Sunday was a lot of fun. After weeks and weeks of consternation that the Detroit Lions’ offense had taken the step back that many had predicted this year, the team went out and laid 44 points on the Washington Commanders. They set a season-high in yardage, scored on all eight of their first drives, never punted, and sprouted a run game that has seemingly been missing all year.
The question now is: is this for real?
A change in play-callers can certainly make a difference, and it would be hard to argue that anyone has a better feel for this offense than Dan Campbell. He also made noticeable changes in the game plan, including more motion, more play-action, and he found plays that actually work on third down.
But we’re only talking about a sample size of one right now. The Washington Commanders have one of the worst defenses in football. Will Campbell be able to replicate this success when he goes against a strong Eagles defense this week? What about when they go against a tough Packers defense that shut them down in Week 1?
Today’s Question of the Day is:
How convinced are you that Dan Campbell has “fixed” the offense?
My answer: I’m a stickler for not jumping to conclusions based on small sample sizes. So I’m not ready to make any sweeping judgments. But there are a lot of reasons to be pretty darn optimistic. For one, this isn’t the first time the offense has seen a jolt after Campbell took over play-calling. In 2021, after assuming the duties from Anthony Lynn, the Lions went from scoring an average of 16.75 points per game to 21.2 points over the last nine games.
Additionally, this wasn’t just a good game against a bad opponent. It was a dominant performance. Detroit’s 546 yards of offense was the second-most in a single game of any team this season. The previous high against the Commanders was 435 yards of offense, so Detroit put a hurting on Washington the likes of which nobody else has been capable of.
Simply put, the Lions have so much talent that they shouldn’t be scraping by just to get 20 points in a game. They should be pushing 30 nearly every week.
The only real question that remains is the offensive line. When they are humming, the whole thing tends to look a lot better, no matter who is on the mic. There are still certainly some lingering questions there. Can Taylor Decker continue to stave off his shoulder injury? Will Kayode Awosika hold up as a starting left guard against better competition? Can Graham Glasgow be the brains of the operation when defenses throw complicated looks at the offensive line?
If that unit can continue to grow and improve through November and December, the offense will be all the way back.
