Dan Campbell Addresses Issues With Timeout Usage

Late in the second quarter against the New York Giants, Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff was able to connect with wideout Kalif Raymond for a gain of 30 yards.

Instead of immediately calling a timeout, head coach Dan Campbell elected to keep the timeout and the veteran signal-caller spiked the football, leaving only eight seconds remaining in the first half.

Appearing on his weekly radio interview on 97.1 Ticket, Detroit's fifth-year head coach was asked why the team simply didn't immediately call a timeout in order to give the offense more time on the clock and multiple chances at throwing into the end zone.

At the time, Detroit was trailing 20-14 and would also receive the football to start the third quarter.

"Yeah, I should have used it there. But it was like, look, we got one more," said Campbell. "So, you can still take a shot at inbounds. Use the timeout. And then if you like where you're at, throw it in the end zone or kick the field goal. But otherwise, yeah you can. And then if you don't, you use the timeout and then you still got a clock situation and then you're still in the same boat to where you're going to have one play to decide what you're going to do. But, if you just want to take three shots to the end zone, I'm with you.

"Is that something where I probably should have done it? Probably could have done it, but it's in the moment, I was like, 'Hey man, let's just go ahead and clock it. We still got one time out. You don't want to play for disaster either. But, if something happens, at least you still got it in your pocket, right?"

When the decision was made for the NFL tight end to call plays, supporters and pundits have wondered how he would handle juggling adding responsibilities to his plate, while still having the responsibility of making several key decisions during each game.

Campbell acknowledged that he was naturally aiming to improve each and every week. It had been several years since he called plays during live action, so it is expected there would be a period of adjustment.

Naturally, many point out how aggressive Campbell has been with his play-calling, but is slightly less aggressive in end of first half situations.

Also, it is frequently pointed out, team's cannot take timeouts and carry them over into the second half, so it would behoove Campbell to use them better moving forward.

"Well yeah. I think I think some of it is, the more I'm back in it and doing both, the better I'll get. And look, I'm always going to want to do things better than I did the week before," said Campbell. "I think we're all that way, right? I think you want your show to be better next week than it is this week, right?