Detroit Lions' Dan Campbell can't help but to look ahead to 49ers. We can't blame him.
Have you ever been driving on the freeway when suddenly, out of nowhere, some maniac whizzes by at 100 m.p.h. and scares the bejesus out of you?
Well, folks, the Detroit Lions have become that maniac. In this week’s edition of the Road to the Playoffs, it’s clear the Lions are operating in a much higher gear, probably using jet fuel, and they really don’t care whether the brakes work because no one’s even thinking about stopping.
They just ran over the Carolina Panthers and left tire marks all across poor Bryce Young’s back in Sunday's 42-24 rout of the Carolina Panthers. At this point, they’d probably need one of those dragster parachutes to slow them down.
Like all speeding merchants, the Lions aren’t really concerned with where they are or who they’re running over. They only care about where they’re headed.
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And that’s what made Dan Campbell’s comments Monday about the San Francisco 49ers fascinating. Campbell watched the Niners expose the Dallas Cowboys, 42-10, on Sunday night and saw something of the Lions’ toughness and creativity in his Bay Area counterparts.
“(Mike) Shanahan’s done an unbelievable job,” he said of the 49ers coach, “but those guys are physical, tough and, man, very creative in the run and pass game. And that’s what makes them so difficult, I think. And they play outstanding defense.”
Campbell was asked if it was hard to watch the Niners and not think about a potential matchup, even this early. Actually, it’s not that early – 29.4% of the season is over. And yes, I did the math.
“I think it, for me, it puts everything in perspective,” he said. “Look, we’ve got a long way to go. It’s a long season. We have Tampa coming up.
“But when you watch that you see what it is, and so I think it gives you great perspective. It gave me great perspective watching them.”
Let’s be real. It’s already time to start thinking about this matchup and Campbell would be a fool not to. After Sunday, the Lions improved to 4-1 and took over the third seed in the NFC and would host Atlanta. Philadelphia would get a bye as the No. 1 seed and the Niners would be in the opposite bracket at No. 2.
Of course, we’re months away from all of the scenarios playing out. But it’s obvious the Lions, Eagles and 49ers are the conference’s best teams and could face each other at some point in the playoffs.
Campbell had to walk a careful line to appear as though he’s not looking ahead — way ahead — to the Niners with a tough road game coming. But I’m glad he didn’t lean on the clichéd tactic of ignoring the existence of every other team besides the Bucs. He’s right to embrace his awareness of the rest of the league. False myopia is very passé and rings hollow in today’s hyper-connected sports world.
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Long laudatory list
Campbell gave his players a victory Monday, which meant only he would speak to reporters, so he started his news conference by lauding the players who “stood out.” He named 13 players, but it went on so long it felt like he named almost every player except the long snapper.
Oh, who am I kidding? Scott Daly was a stallion out there!
Meme-worthy mauling
I was impressed with Young’s poise in the pocket and his accuracy. I can’t remember seeing a rookie quarterback who sets up in the shotgun and just walks backward calmly before he throws.
The Panthers could be going through the kind of similar growing pains the Lions did when Matthew Stafford was a rookie. They’ll get better, but it was hard not to think owner David Tepper was watching what Ben Johnson was doing to his defense and not regretting hiring him instead of Frank Reich. It made me think of the “distracted boyfriend” meme, with Tepper looking over his shoulder at Johnson.
Sound familiar?
I try not to revel in other people’s misery, but it was hard to read Reich’s postgame quotes and not have a little PTSD over the countless times a Lions coach uttered something similar:
“Obviously, tough environment to play in. There were still too many plays in which the communication was not at the level it needed to be, so we’ll have to go back and continue to work on those things.”
“Yeah, I mean that’s a good football team. They’re an explosive offense. We knew that coming in. We made it easy for them by turning the ball over.”
On benching Young after his spate of turnovers: “Yeah, no, there was no point where I was considering any change.”
His message to the team afterward: “Keep pounding. Keep pounding.”
Thanks, Coach. Now I’ll have the image of Rod Marinelli’s stupid rock in the locker room stuck in my head until next week’s Road to the Playoffs.
Contact Carlos Monarrez: cmonarrez@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @cmonarrez.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions' Dan Campbell right to think about playoffs (just a bit)
