A big man touchdown for Lions offensive lineman Dan Skippper
The CBS broadcast explained all the different risky plays Dan Campbell had taken for the Detroit Lions since 2021. A few players later, the coach and OC Ben Johnson went to a trick play and had a touchdown.
Offensive lineman Ben Skipper, 6-foot-9, 330 pounds, lined up at tight end as an eligible receiver. He blocked, ran a short route and Jared Goff rolled out and saw his huge target wide open.
Skipper caught the pass like he was Amon-Ra St. Brown and rumbled into the end zone. After the PAT, the Lions trailed 21-14.
Detroit Lions Podcast: Bisch and Brown preview Lions and Bills in Week 15 and cap off the win over the Packers
In a NEW episode of Bisch and Brown for the Detroit Lions Podcast, Russell Brown and Scott Bischoff return to talk everything Detroit Lions! In this episode, the guys talk about the following:
Lions gutsy win over the Green Bay Packers
Was that Thursday Night game a top-5 game of all-time?
Also, it feels like we’ve reached a turning point in the season. Russ explains it in this episode.
Lastly, the guys preview the Lions matchup against the Bills!
All that and more with Bischoff and Brown on the Detroit Lions Podcast! Be sure to rate, review and subscribe to the Detroit Lions Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcast, YouTube and wherever else you get your favorite shows!
3 keys to a Bills victory vs. the Lions in Week 15
The Buffalo Bills will play the Detroit Lions on the road at Ford Field in Week 15.
The Bills (10-3) are looking to bounce back from a loss to the Los Angeles Rams last week, while the Lions (12-1) are riding an 11-game win streak.
The Lions are favored by 2.5 points in Week 15. The two teams havenât met since Thanksgiving Day in 2022 when the Bills won in dramatic fashion, 28-25.
The Lions are at the top of most power rankings ahead of Sunday. Buffalo will need to execute its game plan to pick up its eleventh win of the year.
With that, here are three keys to a Bills win in Week 15:
Attack the Lions’ man coverage
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The Lions are a defense that stays true to who they are. According to Pro Football Focus, they currently rank first in the NFL in man coverage rate (42.4%) and dead last in zone coverage rate (53.2%). And, they rank in the top three in defensive success rate while in man coverage. They will line up man-to-man and make opposing receivers win their matchups.
Buffalo offensive coordinator Joe Brady has provided quarterback Josh Allen with simple looks to beat man coverage this year. If Allen can take advantage of the one-on-one matchups, it will be a long day for the Lionsâ secondary. Look for Allen to lean on Amari Cooper against man, and if Keon Coleman (wrist) can play, he is usually a mismatch one-on-one with his athletic ability.
Better performance from the D-line
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The Bills’ defensive line had a rough outing against the Rams They couldnât generate a pass rush and they were getting pushed around against the run. They will need to step up considering their opponent. The Lions have arguably the best offensive line in football when healthy. Penei Sewell is their best player, as his 88.5 overall PFF grade leads all tackles this year.
Buffalo defensive coordinator Bobby Babich called out the defense following their lackluster performance in Week 14, saying it was a âconglomeration of people not doing their jobs at a high level.â
Babich did note that he has to be better, but it will be interesting to see how the defense responds in a tough environment at Ford Field.
Get out to a fast start
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The Bills are 6-0 in home games this year, but just 4-3 on the road. And, it mostly boils down to the fact that they have put themselves in a hole early in away games. In five of the seven road games, the Bills fell behind early and had to claw back into the game. The only road games where they started fast were blowouts at the Miami Dolphins and Seattle Seahawks.
If the Bills can set the tone with some early stops on defense and scores on offense, it would be a huge momentum boost. Ford Field is a difficult environment to play in, and it would become much more difficult to play from behind.
Campbell said, “I think itâs great for us. I think it does, it keeps you sharp.”
The Detroit Lions are off to the best start in franchise history. Their 12-1 record has the Lions posited as the NFC’s best team, the No. 1 seed through Week 14.
Alas, there is little breathing room. The Philadelphia Eagles are 11-2 and haven’t lost since September. Within the NFC North, Minnesota is also 11-2 and not looking like an adversary that will simply fade away from Detroit.
It makes for a stressful perch at the top of the conference in the quest for the coveted first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the postseason. Well, stressful for some, anyway.
Not Lions head coach Dan Campbell.
âI love it,â Campbell said Wednesday of the close competition. âI think itâs great. I think itâs great for us. I think it does, it keeps you sharp. Iâve mentioned this before, I think we do well with pressure and itâs the right kind of friction and stress that we need and itâs motivating.”
Campbell continued, clearly enjoying the battle for supremacy.
“So, yeah, I love it, I think itâs great, Look, nobodyâs going to lose, nobodyâs losing, so weâre going.â
In Week 15, the Lions host the 10-3 Buffalo Bills. At the same time on Sunday afternoon, the Eagles host the 10-3 Pittsburgh Steelers. Minnesota hosts the 4-9 Chicago Bears, losers of seven in a row, on Monday night.
Lions rookie CB Terrion Arnold had his ‘best game of the season’ against the Packers per Dan Campbell
Terrion Arnold had himself an impressive outing against Green Bay. The rookie Lions cornerback played a key role in Detroit’s home win on Thursday night, allowing just nine yards on two receptions versus the Packers’ passing attack.
It wasn’t a perfect game for the first-round rookie from Alabama. Arnold was guilty of a pass interference call that negated (and also caused) an interception. But he looked more than capable and confident in a critical late-season game against a very good division rival.
Lions head coach Dan Campbell noticed. In his first press conference since Thursday’s postgame address, Campbell praised Arnold’s performance.
“I thought that was Arnoldâs best game of the season,” said Campbell as part of his opening statement.
Later in the press conference, Campbell was asked about Arnold’s progress through his rookie campaign.
âI think itâs just that weâre getting to that time of the year, and honestly, what happens with a lot of rookies, especially guys that youâre counting on, unfortunately, some of them start to take a nosedive because this is where their season begins as a dip down, itâs over. But then the other ones who hang in there, they really start taking flights.
What St. Brown did his rookie year, right, he started to take off once we hit November, December. He started to gain strength. (Penei) Sewell did the same thing, (Alim McNeill) Mac did the same thing, and I feel like thatâs where Arnoldâs at. Heâs starting to push through this, and heâs gaining enough valuable reps (and) experience, heâs not letting the grind of the season weigh him down and heâs getting better.â
Former Lions coach Matt Patricia is happy for Lions fans and graciously praised Detroit’s football renaissance. Yeah, really!
The Matt Patricia era was one of the darkest times in the history of the Detroit Lions. In less than three seasons at the helm, Patricia compiled a record of 13-29-1. But despite his time in Detroit being quite ugly, he is still following his former employer and is very happy for their current success.
Patricia appeared Thursday on Good Morning Football and talked about the run the Lions are on. He gleamed with excitement as he spoke highly of them.
“I love Detroit. Iâm so happy for the fans,” Patricia said, via MLive. “That fan base⊠when you take a job and you go to a city, really all you want to do as a coach is just go win. You want to go win for those people that are dying to have that and experience that. And Iâm for Dan and his staff, and the players that are there, (and) ownership.”
Patricia added: “(Detroit) is on fire right now. Itâs great. Itâs a lot of fun. I think itâs unbelievable what theyâre doing. I love how theyâre playing the game.”
The Lions enter Week 14 with an 11-1 record and the inside track to the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs. Head coach Dan Campbell has the Lions on their best winning streak in 90 years, having won ten straight and going for a franchise-record 11-game win streak against the Packers.
Campbell also received high praise from his predecessor. “Give credit to Dan Campbell and what he was able to do to just get the entire building to follow what he wanted them to do, believe in what they were preaching, go out (and) work hard,” Patricia said. “We all know how it is in the NFL as youâre going through â you get a little bit of success and you get a little bit of that belief. Look, everybodyâs good in the NFL. These are great football players.”
Of course Campbell had to deliver one of his patented postgame speeches that makes you want to run through a brick wall. And in the middle of it, he noticed offensive lineman Dan Skipper over by a garbage can.
“There you go, Skip!” he shouted. “Keep throwing up! Whatever you’re doing over there!”
Coach Campbell gave a rousing postgame speech after the Lions clinched a playoff berth with a win over the Packers on Thursday night
A very fired-up Dan Campbell gave a rousing postgame victory speech to his Detroit Lions in the wake of the team’s epic 34-31 win over the Green Bay Packers on Thursday night.
Campbell’s postgame addresses to his team are quickly becoming legend, and this one was no different. Beating a very good Packers team despite all of Detroit’s defensive injuries was cause for an epic celebration, and Campbell delivered following the Lions’ Week 14 primetime triumph.
“I told you you’d never forget this game,” a hoarse Campbell gleefully shouted in the locker room. “We don’t have to talk about how tough we are. We don’t have to talk about how resilient we are. We (expletive) live it, man!”
After lightening the tone by spotlighting Dan Skipper vomiting after his hard-fought turn as the fill-in left tackle, Campbell delivered the sort of message that exemplifies why these Lions are 12-1 and a legit Super Bowl contender.
“You talk about pressure, we live in pressure,” Campbell exhorted. “That’s where we freaking thrive…
…it doesn’t matter who’s playing for us. It doesn’t matter what’s going on. You always find a way to win! That’s what (expletive) champions do. This is not happenstance, men; this doesn’t just (expletive) happen. This has been in the making, men.
This has been in the making. We are all supposed to be here together, men. We’re destined for this!”
This is what Dan Campbell says when the Lions win their 11th straight game and clinch a playoff spot: pic.twitter.com/fNIeet4enS
Despite the fact that Jared Goff nearly ruined Dan Campbell’s risky fourth-down play call by stumbling, the Detroit Lions successfully converted a run from the Green Bay Packers’ 21-yard line to set up the game-winning field goal.
According to 4th Down Decision Bot on X (formerly Twitter), it was a “STRONG” call, not a guarantee. But ask yourself: when is the last time you saw a team in this century go for it on fourth down in the final minute of a tied game and they were inside the 30-yard line?
Check out this stat for the wild answer:
Lions were first team since at least 2000 to go for it on 4th down from inside the opponent's 30 with the score tied in the final minute of regulation
Yup. That was UNHEARD of! But this is what makes Dan Campbell such a great coach — he takes risks and backs his players up in the process, instilling them with confidence. Is it the right call? Maybe not! Does he have faith that if it is wrong, his defense will pick the team up? Definitely!
Pretty amazing stuff. The Lions are off to the playoffs and a first-round bye is well within their reach.
Bill Belichick … college coach?
New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick pre game against ther Jets at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
Coaching is in that man’s blood. He can’t stop, won’t stop. The NFL options that he could face aren’t exactly the most attractive, and he’s been there, done that. What if it’s more fun having full control over a program, with NIL money to spend and the ability to teach football to those eager to learn it?
Sorry, folks. His knee was down, but this isn’t college football!
Um, no offense NFL fans, but make sure to check your rulebook.
As you might have seen on Thursday night, Dan Campbell made a truly gutsy call on fourth down with under a minute to go in the Detroit Lions’ eventual 34-31 win over the Green Bay Packers.
Instead of kicking the field goal with the game tied and the Lions facing 4th-and-inches, he kept the offense on the field and called for David Montgomery to run it for a first down and THEN kick the field goal. It worked, but it almost didn’t when QB Jared Goff stumbled yet somehow got the ball into Montgomery’s hands.
Some fans thought that Goff should have been whistled for being down, but this isn’t college football. If it was, they’d have a case:
"[Dan Campbell is] dying to go for it. But obviously, he's gotta kick this field goal to potentially win this game, at least go ahead here by three." – Kirk Herbstreit
Jared Goff's knee is clearly down before he hands the ball off. The NFL misses shit all the time, but I'm shocked the commentators missed it after watching it in slow motion. pic.twitter.com/AaOFNtHEKr
