Road to the Playoffs: Call Canton, make more room on Detroit Lions prime time hype train
This week’s edition of the Detroit Lions’ Road to the Playoffs is a rush job for two reasons.
First, I have to file this puppy before an emergency session of electors meet in Canton and anoint defensive back Brian Branch an automatic first-ballot Hall of Famer based on his first three NFL games.
OK, I’m being ridiculous. He’s a second-ballot guy. (Gotta earn it, my guy).
The second reason is that it’s a short week before Thursday’s prime-time matchup in Green Bay. That means Monday was really Tuesday and Wednesday for the Lions, and Thursday will really be Thanksgiving and the weekend will be Christmas. Lordy, the NFL moves fast.
But we have serious business to address here at the Road, because everyone’s back on the hype-train express. After a week of questioning Dan Campbell’s fourth-quarter cojones, everyone’s 100% behind Coach Grit again.
The Lions are 2-1 with a chance to leap into the outright NFC North lead at Lambeau in a couple days. Realistically, the Lions were probably an overtime coin flip away from being 3-0 and being considered an indomitable, unstoppable Super Bowl force. Yet this season feels more like a roller coaster with a big high after Kansas City (editors: Please insert an asterisk), a worrisome low against Seattle, and another high after Atlanta.
The win over the Falcons was legit. I’m not taking anything away from it. But Atlanta reporters are questioning quarterback Desmond Ridder’s ability after three games. Not mincing any words, The Athletic wrote: “Ridder has been a problem.”
He certainly was Sunday — for the Falcons. Now we know why Kyle Pitts has only been seen on the back of a milk carton this season.
Prime time mini-playoff
The Packers might offer a truer test for the Lions, because it’s a game against a comparable foe who’s coming off a big comeback win, plus it’s on the road in prime time. Consider this a mini-playoff facsimile.
It’s a small sample size — Green Bay in last year’s season finale and Kansas City in the season opener — but I get the feeling with this team that it’s built to play in the spotlight. It’s hard to quantify a vibe, but players like Branch, Aidan Hutchinson and Amon-Ra St. Brown are among several who seem to enjoy shining when the lights are brightest and the eyes of the league are upon them.
But Campbell on Monday wouldn’t quite go that far yet.
“We’re going on the road, it’ll be a tough environment, it’ll be a special environment,” he said. “I think there is always something special about going out to Lambeau. I just told the rookies that you’re going to enjoy this. It doesn’t get any better.
“So it’ll be an outstanding atmosphere and our players look forward to going out there and they just came off a big win, like you said.”
What’s clear is that this game means a lot to Campbell, and maybe more than most. Coaches love to lean on the “just another game” cliché, but when I asked Campbell if this game means more for various reasons, he didn’t hide behind a cliché.
“Certainly you want these more because they’re for the division and these count,” he said. “These have a significant impact on being a division winner, so I think in that regard, it certainly means a lot.”
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Exhaustive preparation
When Campbell took the podium for his new conference Monday, it was 5 p.m. To put it delicately, he looked like death on a cracker. He was a little hoarse and looked exhausted — which is rare for football coaches who pride themselves on needing little sleep. One reporter said later it was the most tired he’d seen Campbell. I agreed.
Campbell was asked how much sleep he had gotten and he said, “Ten, 12 hours, 14.” Then he smiled and pointed at the lectern. “Enough to be right up here.” I’d bet you could measure his amount of sleep with an hourglass.
Short weeks aren’t uncommon, even for the Lions. But my guess is Campbell burned a little more midnight oil to prepare a little extra for this game, because he knows what it means.
Concerning issues
I won’t beat around the bush: I think the Lions will beat the Packers.
But I have my concerns, starting with the run game, which didn’t look the same without David Montgomery, who’s dealing with a thigh bruise. Jahmyr Gibbs had some nice runs late against a tired Falcons defense, but otherwise he had pedestrian production as a runner. Take away his consecutive runs of 12 and 21 yards in the fourth quarter and Gibbs averaged 3.13 yards on his other 15 carries.
Campbell clearly wanted to give Gibbs a shot in the arm Sunday when he said: “And I could feel there towards the end there was a couple of those runs, those back-to-back runs where you feel like all right, there he goes, he’s starting to feel this a little bit. He’ll only get better with time, and with reps he just will.”
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Campbell stressed how well the Packers’ defense has played, but the real news Sunday in Green Bay was quarterback Jordan Love, who engineered a 17-0 comeback and drew comparisons – I’m not kidding – to Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers in their early years.
We’ll see how Love does when the opposing team doesn’t lose its starting quarterback midway through the game. But there’s been so much quarterback magic at Lambeau over the years that you can’t pretend it’s just a coincidence.
Contact Carlos Monarrez: cmonarrez@freepress.com. Follow him @cmonarrez.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Everyone is back on board Detroit Lions hype train roller coaster
