Campbell says bye-week deep dive shows progress as Lions prepare for Packers
Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell said Monday the team emerged from its Week 6 bye encouraged after a deep review of the first five games and is focused on incremental improvement as it readies for its first division matchup Sunday against Green Bay at Ford Field. Campbell said the staff used the time off to self-scout and to target specific areas to correct across all three phases. He added that the break allowed coaches and players to rest, prepare and reset for the stretch run. “I got an extra hour of sleep at night. I feel much better,” Campbell joked.
Campbell said he feels better about the roster now than he did after last season’s midseason bye and called the group young and ascending. He noted that last season, despite a 5-2 start coming out of a Week 8 bye, the Lions went 4-6 over their final 10 games and missed the playoffs. The coaches identified several areas to improve and they plan to make incremental fixes rather than sweeping changes. Campbell said he likes the team’s trajectory as it heads into the final 12-game stretch.
Two players who returned to practice after missing time are defensive back Brian Branch, who is recovering from an Achilles injury, and center Cade Mays, who is coming back from a wrist injury. The team is targeting Sunday as the return date for both players, and Campbell said Branch has looked good in practice while remaining unlikely to handle a full 70-play workload immediately. Veteran Juice Scruggs has filled in at center and earned high marks from Pro Football Focus, and the plan is to keep Scruggs ready until Mays is fully acclimated. The coaches may also explore using Scruggs at guard or in heavy personnel and goal-line work once Mays is back.
Campbell praised left tackle Penei Sewell for a smooth transition to the left side and cited Pro Football Focus grades showing Sewell as the highest-graded tackle heading into Week 7. According to Pro Football Focus figures cited by the team, Sewell has allowed one sack and seven total pressures through five games. Sewell has stood out as a top run blocker with a run-blocking grade of 93.0. The next-best run-blocking grade among tackles is Buffalo’s Dion Dawkins at 87.5, per those figures.
Campbell said he was excited to finally get to a division matchup and emphasized the importance of preparation for Green Bay. He noted that the Packers could get running back Josh Jacobs back this week, which would be meaningful for an offense that has struggled to run the ball. Campbell said Green Bay’s defense has shown an ability to disguise coverage and to force opponents into long-yardage situations. Tim Twentyman reported that new Packers defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon has the unit playing aggressively and that Detroit offensive coordinator Drew Petzing and Gannon know each other from previous seasons in Arizona.
Campbell also pointed to growing depth up front as a positive development for the Lions. He said the abundance of capable linemen has created competition for snaps and given the staff more options for personnel and situational work. The coaches will use practice this week to ramp up players returning from injury and to sharpen fundamentals identified during the bye-week evaluation.
NFL Sports Blog Take
The Lions used the bye to conduct a targeted self-scout that emphasized steady, incremental fixes rather than sweeping changes, which fits a young, ascending roster with growing depth. The likely game-day returns of Brian Branch and Cade Mays, combined with Penei Sewell’s outstanding Pro Football Focus grades and run-blocking dominance, should help Detroit sustain drives and protect the quarterback. Facing a Packers defense that disguises coverages and a possible Josh Jacobs return, Detroit’s best path to success will be controlling the line of scrimmage and avoiding second-and-long and third-and-long situations the staff singled out as critical this week.