratledge (elbow)
- RT Blake Miller (knee)
Campbell provided updates on three of the above. For Mahogany and Miller, who missed Thursday’s game against the Bills, it appears both should be good to go for Sunday against the Jets, barring any setback on Friday.
“I think both of those guys are going to be okay, barring no setbacks today,” Campbell said.
Bartch, on the other hand, doesn’t sound like he’ll be available with a foot injury. I asked Campbell if there’s any concern for a long-term injury since he’s been dealing with a foot injury all offseason. Campbell essentially shut that down.
“I don’t think long-term, but it doesn’t look good for this week,” Campbell said.
There was no update given on Ratledge, who has been limited in practice this week with an elbow injury. Ratledge was at practice on Friday.
Why more zone coverage?
A staple under both Aaron Glenn and Kelvin Sheppard has been an overreliance on man coverage. The hope is to hold up receivers long enough for pressure to get there. However, Detroit’s coverage strategy has shifted quite a bit so far this year. Through two weeks the Lions have played around 76 percent zone coverage compared to just 60 percent last year. Campbell was asked if this was a response to the personnel they had or a sign of their desire to create more turnovers.
“I think it was a little bit of both. We just felt like this would suit us a little bit better up to this point and then be disruptive and get takeaways, which worked well Week 1,” Campbell said. “We had two ops last week against Buffalo we weren’t able to get, but they’re there.”
Detroit has largely been using zone coverages to pair with an aggressive and disruptive front. The hope is to speed up the clock of opposing quarterbacks to make a brash decision, while disguising zone coverages on the back end to bait them into a mistake. In theory, that works, but Campbell admits they need to both do a better job getting to the quarterback and covering it cleanly on the back end.
“It’s challenging and that’s why a lot of the things we’ve done in zone for the most part have been to reduce that stress level back there. But, that also requires the front getting there. And if you don’t get there, we already kind of talked about that, but there is a trust there,” Campbell said.
Safety help
Campbell didn’t sound optimistic about Thomas Harper’s availability this week (“I don’t know if he’s going to make it to the game”), which means the Lions will likely be down four of their top five safeties (Brian Branch, Kerby Joseph, Avonte Maddox, Harper). That has left them perilously thin at the position.
To no surprise, the Lions have been playing Christian Izien at the position all week in practice, getting him the full-speed reps he needs to be ready on Sunday.
“Izzy’s been working a lot back there and had a full week. And he’s gotten a ton of work and this week a ton of reps, full-speed reps,” Campbell said. “This is what you’re going to do, this is the calls and just dousing him with full speed reps and he’s done a good job this week.”
He later added: “Izzy’s going to be a huge part for us.”
He’ll pair with veteran Chuck Clark, but who will be Detroit’s backups? Campbell interestingly noted that rookie nickel cornerback Keith Abney could be part of that plan, along with practice squad safety Jalen Mills, who was with the team last year and was signed at the beginning of this week.
That is a tough ask for Abney, but Campbell praised the rookie’s mental acumen of the game.
“For a rookie, he’s a pretty dang smart, conscientious, aware football player that’s got a ton of room to really take off,” Campbell said. “So, that’s a good sign. But yeah, it can be. He’s young. He’s another one. He just needs reps and reps. But, if we need it, that’ll be a guy who may have to go in for us.”
Competitive love for Aaron Glenn
It’s been a bit of a love fest between Aaron Glenn and Dan Campbell this week, with both head coaches sharing admiration for each other through the media.
Campbell told an amusing story about the two, comparing their competitive spirits as teammates to how the feeling will be on Sunday from opposite sidelines.
“AG was like he is now, one of the greatest teammates, people you could ever be around. You could talk to him about anything: family, friends, situation, football. We’d all be together and man, we’re laughing, locker room, you go out getting ready for practice and all of a sudden it goes on.
“You put your hands on him now and it goes from zero to a hundred like this. It is on. There’s no, ‘let’s work our way into this.’ It’s ‘get your hands off of me.’
And so that’s what this is a little bit like, man. We are dear close friends, but we’re competing. He wants to win, we want to win. And until that game’s over, that’s the way the game is played because we’re competitors and he is certainly a competitor. So, that’s what it’s going to be.”
