Detroit Lions looking for bounce-back performance on Monday night: 'We ain't frauds'

Dan Campbell played in nine Monday night games in his 11-year NFL career, and the memory from those games that stands out most is an otherwise forgettable play from a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in 2001.

“I had an M.A. (missed assignment) on a critical down there in the fourth,” Campbell recalled this week. “I was supposed to release, instead I blocked down and cost us the game. And I just remember I came to the sideline and Sean (Payton) looked at me and said, ‘What’d you do?’ And I go, ‘Man, I (messed) up.’ What are you going to do? Anyway, it was awful.”

Twenty-two years later, the guilt of that one bad play still lingers with Campbell, a feeling many of his players can relate to as the Detroit Lions look to bounce back from their worst performance of the season when they host the Las Vegas Raiders at Ford Field on Monday Night Football.

The Lions lost to the Baltimore Ravens last week, 38-6, in one of the most complete butt-kickings of Campbell’s tenure as head coach.

They fell behind 28-0 before they picked up a first down. They didn’t force a punt until late in the third quarter. They let Lamar Jackson have his way with their defense. And they’ve lived with the sour taste of that defeat in their mouth for more than a week.

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“We just did not play up to our standards and that was not our brand of football and we know it,” left tackle Taylor Decker said. “And that’s one of those, you just take it on the chin. Like, there’s nothing we can do about it now. For that week, we are what the film said we were and it was bad, and there’s nothing we can do about that.”

Both the Lions and Raiders are coming off performances not commensurate with the talent on their rosters and in need of bounce-back performances Monday.

The Lions had won four straight by double digits before their no-show in Baltimore and had scored 20 or more points in 15 straight games dating back to last November.

Cornerback Jerry Jacobs said he heard some critics question whether the Lions truly are NFC title contenders because of the loss. At 5-2, the Lions entered the week tied for the third-best record in the league.

“We just want to prove everybody wrong,” he said. “Everybody saying we’re frauds. We ain’t frauds, but we just want to keep moving forward step by step. We ain’t really trying to prove nobody wrong, we’re in our boat, we just try to keep going.”

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The Raiders (3-4) also played their worst game of the season last week in a 30-12 loss to the lowly Chicago Bears and need a win Monday to stay in the AFC playoff hunt.

Starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo did not play against the Bears because of a back injury – he’s due back Monday – and the Raiders committed three turnovers in his absence in the loss.

The Raiders have not scored more than 21 points in a game this year and rank last in the league in turnover margin, but they have one of the best pass rushers in the NFL in Maxx Crosby and Pro Bowl skill talent on offense.

Wide receiver Davante Adams is a three-time first-team All-Pro who has been underutilized this season. And running back Josh Jacobs led the league in rushing last year but is averaging a career-low 2.9 yards per carry this fall.

“That’s where you feel like there’s a bit of a ticking time bomb over there from my perspective and that’s what, man, we’ve got to guard against, be ready for,” Campbell said. “Because he can go the distance at any point here. He’s still got plenty of juice now.”

The Lions should have plenty of juice, too, playing their first home Monday night game since hosting the New York Jets in the first game of the Matt Patricia era in Week 1 of 2018.

With a bye week up next, the Lions could reach the de facto midpoint of the season 6-2 with a win – their best start since 2014 – and they have a chance to come back healthy in November with starters David Montgomery and Jonah Jackson due back after the bye.

The Lions have won four straight games after a loss, dating back to last season, and the last four times they played in primetime.

“We will (find something out about our team) this week,” Lions quarterback Jared Goff said. “We know what we’re made of, but got to respond the right way and play some good ball this week.”

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions ready for bounce-back vs. Raiders: 'We ain't frauds'