We all know the results were outstanding when Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell took over play-calling on Sunday against the Washington Commanders. The Lions didn’t punt for the entire game, the offense put up a season-high 546 yards, the run game returned, and Detroit finally got Jameson Williams involved in a way that made sense.
But what exactly did Campbell do differently? Where could you tangibly see a difference between a Campbell-called offense and one called by offensive coordinator John Morton? That was a big topic of discussion on this week’s PODcast, which recaps the Lions’ 44-22 win over the Washington Commanders.
To give you a taste of that conversation, I looked specifically at one of the bigger complaints about Morton’s offense: second-and-long runs. Prior to Sunday’s game, only the New York Jets were running more often than the Lions on second-and-long—which often resulted in a third-and-long.
Surprisingly, Campbell’s offense didn’t look that much different from Morton’s in that specific metric. For the season, the Lions’ second-and-long pass rate has been 55.3%. For the Commanders game, it was 55.6%.
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So what was Campbell doing differently? Well, he certainly made some different personnel choices than we’ve seen in the past, and he also just seemed to have an intangible feel to the game, particularly when it came to critical plays (third and fourth down). But we also have to hold some judgment on the offensive bounce back, seeing as that Commanders defense has been playing some terrible football as of late.
The PODcast crew broke it all down on Monday night, sharing their own observations and thoughts on the offensive performance and beyond. We close out the podcast this week talking about the playoff picture and our thoughts on the Chicago Bears’ 6-3 record.
You can listen to the PODcast below or on whatever podcasting platform you prefer.
If you prefer the video version of the PODcast, you can catch replays over on our Twitch or YouTube pages. The video version includes in-between segments banter, and some Movember shenanigans.
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