Louis Friend Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 Today is the one year anniversary of hiring Dan Campbell as Head Coach of the Detroit Lions. Fans here and abroad were torn on the hire. Alot of expectations flew around. Where do you stand after year one? I remember being okay with the hire. I didn't want a retread but he wasn't my top choice. My expectations were to clean house, building a foundation and possibly win 3 games. He met my expectations. He built a great coaching team around him. Only AL seems to have been a bad fit, but still not a bad guy. He created an identity for the team (gritty defense, establish a run game, creative offense, going for it when it counts). And they won exactly 3 games, two of those against top teams. There were ups and downs this season. But overall, I like the way he faced adversity and kept the team focused. He wasn't afraid to admit where he was wrong and took corrective actions. He was transparent. He seems focused on the right things. I'm eager to see how he conducts this offseason. He's coaching the Senior Bowl, might be included on Hard Knocks, his second draft with more precise holes, his first established free agency where players know what they are signing up for. IMO, this is the year that will determine if he was the right man for this job or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sllim Pickens Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 He definitely surpassed expectations for me this year. I didnt have a specific win total I had in mind and we probably were about at or slightly below where I hoped or thought we would be but I also figured we would be one of the worst teams in the league based on talent. This was a reset year, and all I wanted to see was solid drafting and development of players and a team that fought for him because that was lacking under Patricia. I think we got that with the way ARSB came along. Swift and Reynolds took steps forward. The CBs outplayed expectations dramatically. Sewell started rough and turned it around to be one of the best OTs in the league. McNeil seemed to develop into a solid line piece. Walker improved this year and they seemed to find the best ways to utilize his abilities, even if he had some rough moments. To do what we did with 100M in dead cap /IR is impressive. There were some missteps along the way. There were poor signings and guys who didnt work out but you cant expect everyone to be perfect. I too am excited to see what this offseason brings. We have multiple picks in early rounds. We have a ton of cap space. Its time to make moves and see what DC can do with talent. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrry32 Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 It was a learning experience. Mix of good and bad. If he can eliminate some of that bad, he can be a good coach. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HashtagFTW Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 I love his aggression. He put the faith in his players even though his group of players was probably the least talented one the nfl. And they put their faith in him. He made this junk roster believe they were better than they are and they became better. We were final second moments away from being a 6-8 win team. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LionArkie Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 He did more with this roster than I expected. I was very skeptical of the hire. Liked the person, questioned the coaching ability. Love the attitude and swagger he brings to the team. I love how they finished strong. I think he turned Goff around and, given more weapons, would like to see him develop Goff even more. I loved that he had almost a plug and play for RB. All the backs seemed to be very successful especially when he took over the play calling. He put together a very good coaching staff. I'll be interested to see if there is a fall off if AG leaves. Our rookies played well and were developed well. I would have really liked to see Okudah play for this coaching staff this year. I know a lot have given up on him, but I think he might have excelled. I think his personality and game style will really fit with the personality of Detroit. Blue collar and grit. So far in his very short tenure, I'm more optimistic about this coach than any other since Schwartz. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lions017 Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 I think that he did about all that he could. He accomplished the few things that I really wanted to see this year - he was able to get guys to buy in and keep them there and he was able to play & develop some young guys. It's impressive that the team never gave up even when they were getting screwed and had a big losing streak. They played hard and stayed in games all year. With a bad coach you would've seen guys giving up and taking it easy and that never happened. He also played a bunch of young players and you could see a lot of guys take a step forward this year. The rookie class looks to be a pretty good one and you also saw things like Jonah Jackson turning into a very good guard, Charles Harris coming out of nowhere, etc. I don't think that he's an offensive genius or anything like that, but I as long as he surrounds himself with good assistants I think he might just be what we need here. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Want A Title Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 He wasn't perfect but given the situation he was left with by Bob Quinn and Matt Patricia, I think he did fairly well. I am curious to see if he continues to call plays for the offense. The one thing I hope he continues to do is be aggressive with trick plays on offense and special teams. He obviously needs to be smart about when he calls them but I think that kind of aggressiveness should be part of our identity going forward. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louis Friend Posted January 21, 2022 Author Share Posted January 21, 2022 50 minutes ago, Just Want A Title said: He wasn't perfect but given the situation he was left with by Bob Quinn and Matt Patricia, I think he did fairly well. I am curious to see if he continues to call plays for the offense. The one thing I hope he continues to do is be aggressive with trick plays on offense and special teams. He obviously needs to be smart about when he calls them but I think that kind of aggressiveness should be part of our identity going forward. I noticed more teams go for it with trick this postseason than I can ever remember. Not all of them were executed properly, but there were alot more than I can ever remember. I think other teams noticed how aggressive he was and decided they wanted to do it too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Want A Title Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 1 hour ago, Louis Friend said: I noticed more teams go for it with trick this postseason than I can ever remember. Not all of them were executed properly, but there were alot more than I can ever remember. I think other teams noticed how aggressive he was and decided they wanted to do it too. It also makes it that much harder for other teams to prepare for games against the Lions. They were really predictable under Matt Patricia. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diehardlionfan Posted February 5, 2022 Share Posted February 5, 2022 I think the coaching staff as a group should be recognized. When have we seen this level of player development? When have we seen a Lions team that plays whistle to whistle? When have we seen this type of growth in the HC? Everyone has talked about culture change for years. As we saw with the Patricia disaster it has to be the right culture and I believe Campbell is creating that. I think this management and coaching group knows what they’re doing. They’ve positioned the team well. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Want A Title Posted February 5, 2022 Share Posted February 5, 2022 12 hours ago, diehardlionfan said: I think the coaching staff as a group should be recognized. When have we seen this level of player development? When have we seen a Lions team that plays whistle to whistle? When have we seen this type of growth in the HC? Everyone has talked about culture change for years. As we saw with the Patricia disaster it has to be the right culture and I believe Campbell is creating that. I think this management and coaching group knows what they’re doing. They’ve positioned the team well. You make a great point. A lot of guys showed a ton of progress over the course of the year. Sewell, St Brown and McNeil developed into impact players. Barnes was inconsistent but flashed in the run-game. Jacobs and AJ Parker were solid all year. Even Melifonwu looked good in limited playing time. Tracy Walker bounced back nicely. Charles Harris had a career year. Late additions like Josh Reynolds and Craig Reynolds became impact players. The biggest challenge for the coaching staff is when they start losing people like Aaron Glenn and Aubrey Pleasant. Coaching staff's need depth/continuity also. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diehardlionfan Posted February 5, 2022 Share Posted February 5, 2022 1 hour ago, Just Want A Title said: You make a great point. A lot of guys showed a ton of progress over the course of the year. Sewell, St Brown and McNeil developed into impact players. Barnes was inconsistent but flashed in the run-game. Jacobs and AJ Parker were solid all year. Even Melifonwu looked good in limited playing time. Tracy Walker bounced back nicely. Charles Harris had a career year. Late additions like Josh Reynolds and Craig Reynolds became impact players. The biggest challenge for the coaching staff is when they start losing people like Aaron Glenn and Aubrey Pleasant. Coaching staff's need depth/continuity also. I think you’re right about coaching development as coaches leave. I’m hoping they lose one at a time allowing internal promotion opportunities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louis Friend Posted February 6, 2022 Author Share Posted February 6, 2022 Agreed, and let's mentioned ST coach Dave Fipp. We ended the year with rookies at K and LS and developed them into a very formidable group at the end. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nnivolcm Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 Other teams are noticing: Quote NFL Network reported on Monday evening that the team (Minnesota) has already requested to interview Lions defensive backs coach Aubrey Pleasant for its defensive coordinator vacancy. https://www.si.com/nfl/lions/news/vikings-request-aubrey-pleasant-interview Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louis Friend Posted February 8, 2022 Author Share Posted February 8, 2022 11 hours ago, Nnivolcm said: Other teams are noticing: https://www.si.com/nfl/lions/news/vikings-request-aubrey-pleasant-interview Pleasant deserves a shot as a coordinator. But I was hoping it would be with us next year after Aaron Glenn moves on as a HC. I would feel even worse if Pleasant goes to a division rival. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.