The Detroit Lions suffered their first loss of the season on Sunday, September 15, when they fell to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 20-16. One big mistake happened at the end of the first half, when the Lions were second-and-10 at the Tampa Bay 17-yard line with 17 seconds left on the clock.
Quarterback Jared Goff completed a pass to receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, and the offense lined up to spike the ball and stop the clock, since no timeouts were remaining. But, the field goal unit was already on the field, resulting in a too many men on the field penalty, which took the clock to zero and ended their chance for that field goal.
Detroit Lions’ Coaching Gets ‘F’ Grade
In a September 16 story for Pride of Detroit, NFL expert and analyst Jeremy Reisman gives the Lions’ coaching staff the dismal grade of “F” for their end-of-first-half mess up.
“There is absolutely no defense for what happened at the end of the first half,” he wrote. “Detroit had plenty of time to go over what they would do if that pass to St. Brown was in bounds. That should have been communicated to the entire team and it clearly was not.”
Reisman also made a good point, that even though “Campbell took full responsibility for the mishap, that “does not mean Campbell is off the hook.”
He added that, “The offensive game plan also didn’t seem to make much sense. Detroit came out of the game throwing heavily, which seemed odd considering their relative success running the ball in this game.” He noted that “Goff threw the ball 55 times to just 27 rushing attempts,” which he called “a pretty inexcusable imbalance.”
Reisman also blamed much of the team’s red-zone problems on the coaching staff. The team was 1-for-7 for the game.
“I didn’t see a lot of poor player execution in scoring position, just plays that never seemed to have a chance to work,” he wrote. “Detroit has historically been strong in the red zone under Ben Johnson, so there is no long-term worry here. But, that doesn’t excuse this one bad performance.”
Ben Johnson Has ‘Got Some Work to Do’
In a September 16 article for SideLion Report, NFL writer and expert Brad Berreman named Campbell as one of the “losers” from the game.
In the story, he said that “the final drive of the game takes on a different complexion if the Lions had been able to convert a field goal at the end of the first half. A field goal would have been all that was needed to win then, but instead they needed a touchdown.”
But, he added, “Campbell taking full accountability for Sunday’s loss, even if it’s not completely deserved with what else was lackluster, is more evidence of why he’s the right guy to lead this team.”
Berreman also named offensive coordinator Ben Johnson a “loser” in the game, writing, “The Lions’ offense being so out of sync through the first two games can easily be chalked up to starters not playing in the preseason. With that in mind, Jared Goff has not been sharp and he was particularly off against the Buccaneers.”
Elsewhere, he added, “Two games is not enough to declare it outright, but maybe Johnson has been figured out. He’s got some work to do.”
