Dan Campbell has seen good defenses already this season, from the New York Jets to the Green Bay Packers his Detroit Lions beat on a walk-off field goal on Sunday. On Wednesday he said the Minnesota Vikings, who arrive at Ford Field at 6-0 as the league’s last unbeaten team, are something else. “This defense is as good as it gets,” the Lions head coach said. “If you can’t get fired up for this and for the competition of it and in the division, I mean, I don’t know what you can get excited for.”
“These offenses are cracking significantly”
Campbell said everything Minnesota does is “fueled by this defense,” and that eight of its 11 starters are veterans of seven years or more who have been in Brian Flores’ system together for a while. He named Blake Cashman, Andrew Van Ginkel, Josh Metellus, Harrison Smith, Eric Wilson, Dallas Turner and Jalen Redmond among a group that gives Flores the versatility “to do a lot.”
“They understand where they are going to exploit you at, and then where you’re trying to, ‘OK, this is where my outlet is,’ they take that away too,” he said. “They exploit you and then take away your outlet. They’re very good at it.” The result, he said, is that offenses make big mistakes late in close games. “It’s one thing to get stops. They are forcing offenses, at the end of the day when it gets late and this is a tight game, it’s just wave after wave, and these offenses are cracking significantly. Turnovers, massive turnovers. So it’s third-and-32.” His answer: “Poise is going to be big for us, man. Poise, patience.”
He said a lot of what makes the group unique goes unspoken. “There’s a lot of communication that is unsaid because they understand each other, man. They play off each other. They know where they’re going to be. They read body demeanor.”
Murray, Jefferson and the Minnesota offense
On the other side, Campbell said the Vikings brought Kyler Murray in “to be the captain of that ship,” a steady facilitator who still has his mobility. “You can do everything right for a full game, and then just like last week, it’s a third-and-8 or whatever, he takes off, and it’s 30 yards and you’re down on the 4-yard line,” he said. He called Justin Jefferson “a massive factor” and “just an outstanding football player,” noted the uptick in production for tight end T.J. Hockenson, and said Jordan Addison is still playing at a high level even without many targets. Aaron Jones is day-to-day, and of Jordan Mason, Campbell said: “He hits it, and contact, and there’s another four yards after contact.”
“To me there’s no secret why they’re 6-0,” he said. “Ball control, man. Time of possession, and then they’ve got the firepower for the explosives.” He added that the Lions’ own defense, which he said had done “a hell of a job these last two weeks,” has to keep it up.
Goff against the blitz
Asked why the Jared Goff-versus-Flores matchup has swung back and forth from year to year, Campbell said it is bigger than two people. “It’s their defense and it’s our offense,” he said, describing a “cat and mouse game” in which each side tries to break its own tendencies. “They did a hell of a job against us last year. They got after us. We turned the ball over and we didn’t make enough plays. They did. We’ve got to play a hell of a lot better this year.”
He said Goff has become very good against the blitz because he diagnoses problems quickly. “He’s very poised. He’s very smart, and he knows his issues,” Campbell said. “He processes it very quick. That’s where he’s just grown tremendously. That’s what the really good veteran quarterbacks can do.”
Uncle Buck’s hat and fourth down
Campbell was asked again about going for it on fourth down after a failed attempt against Green Bay. He said he does not run a big study of success rates each week, but generally likes his odds inside two or three yards and in the red zone. Then he reached for a movie. “You guys ever seen Uncle Buck?” he asked. “I think I’m a little bit like his fedora, the hat that he wears. It’s a little bit of a flavor, and it’s my favorite hat, but just the mere size of it, I think, really bothers a lot of people.” He added: “There’s no right or wrong. It’s what you really believe is going to help you win the game.”
He credited Sean Payton, his former boss in New Orleans, as an influence, recalling weeks when Payton came in certain about a call, such as a fourth-and-5 when he knew Drew Brees would get a one-on-one matchup for Alvin Kamara. He also said he was trained on “the other side of it” as a player in college, under a coach who seemed nervous whenever his offense was on the field. In the end, he said, it comes down to one thing: “When I lay my head on the pillow at night, what can I sleep with and feel good about? I don’t like the fact we didn’t make the play the other day, believe me. But I can lay my head on the pillow at night knowing that that was the right decision to make.”
Kerby Joseph’s clock starts
Campbell opened by saying the Lions were starting Kerby Joseph’s 21-day practice window. Joseph has not played since he hurt his knee last October. “He’s passed every test to this point,” Campbell said, adding that the next step is “literally, man, balls in the air,” with other bodies around him, by late this week or early next week. “Everybody loves Kerby, man,” he said. “He’s an energy bug, and obviously he’s a productive player.” Amon-Ra St. Brown and Ennis Rakestraw Jr. were held to the walk-through on Wednesday.
The Vikings play at the Lions on Sunday, November 1, at 1 p.m. ET, 8 p.m. in Cairo.
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