Dan Campbell didn’t need long to spot the resemblance.
As the Detroit Lions head to Miami, the head coach said Jeff Hafley’s Dolphins bring back memories of his own first season in Detroit, when the Lions were young, scrappy and trying to build something from almost nothing.
“A lot of similarities to - just reminds me a little of what we were when we came in,” Campbell said. “Man, they’re young.
They’re hungry, they’re active, they run, they hit, they hustle, they finish, try to play disciplined ball. And they’re playing that way.”
That 2021 Lions team finished 3-13-1 and landed the No. 2 pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. The roster was stripped down during a full rebuild, and the early results were brutal, with Detroit opening 0-10-1. But the group kept fighting, and by the end of the year the Lions had won three of their final six games.
Campbell’s comments about that season have always centered on the same thing: effort, toughness and buy-in. In 2023, he got emotional talking about the core of that team.
“The core of that (2021) group, you talk about a bunch of dudes that were just going to battle,” Campbell said. “We didn’t quite have the horses we’ve got now, but those guys, you talk about laying it on the line and going toe-to-toe with anybody and willing the fight to the end, I’ll never forget those guys.”
Amon-Ra St. Brown, who was a rookie on that 2021 team, sees the same kind of energy in Miami. He said the Dolphins’ record doesn’t tell the full story.
“A young team that’s out to play hard every game. I think the record really doesn’t show how they’ve played.
I think they’ve been in a lot of close, you know, close games in the past, I don’t know how many weeks,” St. Brown said.
“I kind of feel like they were us, what we were, back in ’21,” he continued. “Just young guys, new team, new coach, trying to figure things out, but they played really hard and at the end of the day, they’re in this league for a reason, and you can lose to any team any given week. So, we’ve got to be ready.”
Miami is 1-6, but it did pick up its first win two games ago, a 28-25 victory over the New York Jets. Last week, the Dolphins came close to knocking off the defending AFC champion New England Patriots before falling 24-19.
The Lions still have the clear talent edge in Week 9, but there are enough hard-nosed pieces on Miami’s roster to make this more than a walk-through. Campbell singled out Jordyn Brooks, rookie linebacker Jacob Rodriguez, rookie nickel cornerback Chris Johnson and second-year running back Ollie Gordon II.
Detroit, meanwhile, is dealing with something bigger than football. Team captain and star linebacker Jack Campbell suffered a horrifying neck injury against the Minnesota Vikings last week, and Dan Campbell said it has made the week especially difficult as the Lions try to prepare for Sunday.
That reality has also pushed him back to the memories of his own first head-coaching opportunity, when he spent half a season in Miami in 2015.
“It was a hungry roster, and we had some good players, good coaches. Just trying to find your footing there a little bit.
It’s a tough situation for everybody,” Campbell said. “But it was an unbelievable experience.
Me personally, I grew a ton from it. Again, I’m fortunate that I was given the opportunity, because had I not, I probably wouldn’t be sitting in his seat right now.”
For Campbell, this week is about more than an opponent. It’s a reminder of where he started, what a rebuilding team looks like and how far the Lions have come since that bleak 2021 season.
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Lions Win In Miami Put One Defensive Difference-Maker In The Spotlight
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Derrick Moores night stood out because it came with a breakthrough moment, the sort of snap that can change how a player is viewed inside a locker room. Jahmyr Gibbs finished the job with a game-sealing touchdown, while Jake Bates stayed steady on the scoreboard, but the bigger takeaway for Detroit may be how quickly the defense is turning disruption into wins and giving the Lions another difference-maker to lean on. [Read more 🡒]