Winning the ugly ones is just as important as the pretty ones—they count the same in the standings, after all—and that’s where the Detroit Lions need to keep pace with an NFC North that refuses to ease up. For yet another week, everyone in the Black and Blue division with a quarterback capable of performing the forward pass picked up wins. It’s maddening, it’s odds-defying, it feels like it has to let up at some point, but until it does, winning is all that matters for this Lions team.
Most of the
noise on game day centered on the new guy at left guard, Miles Frazier, stepping in for starter Christian Mahogany. In real time, people scrambled to find an explanation. Was Mahogany hurt in pregame warmups? What were his PFF grades over the last three games? Did he catch the South Beach Flu? People hardly had enough time to investigate before Detroit took the field and mustered up a measly 110 yards and six points on offense in the first half. Prior to halftime, fans had lost their patience with Frazier’s performance. Jared Goff was sacked three times, Jahmyr Gibbs had four carries of zero or negative yards, and the Lions were up just three points at halftime against a 1-6 Miami Dolphins team.
Enough was enough: Mahogany needed to be put in at left guard to help the Lions offense get back on track.
Except that didn’t happen. Mahogany played just five snaps on Sunday in Miami, all of those opportunities coming on field goal kicks. The Lions offense turned things around just enough in the second half. Goff stayed upright, Gibbs broke into the end zone for the game’s only touchdown, and the Lions defense (!) made sure this one ended in a victory. Not for them, but for their leader, Jack Campbell, who had to watch his defense from a hospital room, still regaining his physical faculties—but determined to return to the field.
Social media was filled with videos and photos of the Honolulu Blue takeover at Hard Rock Stadium, fans chanting and holding signs in support of Campbell and the Lions. Your feed was filled with as much love and support as it was with people wondering how Mahogany’s crime could justify the time he spent on the sideline. Dan Campbell offered no further insight into the infraction immediately after the game, but has since alluded to the fact that Mahogany had broken team rules “multiple times.”
Dan Campbell made the right decision when it came to holding Mahogany accountable. There’s no room in their building for anyone to be above the standard, whether you’re a starter or a healthy inactive on game day. That isn’t a new sentiment—it’s been the foundation since the afternoon Campbell walked through the door.
“But I’ll guarantee you this: these guys are gonna fight, and they’re gonna scratch and claw, and they’re gonna be something this city is proud of because they’re going to take on the identity of this city,” Campbell said in his introductory press conference.
“It ain’t always going to be roses up here. ‘Everything’s gonna be the way that we all want it to be and look perfect,’ but I know this, man, we’re gonna fight, we’re gonna scratch, and we’re gonna claw, and I know the good teams find a way to get it done.”
Campbell told us it wasn’t always going to be pretty, and we’ve been reminded over these past couple of weeks just how ugly football can get, but there’s something beautiful in it all.
“If somebody goes down, the next one steps up, and he’s expected to produce enough to help those guys next to him when these guys are going to learn to play together, play for one another.”
From the disciplinary action against Mahogany to Jack Campbell’s absence in the middle of Detroit’s defense, from the offense’s struggles to Kelvin Sheppard’s unit getting the job done, Sunday was a testament to how they’ve become that good team Campbell referenced over five years ago. Their 6-2 record is a reflection of the image this football team was built on by Dan Campbell.
“It’s not about the best 53, it’s about the right 53.”
