The Detroit Lions are putting together another great season under the leadership of Dan Campbell. The former tight end has his ex-team at 8-1 because of great skill position players, excellent line play, and a ferocious defense. One of the important members of that defense is safety Brian Branch, who the Lions drafted out of Alabama in 2023. Branch was on ESPN and compared his two coaches, Campbell and Nick Saban.
“Grit. I mean that hard-nosed football,” Branch said when asked what is similar about the coaches. “That's what both of them resemble and them preaching that, shoot I love playing for that.”
Branch was taken in the second round of the 2023 draft after a spectacular collegiate career. He has been the missing piece the defense needed since joining the fray. While he is only in his second season, he is one of the best safeties in the league. He said that he loves playing for Campbell and Saban and that shows in his play.
The Lions lost Aidan Hutchinson to a season-ending injury in a Week 6 win over the Dallas Cowboys. While he has been missed up front, the secondary has picked up the slack. They picked off CJ Stroud twice to spark their second-half comeback on Sunday, picking up their eighth win.
Lions need great play from their defense to make the Super Bowl
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The Lions have never made the Super Bowl. They came painfully close last year, holding a halftime lead over the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game. The 49ers came back and won the game, sending Campbell and the Lions packing. It was a disappointing finish for Detroit but they have shown this year that it was not a fluke.
The Lions lost one game in September to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Since then, they have won seven straight games, three of them by one possession. While the offense struggled in the first half against the Texans, they picked it up in the second half. It was a special-teams win in Week 8 over the Titans, and the defense dominated the Cowboys.
Dan Campbell has had success this season in a similar way that Nick Saban had success at Alabama. The Tide would dominate teams on defense, rack up points on offense, win games with the kicking game, whatever it took to win. Branch responds well to that coaching style and helps in that process as the safety.
