Notes: Why the Lions are built for today’s NFL

Tyler Dunne takes a look at why Dan Campbell’s Lions are tailor-made for today’s NFL in his latest piece for his substack “Go Long.”

If you aren’t from the state of Michigan or a fan of the Detroit Lions, then one word likely still comes to mind when you think of the team—kneecaps. These days, a polite Lions fan will hear the word and likely conjure up a fake smile. Or at least try to. Less polite ones (like myself) might offer up an eye roll. It was funny for a bit there, but it happened in January of 2021, so forgive us for being a bit tired.

Especially given what we know about Lions’ coach Dan Campbell now. The easiest way to put it is it seems as if the man was born to coach the game of football. Or at the very least be a leader in some form or fashion—he is that much of a natural. And much to the enjoyment of the city of Detroit, his football team has been built in his image. Tough, gritty, and physical.

In his latest feature article, Tyler Dunne wrote about how this Lions team seems tailor-made to win in what is becoming a really physical era of football.

From the moment Campbell took the job here, you could feel his intensity and passion for the game. Many around him will gush about his intelligence as a football mind, but also about the way he carries himself, which holds a lot of weight with his team. Just ask veteran offensive lineman Graham Glasgow.

“When you are around people that are strategic coaches,” Glasgow said of his coach, “they might have that passion in how they prepare, they might have that passion in how they go about installing the plays, but I feel like when gameday rolls around, Dan has an intensity to himself. And that trickles down to the team.”

You can read the entire article of Dunne’s latest edition of his Substack, “Go Long,” right here.

And now, onto the rest of today’s notes:

• A recent survey of analytics staffers conducted by ESPN found that the Lions are one of the more analytically-driven teams in the league.

• Pro Football Focus is introducing a new metric that attempts to evaluate the effectiveness of pass-rushers and their spin moves. (Spoiler: You won’t be surprised by who leads the way in this category)

• PFF also released their defensive line rankings before the Week 3 slate and have the Lions inside the top five.

• Dave Birkett sat down for another round of five questions with Lions defensive back Amik Robertson.

• I don’t know about you all, but I am excited to see the regular season debut of the new away jerseys this weekend. Hopefully, the team goes white on white.

• One thing I never will get tired of is Lions All-Pro wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown talking trash to his older brother. The man is a bully in the best way.

• The Lions continue to do good things in the community through The Detroit Lions Foundation—this time by providing AED training and credentialing to organizations at Ford Field.