Dan Campbell, coach of the Detroit Lions, spoke of a win over Houston

by Junna Base November 11, 2024

It was absolutely crazy.

Not just how the Detroit Lions rose from the dead and defeated the Houston Texans 26-23 in a breathtaking game on Sunday night.

But how it came about.

As Lions coach Dan Campbell seemingly brought it into being.

“How do you get it going?” NBC sideline reporter Melissa Stark asked Campbell Sunday night as he was finishing halftime.

“As I told the team, it’s just one play at a time,” Campbell said on the NBC broadcast.

At the time, the Lions were struggling and were beaten 23-7 by the Houston Texans. Jared Goff had three interceptions, although to be fair, one of them came at the end of the half, a Hail Mary pass that was picked, which really doesn’t count in my book.

“We’re doing pretty well defensively,” Campbell continued on NBC. “We just give up a play here and it puts them down there. But really, we need to wake up on offense. We don’t convert. We don’t get first downs. …and so we had to pick it up. We’re just not playing well as a team at the moment.”

Campbell had this fast-paced intensity, like this interview was just an extension of his halftime talk.

“What do you want from your defense in the second half?” asked Starks.

“Listen, we have a mistake here,” he said. “If we let this out, we’ll be fine. And then there was takeaway food. Our defense needs to pick up a few things. We won’t get everything here in one fell swoop. So just one thing at a time. We do that.”

Read it carefully: Campbell called for “a few” takeaways.

Then, right on cue as the interview aired, Carlton intercepted Davis III.

His first in the game.

Too wild, right?

Only there was one problem – Goff followed with his fourth interception.

So Campbell sent his defense back onto the field and you could just about hear his instruction: Get another one.

And they did. So Davis got another one.

Speak it into life, Dan!

Then the offense finally woke up and cut the deficit to 23-13.

But then? Oh my God, make it stop – Goff threw his fifth interception.

Simply put, you can’t win a game by rolling five picks. Or rather, you shouldn’t Still be in a game if you have five turnovers. The Lions had no business winning this game. So be it.

But somehow, amazingly, this team still had a chance.

Third-down problems

Put those interceptions aside for a second — and that’s not easy — because the other big problem was on third down.

In the first three quarters, six of the Lions’ first 11 possessions ended in threes and outs, and two more ended after just two plays and an interception.

Here’s the crazy thing.

That was a focus for the Lions this week.

“We really need to clean up those threes now, that’s a big focus for us this week,” Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said Thursday.

Apparently they didn’t prepare well enough.

The Lions knew this could be a problem as the Texans’ defense was particularly difficult on third-and-long.

“I think proof of that would be a third of seven to ten this week. I have, let’s say, 27 clips on my cut-up, just three conversions and eight sacks,” Johnson said. “I really haven’t seen anything like this before, so they’re doing a phenomenal job, not just in the third period but throughout. This is a team that thrives on creating negative plays, and they start at the top.”

Yes, they knew this was coming.

And they couldn’t fix it.

So when you combine struggles on third down and turnovers, you fall into a huge hole.

The lions continued to fight

But the Lions defense held firm.

I continued to give them a chance.

Brian Branch played like an absolute beast. He seemed to be everywhere, knocking down balls, flying around the field and making tackles. I keep them in this game.

Review of the beginning of the fourth quarter.

Houston still had a 23-13 lead, but the Lions did the smart thing.

They got the ball to David Montgomery and Amon-Ra St. Brown, who pushed his way into the end zone.

Now Houston’s lead had shrunk to 23-20.

And this game turned again. Suddenly it turned into a field goal kicking contest.

Lions kicker Jake Bates hit a 58-yarder to tie the ball.

And Houston kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn missed from 58.

That gave the Lions a chance to win the ball.

But unfortunately it came down to a third down play.

They faced a third-and-6 from the Texans 48. This time they transformed. This time Goff hit St. Brown.

How ironic. If they absolutely need a third, they got it.

And then Bates drilled a 52-yarder for the magical victory, 26-23.

And he was carried off the field like a hero.

Was that a wake-up call?

No.

It’s just a dose of reality. You’ll have trouble if you can’t convert on third down.

You will have even more problems if you turn it over.

But there were far more positives than negatives.

Praise the defense for keeping the team in the game.

Praise Bates, a guy who broke through. But also praise the coaches for how they prepared him for this moment.

Goff is commendable for sticking with it, accepting defeat, not giving up despite the interceptions and mistakes, and making a play when he absolutely had to.

But most of all, Campbell deserves credit for bringing it into being.

For giving them the roadmap.

One of the most amazing and dark games I’ve ever seen.

CContact Jeff Seidel: [email protected]. Follow him on X @seideljeff. To read his latest columns, go to freep.com/sports/jeff-seidel.

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