In a surprising move, Detroit Lions owner Sheila Hamp convened reporters at the team’s headquarters in Allen Park for a short press briefing on Wednesday. Hamp wanted to let her frustration with the team’s disappointing 1-5 record and varying struggles at nearly every facet of football through the first seven weeks.
With fan sentiment at a new low following the 24-6 loss in Dallas coming out of the bye, and with media confidence in head coach Dan Campbell and GM Brad Holmes also becoming significantly lower in recent weeks, Hamp elected to address those issues straightforwardly.
Hamp’s opening statement effectively answered a lot of questions with her very clear words and tone.
“I just wanted to follow through with what I said initially, that I would be open and honest and available for (local media). So here I am. I’m sure you have a few questions for me. But I just wanted to open with a couple of comments,” Hamp stated.
“I know this is difficult. Our rebuild is hard, but we really believe in our process. We really believe we’re going to turn this thing around the right way, through the draft. It requires patience.
It’s frustrating. Am I frustrated? Absolutely. Are the fans frustrated? Absolutely. Are you guys frustrated? I think we really are making progress. We’ve seen it.”
Her words reinforce what Campbell has said in both of his press conferences this week. The team does see progress. It was certainly obvious on defense in Dallas, where the Lions D played well enough to win. But the offense crashed and burned for the second week in a row, and getting both units to play well at the same time is something that Campbell’s Lions have struggled to pull off in 23 games. Detroit is 4-18-1 since Campbell took over the dilapidated team left over from the prior regime.
Hamp acknowledged the considerable issues Campbell and Holmes inherited with an old, talent-deficient roster that dealt away franchise QB Matthew Stafford after never successfully building around him.
“This was a huge teardown and then turnaround. We’re only one-third of the way through the season, we’ve got 11 more games to go so I don’t want everyone to push the panic button and give up the ship because I think we’ve got the right people in place to pull this off. I truly believe that and I wouldn’t say that if I didn’t believe it.”
Later in the session, Hamp was asked about her confidence level in the team’s leadership, namely Holmes and Campbell. She left little room to misinterpret her obvious belief in them.
“This, I would say, was like a teardown, then a rebuild. We really had to take it down to the ground level. And it’s been not only the football side, but across the organization,” Hamp added. “We’ve put in a lot of new talent at the top. I really believe in the top leadership in this organization and I think we’ve got the people to do it, to carry this out. I think that’s what’s different.”
The first part of that statement is key. It essentially acknowledges that 2021 will not be held against the current regime, which goes in line with the six-year contract given to both Holmes and Campbell, a year longer than just about every standard deal given to coaches and GMs.
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