Dan Campbell kills false narrative about why he took over Lions’ offense
That ends that discussion.
It needed to happen. The Detroit Lions’ offense just wasn’t clicking the way it had for so long. Lions head coach Dan Campbell taking over play-calling felt like the right move at the right time, and now there’s a sense that the entire unit is recharged.
On Monday, Campbell talked about why he decided to start calling the plays on offense, and the message was mostly about how he wants the team to be better and how some shuffling around could help that.
“…Sometimes, it’s no different than when everything comes together, you’re trying to put together the best team that you can because they all have strengths,” Campbell said. “And then you play to those strengths, and whatever this player’s strength is, it can cover up for this other player’s deficiency, and vice versa. And I think that is how the whole organization works. I think that’s the coaching staff in all three phases.
“And sometimes you’ve just got to move some things around. You’ve got the right people, it’s just about putting people in different spots, and all of a sudden, you’ve clicked. It just fit right in place, and then you’re humming. So, I think that’s some of it. And we’ve got the right staff, we’ve got the right players. And so, yesterday was a step in the right direction.”
No Lions players approached Dan Campbell about making the change
That all makes a ton of sense. One theory that some fans on social media had all started with a tweet from NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, in which he suggested there was a disconnect between Lions offensive coordinator John Morton and players. That had some wondering if players came to Campbell requesting a change.
On Tuesday, Campbell went on 97.1 The Ticket and flatly said that “nothing like that happened, it was just me.” So that takes care of that.
Some might have misread Garafolo’s tweet. I think the “disconnect” part of it led some to infer that it meant there was infighting and a lot of drama. That doesn’t seem to be the case at all, and that’s not just because of what Campbell said.
Campbell also flat-out said on Tuesday that he will continue to be the play-caller. He alluded to it on Monday, but this was pretty much a full-on declaration.
There’s no indication whether that means he will continue doing it for the rest of the year or if he plans to give the reins back to Morton. There was certainly some allusion to the idea that Morton could get it back on Monday. It’s all a wait-and-see approach at this point.
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