The Lions got off to a slow start last year, going 1-6 in their first seven games.
But after finishing 2022 on an 8-2 run, the club has much higher expectations entering the coming season.
Though there are still a few months before Detroit begins Week One against Kansas City, head coach Dan Campbell is thinking about ways to make sure his team gets off to a hotter start in 2023.
“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? And so, everything right now — it doesn’t necessarily pertain to what you’re asking because we’re so far away from training camp.”
Campbell noted that in the offseason program and minicamp, the focus is more on scheme and situational work than trying to get off to a strong start. Still, Campbell feels the team is on the right track.
“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,” Campbell said. ”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?”
What Campbell doesn’t want to do is get too ramped up during the offseason program because that could lead to a violation for being too physical. But the head coach is keeping what he can do to prevent a slow get-off in mind.
“I’m not turning a blind eye to it,” Campbell said. “There’s a few ideas I have, but man, it’s a slippery slope. You go too far one way or another and you’re in trouble, but I keep my eyes on it.”
