Detroit Lions: Are Holmes and Campbell a match made in heaven?
By Robert Jones
A tough, smart blue-collar team?
So Brad Holmes is considered a talent savant and Dan Campbell has presence and can command a locker room. Does that make this a match made in heaven? Maybe.
It is always best for us to remember that all of the great ones were nobodies that someone took a chance on. The great ones seize those opportunities and make them their own.
Will Holmes and Campbell seize the moment? Will they be the long-awaited answer to all those prayers from Lions fans everywhere?
No one knows yet, but they are both interesting figures to consider. They are both young for their positions with Holmes being 41 and Campbell only 44, however, if they can work together, it opens up a window of opportunity for them. Well, at least six years.
Ultimately their success will depend on three things; Brad Holmes will have to be as good as advertised at finding talent, Dan Campbell will have to be the dynamic on-field leader the Lions need, and last but certainly not least, Campbell will have to assemble an outstanding coaching staff.
Especially his offensive and defensive coordinators.
It’s alright for a head coach to be a commanding figure, but not a great X’s and O’s guy if he surrounds himself with gifted coordinators. Something we hope Aaron Glenn is since rumors have it he will be the Lions’ new defensive coordinator.
Through those gifted coordinators, a motivated coach who asks a lot of his players and himself will become a better coach just through the work he will put in to become proficient in the scheme’s his coordinators run.
Campbell isn’t dumb, and his background of playing for Bill Parcells and being Sean Payton’s assistant head coach for the last five years gives him two big influences that should be the calling card of his teams; toughness and innovation.
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The Detroit Lions haven’t had an identity, outside of unloveable losers, for the last 60 plus years. The culture that Holmes and Campbell will attempt to bring to the Motor City seems like it will be a blue-collar team that is tough and smart.
Could it work? If Holmes’ and Campbell’s abilities measure up to their attitudes, then the sky could be the limit. If not? Well, we’ve all seen that scenario far too often.