Don’t question the desire or heart of Dan Campbell’s Detroit Lions. In spite of two weeks of uninspiring play, Campbell believes strongly that his team is still very dialed in.
“The hunger has been there. I don’t feel like that’s dwindled away or drifted. That’s been there,” Campbell said.
But the coach did see one glaring area for improvement as the Lions prepare to face the Saints in New Orleans in Week 13.
“And I think if anything, we understand the areas of improvement, where we must improve and it’s ball security,” Campbell said.
While the focus has been on Jared Goff, who threw three interceptions in the win over Chicago and then fumbled thrice in the loss to Green Bay, Campbell made it clear the prioritization of ball security extends well beyond his quarterback.
“I’m not just talking about Goff, I’m talking about – and there’s a number of plays that we didn’t fumble that those balls are just dying to come out of our hand,” Campbell explained. “Like we are not secure with the football. We’ve got to get back to what we do and take care of it.”
Goff acknowledged an increased focus in practice on ball security.
“I mean, yeah, we’ve done it in the past. Certainly, an emphasis on it, right, you have a fumble, you’re going to work on it in practice, so it’s something we’re doing,” Goff told reporters.
The veteran QB has already thrown more interceptions in 11 games in 2023 (8) than he did in all of 2022 (7), and Goff has also fumbled five times. However, he doesn’t want to sacrifice potential big plays while worrying too much about ball security.
“No, you just play the game and you’re always aware of taking care of the ball, you’re always trying to do that, but you’ve got to be aggressive when the shots are there and take your chance to make a play,” Goff stated.
