What Is DC Doing? (My .02)

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What I see IMO:

The Wig, (Marty) Mooch, Caldwell, FattyP:

All came in to D-town with schemes in mind, coach the players to play in there systems. Some (Caldwell) were liked and good leaders, some (Fatty) were despised. Not one had true success. They could implement the scheme but the players lacked what looked like the skills or talent to achieve the desired outcome. Season after season after season. SOL!

What DC is doing different?

He has built a staff of teachers! Some darn good ones, these guys are teaching young talent, quite a few no name UFA’s and turning them into a team and teaching them what it takes to be a good NFL player. It takes two to succeed. The student has to have talent be teachable, coachable with the desire to learn, grow and fight to win. It’s part of the reason why we see such a youth movement and very few name players at this time. DC is building the foundation of a growing NFL TEAM. A team with character and attitude, a team that FIGHTS to the end.

Not all want to be taught. I think Collins, Hand and Perriman fit this category. Some players like to think they know it all already, just ask them. The know it all’s are not the players DC is looking to build around. You can’t coach or teach the know it all’s.

This old school teaching mentality, it goes back to Lombardi, Laundry, Knoll, Parcells to name a few. Is MCDC capable of having his name brought up with those legends? Absolutely not. Not at this time, I hope, no I expect, in the not too distant future, we can look back and say I remember how this got started.

For now, I love what I am seeing from players like:
Evan Brown, Godwin Igwebuike, Matt Nelson, AJ Parker, Bobby Price, Craig Reynolds, Jerry Jacobs, Josh Reynolds…
Wow, look at those names! How do you win a game in the NFL with so many no names playing a lot? Who can name me our starting secondary this week without looking it up?

This young group of misfits are all being taught how to play the game at the NFL level. There are not being treated as stars who no how to play the game and need to learn the system, they are being taught the nuances of the positions by former players and darn good teachers. They have bought in. As we move forward and bring in more talent, the future talent will see and feel the foundation and the buy in from the existing players. whether it’s drafted players or FA’s, they will follow suit.

When the team is molded to the personality of its coach is when we can take on personality’s like the Antonio Brown’s of the world if necessary.

I also see 2022 as a year where we might be able to reach 9 wins. Playoffs or not, the message will be out among FA’s, Detroit is on the rise, the a place to be if you want to be in the PO’s!

My .02 Opinion, place your bets… :money_mouth_face:

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Fair take.

I see what he’s doing as being a bit more cultural, which I’d guess coaching fits into, especially if he’s genuinely wiping the slate clean.

Many of the previous coaches you mentioned (with the exception maybe of Caldwell) tried grafting a preexisting ideology onto a struggling franchise that already rejected those previous iterations.

Dan doesn’t seem to be bringing the ‘Saints Way’ to Detroit, but more best practices of establishing a culture and identity unique to its host. Dan is positioned to do this, given his history with the Lions.

The question is whether or not he can actually do it right. It’s a tall order. Especially for someone with such little coaching experience. Remains to be seen. We’ve seen sparks this season. We’ll need to see a lot more in 2022.

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We, at least I, have been begging for this since the days of Wayne-O ended and Boss Ross’s “Tommy Vardell gets the goal line carries instead of Barry because BEEFCAKE!!” horseshit
happy eric cartman GIF by South Park

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This is the summary for me. It’s clear the players love Dan. And I can see why, he’s a super likeable guy. I want him to succeed. He’s gotten the guys to play hard no matter what, and that’s awesome. But he’s going to have to show more than the ability to get a bunch of fringe NFL players to go Rudy Ruettiger style next year.

I hope he can do it. I know a lot of this board thinks he’s the “right guy” but they also thought Rod Marinellis tough guy approach would lead to wins and that Matt Patricia was a genius. So I’ve gotta see more to have much faith.

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I perfectly understand the doubt, and with our past history skepticism should be expected. I have never seen a Lions team compete this hard before. I’ve never seen them embrace the next man up mentality like these guys do and the love they have for their coach. The staff is the same way towards Campbell. They would do anything for Campbell and the importance of that can’t be undersold. I am excited to see what happens this off-season and I am more excited about the 2022 Detroit Lions then any Lions team in recent memory.

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I get it too, but I feel they are playing more than hard. They are playing smart/well coached too.

They’ve shown some some adaptation on offense by using different looks and heavy packages. Not trying to run over teams solely, but some trickery and spread concepts as well.

On defense, they aren’t all out blitzing every time with their hair on fire. They are actually rotating coverages and playing part man/zone concepts to confuse the QBs.

I think it would be one thing if they were just running hard but completely out-schemed. Sometimes they are out-scheming too, even with Rookies. This gives me hope that if the talent is increased, the output will be as well.

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Good God, what a bad dream that was.
And … Barry - you WILL run behind a full back because that’s what I want.
So then Barry…quits. I still have a hard time believing it.

I agree - this staff is more like Chuck Daly and his Pistons…adapt your scheme to player strengths.

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Um, Will Harris…um, let me check the waiver wire…

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Several times as a fan I have read and heard that a player makes the biggest jump between year one and year two, then the next biggest is from year two to three.

That’s my expectation for Campbell and Co. They need a big jump in wins next year followed with an even better record the following…then keep it rolling.

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I see this a lot the same as the OP and also with Nate, but the question that keeps rolling around in my mind is, “will DC be able to hold it all together when elite talent comes and demands the “star” attention/ treatment?”.
Will that upset the chemistry that he has built with a bunch of kids that will do anything to be playing in the NFL?
I think this is the reason we should be rooting for Ws at this time. More results + coaches with rings= more clout for DC, to go along with his charisma.

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Considering we have no way to know this with our current roster, I am looking forward to finding out.
DC gets major props from peers, former coaches, broadcasters and his own players.
If the numbskulls upstairs make things right with Megatron, I believe this will help bring in talent. Brass needs to do the smart thing and give the credit to DC

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What is DC doing? Maybe the coaches have been secretly dressing up for game day? They found the fountain of youth. Maybe that was staley and not our 5th string rb putting up b2b 100 yr games. Maybe pleasant was shutting down at corner? Who knows but whatever works keep it up.

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Going back to rule #1, Dan don’t have no room on this team for turds. That nose of his can detect turds from a mile away like a bloodhound and, with Brad, evacuates them before they constipate the team.

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:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
Most excellent answer!

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Love this thought Nate, makes some much sense. If I can take a thought from my profession and apply it to what your saying basically you gotta meet the players where they are at. You have to be consistent, fair and clear. In my profession there are a lot of leaders, ideology that current therapists tend to train under….but a lot of times we fall into a trap of “I’m the expert, I am CBT (Saints way) or I am Rogerian (Patriots way) or I am LOGOTHERAPY (steelers way) and you the client (players) have to met me where I am at rather then being eclectic and meeting the client (player) where they are at and using our knowledge and skills to help them where they are at and help them improve.

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Imagine Rooks coming in and the players take them off to the side to talk about what’s going on here, and “how it works,” the unwritten rules, and who DC is…Imagine their description of the vision.

Imagine Vets around the league (NFL Vets, not veterinarians or retired war guys)…they hear of what it’s like to play for Dan, how they develop talent and reside within a brotherhood. This is gonna get real fun, real quick.

This ain’t Rod MF’n Nellie, folks. There is faith, strength, love, and power behind what this dude is doing. His faith is impacting others, because he is the influential energy. He doesn’t have to force anyone to do anything…he INFLUENCES! “Rule with Iron fist” usually means rule with mittens, because you feel the need to control something because of your own insecurities (not always). I’ve seen it a million times, and I know EXACTLY why my teams used to kick everyone’s ass, when I was a coach…the egg-zacked same reason DC will win here. He’s coaching MEN, not just football players. Getting ppl who buy in fully and have faith.

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Yes, and “turds” are ppl who are not committed, complain, and don’t own themselves. it takes ownership of self to commit to ANYTHING. You can’t commit to anything, unless you are committed to yourself. It takes a commitment to yourself to TRULY want to grow as a man, and part of that entails challenging what you believe to be true…even your own identity.

Dan’n’Brad are bringing in ppl who are committed to themselves as men, who therefor can more deeply commit to their job (identity of good workers), commit to their brotherhood, and c0mmit to being Detroit Lions…identify as Detroit Lions… part of being a good man is being a good Detroit Lions.

“Welcome to Detroit, MF’rz!” I’ve actually heard Dan say “You’re a Detroit Lion” to a player/players, but I can’t remember where. He also said “Welcome to Detroit!”

He’s building identity, faith, brotherhood, relentlessness, determination, commitment…He’s got a GD beautiful Mastermind going here. These humans are going to manifest and generate a lot of ass-whoopins, and a lot of very unhappy plane rides home from Detroit Metro.

Go get 'em, brother Dan!
The NFL has not seen it done like this before - Ever!

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I will add to this, from my .02. We have so many guys coming back; we can’t keep them all. These youngins are getting themselves on tape and I am so happy for them for that. But man… …man, I can’t even fathom how sad I’m going to be to see some of these 4th stringers and PS guys have to go. Ever said that before?

I wish the roster was big enough for all of them when healthy. I wish every single one of them the best of luck. They died on the hill for this team and for DC.

And I guess - in essence - that is what DC is doing. Making us sad to lose guys we’ve never heard of. That says something.

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If they keep doing what they’ve been doing with the Covid testing, look for them to increase roster size again.

Think in terms of what makes money for the league…that’s what they’re going to do.

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Even if they don’t, if they could only keep it roster-wise a little D heavy.

My stats will be a little off here so bare with me. But the Lions have been moving guys around defensively out of NECESSITY.

When the Cowboys were about done murdering the WFT Sunday, they talked about and showed a list about their rotation. I believe the Parsons led at 31 or 32 snaps and it went down to last guy at 18 or 20.

Could you imagine that? Moving guys and rotating? Keeping them fresh and EVERYONE knows what they’re doing?

“Oh, T Walker needs a breather, move AO over there for a few plays.” … “Oh, linebacker has been in 9 plays straight, let’s get D Harris in there and shift him to end”.

Just examples, you get my point.

Do the same with that backfield and WR core (hopefully if we add a couple)…

…man I’m just rambling at this point but DC and staff seems to do what they need to and get guys watching Netflix playing like (sort of) pro-bowlers…

EXPAND THE ROSTER NFL WE WANT ALL THESE GUYS!

end rant

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