Photo: Gregory Shamus
Jason and Mike react immediately following a Thursday Night Football matchup that saw the Detroit Lions defeat the Green Bay Packers 34-31. Lions head coach Dan Campbell made the decision to go for it on fourth down on three separate occasions throughout the game, successfully converting on two of the attempts. Despite the positive success rate, Jason thinks Campbell is playing with fire by continuously rolling the dice on fourth down. He thinks if the Lions keep it up, it will ultimately wind up costing them at a time when it matters most.
Jason Smith: "I'm sorry but there is a big issue with Dan Campbell's fourth down gambles. They're great when they work, but I'm old enough to remember the NFC title game last year where they went for it on fourth down in the second half on the road and they didn't go to the Super Bowl because of it... They did it three times tonight [and it paid off twice]. I give Campbell a lot of credit for his guts to keep going for it, even when he gets stopped, but these decisions are risky... I'm not necessarily worried about this now when they're 11-1 in Week 14, but what's it going to be like when they try to do this with everything on the line? When it's the playoffs and they have the chance to do something positive, and they take this risk that doesn't work out, and it winds up biting them in the ass at the wrong time."
Mike Harmon: "To me, this is who Dan Campbell is. This is what you're going to get... This is how they run their offense. It might be foolhardy at times, but it's not gonna go away. If you think there's gonna be some vast departure from the guy we've seen, you've got another thing coming."