The argument to keep Campbell

DC makes questionable in-game decisions and has the worst D in the NFL but here’s 5 rational reasons why I’m still in:

  1. OFFENSE LEAPT: Offense jumped from #25 to #3 (currently). That is INCREDIBLE progress. This regime adapts.
  2. WHAT DEFENSIVE SLIDE: I hate 32nd-rated D too, but you know how far we’ve fallen since last year? One slot. The off-season Kool-Aid was so delicious that we forgot this team finished with the 31st ranked D in 2021.
  3. YOU CAN’T COACH IT. MCDC rallies this city in a way that I’ve never seen a Detroit coach do. That’s a LOT harder to replace than a new DC, scheme or star player.
  4. FOCUS ON THE PROBLEM: If this team cuts down just half of the missed plays it has on defense, we’d be above .500 right now. That is achievable without firing the coach.
  5. OUR SCHEDULE: When he inherited the Patricia mess, we all said we want a consistent playoff contender by year 3. Now we’re mad that we aren’t AHEAD of that schedule - but we are on schedule.

The toughest stretch of our year is these next 3 games. But honestly, the score in the middle of a game/season is irrelevant. Let’s assess Dan at the end of this season. I’m betting he’s a keeper.

16 Likes
  1. HANDSOME
3 Likes

Who?

Season 2 Reaction GIF by Insecure on HBO

Lol Patricia mess was a 5 win team, Homebell took it to 3 wins and now in year 2 we might not win 3. But we’re right on schedule.
Shame GIF

3 Likes

The offense has gotten better, way better.

I don’t believe in celebrating that we only went down one spot on defense since that’s all the further we could drop, and we should be better, not worse after a year…and it’s not that we’re just worse, we’re epically bad.

There’s a lot of good things about DC…I’m just concerned he’s not learning. Like last year when he was making dumb in-game decisions, he’s making even more this year.

Our schedule is much easier than last year. We didn’t win a game until week 12 last year, we won in week 2 this year. Still not sure this is reason to celebrate. I do agree that people have probably gotten their expectations too high. Most thought this was a 6-8 win team, maybe we hit that yet, maybe not.

4 Likes

Patricia mess was a leadership that drove our best talent out of town including Darius Slay and Quandre Diggs who were pro bowlers last year and Matthew Stafford who won a Superbowl. That’s a f*** mess!

Patty inherited a 9-7 team that had hope. Campbell inherited a 5-11 team (Patty only won 4 of those, Bevell got the 5th) that even our tough-as-nails future SB-winning 12-year franchise QB no longer wanted to be on. That’s a f*** mess! So, yeah, if we’re comparing that shit to this shit. That shit was a shitty leader and toxic culture. This shit is a talent-poor D. Oh, and why so talent poor? Could it be those pro bowlers in the secondary that Patty shipped to other teams? Campbell got issues but not flaming pile of shit issues like Patty.

4 Likes

Jim Schwartz took over an 0-16 Lions team and had them at 2 wins in year 1, 6 wins in year 2 and in the playoffs year 3. If you’re doing worse then Schwartz - you’re not good.

I don’t see how the Lions win 6+ games this year, even with the extra game Schwartz didn’t have in year 2.

5 Likes

Lol ok, but that mess won 5 games and this mess only won 3 Patricia was and is all them things yet his team won 5 games . And with all this magic we might be lucky to win 5 in 2 years. So sense when is a worse record in year 2 right on schedule ?

I agree with you there, friend. I wasn’t celebrating as much as I was pointing out, our D sucked last year too and they can turn around that side of the ball as well. I wish it had been sooner too.

As for the “easier schedule.” That was a projection. The “Strength of Schedule” formula at the start of the year basically says “If your team had played these teams LAST YEAR, here’s how strong they were.”

In reality, teams like the Giants, Vikings, and Jets are 5-1, 5-1, and 4-2 respectively. There are no easy games on our schedule - well, maybe Chicago.

3 Likes

I’ll take that bet. Today Patty’s whopping .314 win-rate tops Campbell’s .205. So let’s see at the end of the year which is better.

Lol yeah how great it will be between them 2.

And it doesn’t change the fact that Homebell took over a 5 win team and hasn’t even been able to match that 5 wins. So what your really saying is they took over Patricia mess and somehow made it even a bigger mess. While teams like the jets are getting better we are in year 2 and actually have a worse record then we started with.

And yeah let’s see what we have at the end of the season if we get 5 wins we will match Patricia ye ha.

That’s because there’s only one slot to slide. Measure this defense over NFL history to get a true perspective. There have been few defenses in the history of the NFL that are this bad.
I’ve been trying to make that point by calling them absurdly low rankings, like #783. Thing is, I’m sure that is too high, historically speaking.
I’m still behind MCDC, but, the blinders have once again ripped off of my Koolaid drunk eyes.
There are reasons, of course. Not all of those reasons are on Dan.
T Williams and Perriman were red flags for me last season, and it has only gotten worse, this season.
If anybody deserves to be fired, it’s Brad. The players he’s brought in have largely been whiffs.
Not over looking Sewell, St. Brown, Hutch, and Rodrigo, but, who else has he brought in that have helped this team?
No! No! Paper Lions don’t count until they produce. They just suck up cap space and make it hard to plan the future.

2 Likes

And he got 6 wins in year 2 with a backup QB, Stafford missed almost the entire season.

1 Like

Exactly!! We are on pace to give up just under 3000 yards rushing…haha I wish I was kidding. I believe that will set the nfl record for most rushing yards allowed in a single season. The good news is we can’t possibly get any worse. You could literally let any poster on the den call the defensive plays and it couldn’t be worse.

1 Like

The one thing is the Offense was really bad and Dan made and did what it took to make it better. I really wanna see what he does with and about this defense , will we see a similar change ? And Holmes has to do better then the land of the cripples and FA signings of no value. Holmes has been really bad on that side of the ball. And set this defense up to fail. Glenn is bad but Holmes hasn’t been much help to him. I know I know everyone is on IR. Lol

2 Likes

Ever see a 5-1-1-4 defense? You would if I were calling plays.

1 Like

Blown Away Wow GIF by Aminé

First time GM
First time DC
First Time OC
HC pretty close to First time

Bad recipe,

4 Likes

Yeah! Yeah!
They laughed at my “Box 4 Ball Hawking Zone” (basketball) until my kids kept taking the ball from them.

1 Like

Good post. It’s good to see fair counterpoints to the obnoxiously loud “FIRE EVERYONE NOW” mob.

I’m on board to keep Campbell through the end of the season pretty much no matter what. I just don’t see any significant positive reasons to firing him prior to then.

Having said that, if this team doesn’t undergo a major turnaround and put together a solid near .500 record by the end of the season I think you’ve got to move on. Campbell has proved to not be a good coach up to this point.

You can’t continue to just be patient with a guy you know isn’t the right guy. To date, he’s proved he’s not the right guy. I’m willing to give it the rest of the year but have little to no confidence that he’s able to prove otherwise by then.

At that point, it’s time to move on. Again.

What can possibly change my mind if they don’t get to a .500 record?

  1. Campbell pulls his head out of his ass and knocks it off with the terrible in-game decisions and shows solid, near flawless decision-making throughout the rest of the year.

  2. If he fires his friend, AG, and lands a legit DC that can bring immediate improvement to the defense. This team would be solid if they had a decent defense and were making better decisions on Sunday.

Big changes there could put me back on the fence. But right now I’m definitely on the side of the fence that thinks he’s not the guy.