The Lions’ defense looks really good, but there’s something that’s alarmingly missing, and Dan Campbell keeps bringing it up
Where are the turnovers?
It’s been really hard to miss this summer. The Detroit Lions’ defense has been playing well. It looks like the top five group that it was for much of the 2024 season, perhaps even better. But there is one thing missing in camp, and it’s extending into the preseason games. No takeaways are happening despite that being something the Lions wanted to focus on this summer. That is a problem.
Saturday’s game was a good example. This should have been a dominating affair for Detroit. Sione Vaki forced a fumble in the first quarter, but the Dolphins recovered. Then, Grant Stuard forced a fumble, and the Lions couldn’t recover that one. On top of that, three interceptions were dropped. That’s five turnovers that should have happened, and if they did, it’s a totally different game. Instead, it was a loss.
Lions’ coach, Dan Campbell, has been talking about it a lot. Basically, every time we talk to him. On Saturday night, we asked him about all the near turnovers and how to fix that problem, and he said he was actually encouraged by the near turnovers.
“I was fired up because that was a point of emphasis this week was made, getting balls on the ground, getting balls out,” Campbell said. “Now, we didn’t come up with them, but they’re hitting the turf, and that’s how you do it. And then you get them on the turf, the ball will start bouncing our way. The hard part is getting them out. With my eyes alone, I saw four on the turf. We didn’t get them, but I saw, and we had an opportunity to, so that we had another two that I saw on the back end. You guys were talking about we had our hands on, we weren’t able to finish on the interceptions. But I’m like, theoretically, we could have had six turnovers today, right? That’s good. That’s a step in the right direction. So that was encouraging.”
I have to admit I was surprised by the encouragement Campbell showed because it’s been a problem all summer long. Maybe he sees it now as, hey, at least they’re starting to almost get them. Maybe they keep poking at things, and then they start happening. Either way, going into the season, takeaways have to happen, and you then have to take advantage of those takeaways. We’ll see where it goes in a few weeks.
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