The decisive play in the Lions’ wild, shootout win over the Chargers — a 41-38 nonstop thrill ride — was a perfect microcosm of this Detroit team. After picking up 8 yards on third down, Dan Campbell’s crew stared down a fourth-and-2 in a tie game just inside Riley Patterson’s field goal range. There would have been a choice to make, but there was never any consideration to kick.
Campbell unflinchingly left his offense on the field, Jared Goff hit Sam LaPorta with a dart for 6 yards that picked up a first down, moved the Lions into a much more manageable field goal range and — most importantly — also allowed them to bleed the rest of the time remaining off the clock before kicking a walk-off field goal.
Jim Nantz and Tony Romo noted the similarity to Bill Belichick’s fourth-and-2 against Peyton Manning and the Colts more than a decade ago and how Belichick’s logic involved being unable to slow down the Indy offense and wanting to be in control of the game clock.
There was certainly a sense of that for Campbell and Detroit, with Justin Herbert and the Bolts running some kind of modified hurry-up style offense that gave the Lions defense fits all afternoon. The big-play back-and-forth battle between Goff and Herbert shouldn’t tell us a ton about the quality of these two defenses per se; it was just an incredible performance from two high-end quarterbacks.
Campbell definitely believes in his defense, but he has unquestioned faith in Goff and that offense and has made it abundantly clear he plans to be aggressive in the way he coaches. He has lived up to his word on that one and it was especially true on Sunday in Los Angeles, with Campbell going for it a whopping FIVE TIMES on fourth down.
Brandon Staley didn’t back away from aggression either — the Chargers went for it three times. The two teams combined to convert seven (!) of those eight fourth-down attempts. The only…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/nfl-week-10-storylines-lions-roar-on-road-c-j-stroud-might-have-entered-the-mvp-chat/
Author : Will Brinson
Publish date : 2023-11-13 02:15:04
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