The Detroit Lions are set for Sunday Night Football against the Carolina Panthers, and the betting market has them opening as a 3.5-point road favorite at DraftKings Sportsbook.
That number comes after Detroit showed real progress on defense in its win over the New York Jets. The first two games had been rough on that side of the ball, with Kelvin Sheppard’s unit giving up more than 30 points in each of them. Against New York, though, the Lions closed the door late, finishing things off when pressure forced Geno Smith into a sack and a fumble.
Dan Campbell pointed to that sequence as part of a much better overall defensive showing during his Monday media session.
"We kind of mentioned this, but defensively, we started fast," Dan Campbell told reporters at his Monday media session. "0-3 on third-down there, their first three possessions, got off the field, did a good job there. It was really what gave us the start that we had because they kind of eliminated what they were able to do early offensively.
"We knocked out the run game, which that's what we're about. We're not going to let teams run on us.
We didn't do well. Buffalo, we reestablished that, 58 yards, 3.1, five sacks.
So, we were disrupted with our front, got to the quarterback, quarterback hits," Campbell added. "And then the big takeaway at the end, man, to win the game.
So, that was huge."
Campbell also said the secondary was better in coverage, but still has work to do. He said the next step is turning those improved positions into wins at the catch point and in one-on-one situations.
"Coverage was better. We were stickier, but we lost a lot of one-on-ones.
So, that's the next step is, OK, hey, now we're in phase. That's good," said Campbell.
"But, now we have got to win some of those. We have to win some.
There were some penalties that showed up at the worst times and then just some of those at the catch point.
"But man, that's a step in the right direction. And really that's what bled into third down in red zone. That's where those came up was the pass game, some of those one-on-ones, but we can grow from there
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