Haha! Looks like Coach Dan put on some good weight in the offseason. He’s bulking up and getting ready to provide depth at TE. He’s most likely getting inspiration from watching that handsome punter.
It is worth saying that for all the love we are showing Holmes and Campbell it appears Anthony Lynn was a very, very bad hire that set the Lions back most of a whole season.
I don’t know what the interview with Campbell looked like but damn if Anthony didn’t install an offense with little regard to what his players did well (esp/ Goff) that had crazy verbage (discussed as to why plays made it in slowly leading to penalties). Young WRs ran incorrect routes and Goff was so bad he threw the ball away on 4th down not once but TWICE!!
Now we see a much more engaged Campbell on offense. But damn, we lost 8 games with an OC who was not in step with his head coach and offence no one could run. Why? Credit to Dan for seeing this and neutering Lynn by taking play-calling duties and basically rewriting the playbook midseason. But also damn Dan, WTF!!?? That hire is 100% on you Dan. Bad move.
The Lions are now working to correct Dan’s mistakes from 2020. Good for them for learning.
To Patricia, his staff said the same thing and yet the SUCKED at teaching and playing to player strengths. It is nice to see Campbell actually allowing his staff to burn everything from 2020 and build something new that plays to the strengths of their veteran QB. Finally. A year too late but better than not at all.
Brother! Dan was a brand new HC when he hired his first OC…. No one is ever perfect: the Goal is progress not perfection!!
As DC grew into his new job as HC, he honestly assessed himself and then was willingly and open minded enough to make the needed changes for the team to grow as well and also become more successful….
I love this fact…. It bodes well for our teams future!
Man, the evidence is piling up that I was 100% wrong on this. I figured that ALynn would not only be a great hire, but would be key from the standpoint of having previous HC experience to be able to help the rest of the staff comprised of greenhorns.
I’m going to have a hell of a time taking an adult named “Tanner” seriously.
Was it, or was it a brilliant move to get us Hutch at 2OA?
The same philosophy that the Rams used when they got Stafford, immediately they cut down snaps under center by 50%.
100% reasonable conclusion.
In the end, DC and AG both had their own ideas that ruled, resulting in the exit of A-Lynn and Capers.
For all of the hub-bub about DC taking over play-calling duties, it showed great confidence in his vision for the team that he would demote his OC mid-season. I’m impressed by the conviction and quick action on both their parts.
I cannot believe how bad thay Anthony Lynn hire was. Kudos to the people on the board who were saying so when it happened.
I agree that the decisiveness wrt Lynn was refreshing, doing so gave us a jump start on this season. Good for AG/DC. I’m not sure i would equate that situation to Capers’ though. After GB, Capers has just dabbled with new regimes and acts like a mentor when he is needed. There’s no reason to think he and AG had any disagreements, it seems like it was more a case where Capers was there if AG was a disaster… he wasn’t so Capers moved on. It could have been mutual.
See below: Capers was hired by the Lions in 2021 to help a young set of coaches get their footing. He had actually coached Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn as a player back with the Houston Texans but was brought along to help Glenn—a first-time defensive coordinator— and Dan Campbell—a first-time head coach—navigate a tough, new year.
This has more-or-less been Capers’ job over the past three years. After a nine-year stint as the Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator, Capers served as a one-year senior defensive assistant for the Jaguars (2019), Vikings (2020), and now the Lions (2021).
Me too. I thought Lynn would adapt here to these players. Nope.
Credit to all those that pointed and believe that a rookie GM and rookie head coach is a mistake. It was.
I love Campbell. But he wasn’t ready. Not like he is now. Oh well. Investment made. Now we hope we reap the benefits now.
Agreed. I was not one of them and thought he should be given a longer rope. I was very wrong on that one. When my wife says ‘you always think you’re right’, I always think about ALynn.
I think Lynn fit the culture. He’s a high character person who relates well to players. That’s probably what attracted Holmes
The only problem was he wasn’t good at his job
That took alot of courage and conviction. Major leadership points for seeing and addressing it so quickly.
Part of this that does not get mentioned enough was ALynn’s professionalism in accepting the demotion and not saying one bad word about it (that I’ve seen anyway). Two big men in the room. Kudo’s to him too.
I wouldn’t be too hard on him for that one hire. ALynn was a year removed from a great season in SanDiego. Getting a head coach caliber type person to accept a OC role with a downtrodden franchise looked like a major win. Dan had to fill out a whole staff, and it looks like he batted about .900. Overall, I think DC did a great job with staff building.
Fox is
Yup - future is bright, and Dan Campbell is the absolute biggest strength on the team. Single most important guy on our team is the HC.
I believe we have the best HC/GM combo in the NFL. Literally would’ trade them for anyone. Your comment made me laugh pretty hard.
You’ll see what I mean when we win 10 or more this year.
Which coaches and GMs would have won with the cap situation, injuries and roster the lions had last year?
A lot of Lynns problems were the same as Goffs, and that can be laid at Holmes feet.
T. Williams and Perriman were horrible signings.
Once Williams went down, the offense had little chance of being productive.
I wasn’t impressed with the Lynn hiring in the first place, though. He had a reputation for conservative play calling, and that wouldn’t have worked with Williams and Perriman, let alone, Cephus and the rest.
The only way that offense had a prayer was to play high risk ball.
In walks Campbell and throws caution to the wind.
Unfortunately Dan had a bad hire with Anthony Lynn, he also changed out one of the training staff guys due to “communication” issues…I think that happened not to long after the start of the season.
The fact that Dan amends for bad decisions quickly and still has his credibility as a leader is what strikes me most. Ben needs to have his shit together quick. He needs to show that what we saw late last season is what we should expect to see and continue to grow and be effective this year.
The more I think on it, the more I think the Lions opening game against the Eagles is a must win. They need to show the fans that the hype and energy of this offseason is for real and they can produce W’s against quality opponents.
You know what though, I’m good with my head coach making a bad hire (it happens) if he realizes it and moves on as quickly as Campbell did. Most coaches wouldn’t have changed anything until the off season.
Lynn’s offense with LA was pretty good, with then rookie QB Justin Herbert running the show. I can understand why Campbell was optimistic. However, before the arrival of Reynolds and the development of ARSB, the Lions really didn’t have the horses at WR in 2021 to do much more than dink and dunk, which is why the offense was designed that way.
It became evident to me very quickly last year that Lynn didn’t have much direct input into the Chargers offense.
Shane Steichen was the OC and called the plays.
Steichen was with the Chargers long before Lynn got the HC job, and learned under OCs Norv Turner, Frank Reich, and Ken Whisenhunt. The Chargers kept the same offensive scheme when Lynn areivwd because Rivers was comfortable in it.
Steichen got job in 2020… and Herbert took over at QB… but the system remained the same.