How Lions' Offense Pushes Jack Campbell to Grow, Improve

“We’re going to give him a lot more, he and Alex (Anzalone) both,” Dan Campbell said. “A lot more flexibility to get us into the play because he also studies. He studies the opponent, he’s studying our offense and he’s trying to get any little key that he can and that just makes us better.

“So, he’s, look, it’s one of the reasons we drafted him, is for that. Some of these teams that have this - some of these MIKE linebackers you think of that, man, they’re running, hitting and smart as a whip and that’s why we like Jack.”

That intelligence is being tested – and fine-tuned – by none other than Lions quarterback Jared Goff, a seasoned veteran who is also readily equipped with a cerebral approach to the game. Their daily “chess matches” in practice have become a sight to see in Allen Park.

“It is fun to watch,” the Lions head man said of the daily battles between Jack Campbell and Goff. “You watch both sides go back and forth and then if something happens day one, whether it didn’t happen at the end of practice, you figured it out and were able to answer back, it’s going to happen in the afternoon practice or the next day’s practice where somebody’s going to adjust. Defense got you, offense has got to adjust, so it is good.”

To Dan Campbell, this high level of competition between the two sides only helps elevate the quality of play for both the offense and the defense. 

“And then, I’ve said this before, that’s how you get better. You just continue to raise the floor. Everybody gets better and better and better,” Campbell expressed. “And then, pretty soon when you do enough of it, your weaknesses begin to go away on both sides of the ball.”

Due to Goff's influence, Campbell has also seen himself make strides with quickly picking up on reads from the offense. 

“He’s seen a lot of football, and he’s played at a really high level. He’s one heck of a player,” Campbell said of the Detroit signal-caller. “So, it’s fun to get to go up against him and then ask what he was seeing, what he was thinking and then him to come over to me and then ask who pressured on that play. Just to kind of figure out why he’s making this throw here, why is he not making that throw there. So, it’s been fun, but he’s just one heck of a competitor and a great leader.”

Along with benefitting from Goff’s veteran savvy, Campbell has also greatly benefitted from going head-to-head with the likes of tight end Sam LaPorta and running back David Montgomery on a daily basis. Campbell, for one, believes that LaPorta is “one of the best route-running tight ends in the NFL.”

“I might get beat, I might win, it don’t matter,” Campbell said of going up against LaPorta in practice. “I feel like the biggest improvement I see in myself is when I do things I don’t want to do and I go up against people who are going to push me to be better. And I feel like Sam does that, David Montgomery does that, the whole offense does it. And again, that’s for me, when I go back and I fail, learn from it and when I’m successful, it don’t really matter.”