"You know what I want? I want somebody to come in tomorrow and say, 'I want McBride.' That’s what I want. I want to know who that’s going to be on our defense."
Head coach Dan Campbell said this to 97.1 FM following the Detroit Lions' Week 4 loss to the Carolina Panthers, in which the teams' tight ends seemed to always be open in short yardage situations and given ample space for major yards after catches.
McBride, of course, is in reference to Trey McBride, the Arizona Cardinals' talented tight end who the Lions will be tasked with defending in Week 5. He, along with Michael Wilson, are set to be another pair of receivers that Detroit's secondary might struggle to contain.
Campbell's challenge, though, is meant to be motivating for a struggling defense, and it should be a direct call out to Jack Campbell - the captain of the defense - to take on McBride as his assignment.
Campbell should heed Lions' McBride challenge in Week 5
Campbell got very real with media ahead of Week 5 regarding the defense's performance, telling reporters:
"There’s been plenty of mistakes by me in the past four games, 100 percent. But for me, that’s in the past. Let’s move forward. Right now it’s terrible, though. I mean, based off where our defense is right now, I’m not gonna sugarcoat it. It’s not good enough. And it’s not gonna win football games. We’re still 2-2, thankfully to our offense and special teams because they’re playing unbelievable. But defensively it’s not good enough, and that’s everybody in the room. And it starts with me."
As cited in the same article of this quote from Will Burchfield, the Lions are allowing the most receptions by tight ends in the NFL this season, in addition to the most touchdowns. They're also allowing the second-most yards.
Campbell has to be more aware of his surroundings when deciding to help out in coverage against the league's tight ends, with quarterbacks looking to exploit the fact that Detroit doesn't have a ton of help over the heads of said linebacker unit in the open field. Their safety room, like their cornerback room, is in shambles. Therefore, the first and often only line of defense against the pass to tight ends is in the hands of their linebackers, and Campbell.
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He will need to be tight in coverage against McBride, as he's one of the league's most athletic tight ends. He'll need to leverage his strength against him, as he's certainly not as speedy as him. So, if (and when) he loses him in man coverage, he needs to do a more effective job of organizing the Lions' defense behind himself to ensure he isn't getting totally burnt.
Campbell doesn't need to be a shutdown linebacker all of the sudden, but he needs to offer some more resistance against McBride and the Cardinals' passing game in Week 5 to give the Lions a fighting chance.
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