Dan Campbell shares thoughts on when to pull starters: ‘Good problem to have’

Things are going so well for the Detroit Lions that one of the main talking points after their 52-6 win is if they left their starters in for too long.

Dan Campbell provided a lot of detail into his thinking behind that process, noting that this is a very rare and “good problem to have.” They beat the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 11, and most of their starters played into the fourth quarter of a record-setting offensive performance.

The Lions head coach is right that it’s a preferable problem. But it’s also becoming the norm for this team, with three big blowouts in the last six weeks. For example, second-year quarterback Hendon Hooker has seen action in three of the last six games while taking over in the fourth quarter.

“This is a weird -- this is another one of those bizarre things that you’re running into,” Campbell said. “Normally, this doesn’t happen. It’s just like the third time this has come up this season, which, it’s a good problem to have.

“There’s a number of things, and I think you want to know that you finish on a good note, you found a rhythm, you keep the rhythm, ‘OK, now the time says, let’s get them out.’ What’s hard is, you’re playing pretty good, and then you take this dip, and then it starts to taste bad, ‘OK, now we pull them out because we don’t want to get anybody hurt, and then does that bleed into the next week and you’re playing?’”

Jared Goff and the starting offense scored touchdowns on the first seven possessions they touched the ball. That’s the first time that’s happened since the mighty New England Patriots did so back in 2007.

Goff’s last snap came with about 13 minutes left in the game when he left on the perfect note, hitting Amon-Ra St. Brown for a 9-yard touchdown to make it 49-6.

Most of the starters were done after that, except for Penei Sewell, who finished the game on the offensive line. Graham Glasgow was the only other offensive player to log all 79 snaps. And Campbell had a proper explanation for that, too.

One thing is clear: the Lions head coach has given considerable thought to his tendencies in these situations, whether fans like them or not.

“That last one, I told those guys, after the last touchdown we had, I don’t know what it was, 13 minutes left, ‘Let’s get them out,’” Campbell said. “And so, you start playing this, this is, you just you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to finish the game out, and you can only worry so much about it, and even there, it’s like, you’d love to get Sewell out, but we only have three linemen at the game (as) reserves.

“And you take out your oldest guys, your most veteran guys, or the guys who maybe are dinged up a little bit. You do the best you can with it.”

Decker missed last week’s game with a shoulder injury. Both Kevin Zeitler and Frank Ragnow have missed time this year, too, so what Campbell said tracks.

Amik Robertson, the team’s starting slot cornerback, says defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn’s outlook on the starters playing or not is to “finish your food.”

Safety Kerby Joseph was the lone defensive starter to play all 48 snaps on that side of the ball. Linebacker Jack Campbell, defensive back Brian Branch and cornerback Terrion Arnold got only three plays off. Linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez, and defensive linemen Josh Paschal and Alim McNeill also played 40-plus snaps in the victory.

Campbell was answering a question about the team’s defensive showing, when he stopped, and went back to offer more about the decisions to when and if to pull starters. He made it a point to go back and leave no questions about his thinking in those moments to make it clear for future reference.

“I do not want to let the fear of injury take away from our identity,” Campbell said. “That’ll always be most important to me.

“More so, the minute you start worrying about injuries, that’s when bad things happen, so that’s kind of -- I’ll finish with that. It was on my mind.”