After dismal starts in each of his first two seasons, Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell is seeking a formula to foster a faster start this year.
Up until bad officiating in the Rams-Seahawks game earlier in the day played a big role in taking it away, the Detroit Lions had a potential "win-and-in" scenario against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday Night Football in Week 18 last season.
Of course if the Lions had won one more game earlier in the season, it may not have mattered. But a 1-6 start but them behind the eight-ball, and hovered head coach Dan Campbell over the hot seat a bit.
The Lions did not win a game in Campbell's first season as their head coach until Week 13, with a tie preventing an 0-11 start. In some respect the first season of a rebuild can be given a slight mulligan for a bad start, but good finishes to each of the last two seasons points to something that needs fixing entering Year
Dan Campbell wants to find the formula for the Lions to start faster this season
During his press conference to kick off minicamp on Tuesday, Campbell noted how he needs to find a way for his team to start the season better. The expectations attached to this season demand a better start than the last two years,
"Yeah, you go back and forth and that’s something that I’m always thinking about is, how do we do this?” Campbell said during his Tuesday press conference. “Is there a different approach? Were we too light? Were we too hard? Do we need to have more volume? Do we need to have more intensity?"
" I think some of it is just that, tinkering with, do we need to do a little bit more maybe early situational work in practice? Like that’s how we start,””Maybe we start practice, they come out of stretch and there we go. Those are little things that I’m thinking about, is how do we get off to a fast start in a game and in a season?”"Dan Campbell
Campbell added how he has to be careful of league rules regarding physicality and contact right now, until training camp starts and pads can go on. But finding the right balance of good preparation and overdoing it is critical, and Campbell knows he has to find it to help the Lions avoid another slow start.