Pressers and scrums: Campbell says Lions are 'so close,' gives injury update on key starters and says there's a role for Patrick going forward

Allen Park— In the opening statements of both his postgame comments and his Monday afternoon recap press conference, Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell declared his team had improved between Weeks 1 and 2, despite falling short against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Defensively, there’s little question the Lions made strides. The pass rush was impactful, the run defense sound, and the third-down production glistening. Totaled, Tampa was only able to net a modest 20 points.

But offensively, after stumbling to 16 points behind a 1-for-7 showing in the red zone, the improvement was a little more difficult to see. So I asked Campbell to clarify where he saw positives with the unit.

The coach praised the group’s improved production between the 20’s and more consistent third-down production, which led to a sharp reduction of three-and-outs.

“We had so many of those three-and-outs last week,” Campbell said. “And when you have three-and-outs and, in particular, when you have back-to-back three-and-outs, you can never find any rhythm.”

Not surprisingly, the coach was frustrated with the lack of red zone production. He noted it wasn’t a single issue, pointing out various problems, including a route miscommunication, missed assignments, subpar blocking and a play call offensive coordinator Ben Johnson regretted.

More importantly, Campbell saw all the miscues as minor and easy corrections, giving him optimism as the team moves forward.

“It may not look like it now, but we’re so close,” Campbell said. “We are so close. That’s what I told the guys, 'As long as we just go back to work and let’s clean up those little errors that we had, those details to that in particular, the red zone, we will improve and get better.'”

● Campbell offered mostly positive updates on Detroit’s injured players, starting with wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown.

“Yeah, just lower leg,” Campbell said. “He’ll be good. (It’s a) soft tissue (issue).”

With linebacker Alex Anzalone, Campbell said there’s no timetable with concussions, but the defensive captain came to the facility on Monday feeling much better.

Meanwhile, Campbell said Terrion Arnold’s finger injury isn’t significant. The rookie cornerback briefly exited in the first half, returning to action with a significant wrap on his left hand.

● Aidan Hutchinson had the most impactful performance of his three-year career on Sunday, racking up 4.5 sacks. Teammate Levi Onwuzurike said he’s never seen a game like that, but teammates aren’t really surprised.

“Hutch is a freak,” Onwuzurike said. “He's ridiculous. But he does it in practice, you know what I'm saying? He has three sacks a day in practice. He has four sacks a day in practice. So we knew it was going to come. We know it's going to come again, whether it's next week or the week after. He's that type of special player. He works for it, he takes nothing for granted, so there's a reason he's getting those sacks. We're not surprised.”

Onwuzurike joked that Hutchinson needs to chill and leave some for his teammates. Even on a play where Onwuzurike got through Tampa's blocking to drop Baker Mayfield, Hutchinson was there, too, to split the sack.

“As many sacks as he can get, it's going to help this team,” Onwuzurike said. “We're just going to feed off him.”

● Running back Jahmyr Gibbs had a decent showing against the Buccaneers, rushing for 84 yards on 13 carries (6.5 YPC) while catching seven passes out of the backfield. He acknowledged he felt rusty in the season opener after missing a few weeks in camp with a hamstring strain, but was closer to 100% for this matchup.

“I felt weird last week,” Gibbs said. “Every time I caught the ball, I just felt weird. I don't know. I don't know how to explain it.”

Gibbs clearly looks comfortable as a ball carrier, but he’s still struggling to be efficient as a pass-catcher. Campbell noted that the Buccaneers were keyed in on “buzzing the flats,” which is where Gibbs thrives. The running back is convinced he’ll be able to have more of an impact in that department as his receiving role expands the further he gets from his injury absence.

“It's only the second game,” Gibbs said. “Moving forward, I'm pretty sure I'll be more involved in (the passing game), more able to go into the slot and do more stuff like I was doing in training camp.” 

● Tim Patrick made his Detroit debut and logged 33 offensive snaps (39%) in the loss. The 6-foot-4 receiver saw three targets, catching two passes for 12 yards. He actually hauled in the third, but couldn’t get his second foot down in bounds near the right sideline.

Campbell was encouraged with the outing.

“We liked him,” Campbell said. “It was good to see. I would say that was a positive showing to be able to get him out there and implement him in some of what we were doing. It’d be nice to get him a little bit more, but I think that’s what we’ll do moving forward. The idea is to see if we can open this up a little bit and use him a little bit more. He’s big, he’s physical, his catch radius is pretty enormous.

“There’s a place for him here, and yeah, I see us using him moving forward.”

Patrick remains on the practice squad. The Lions are able to temporarily elevate him for a game twice more before they'd need to add him to the active roster. Campbell said one of the biggest benefits Patrick provides is being able to reduce the excessive workloads for some of the other receivers, namely Jameson Williams, who played 78 snaps on Sunday.

“They were busting their rear,” Campbell said about Detroit’s receivers. “They played lights out, they were blocking downfield, but that’s a lot of reps. You’re going to need to give your guys a rest every once in a while, and I think that’s where Tim can help out there, as well as other spots.”

● Answering a question about Aidan Hutchinson, Campbell praised the performance of DJ Reader in the defensive tackle’s return from a lengthy injury layoff.

“Reader made a huge impact,” Campbell said. “He was in there 25 snaps, but they were impressive, valuable snaps to have.”