Allen Park - Dan Campbell doesn’t need to squint to see where he wants the Lions sharper before the 2026 season. He laid it out plainly Thursday: run the ball, stop the run, and handle the moments that decide games.
That checklist felt pretty relevant Friday, when Detroit’s first-team offense worked through a late-half situational drill at practice and did exactly what Campbell is looking for - move the ball, use the clock, and get into field-goal range.
Starting at its own 25 with 1:10 left in the first half and two timeouts in hand, the Lions pieced together a clean march. Amon-Ra St.
Brown opened with a 9-yard catch. Jameson Williams followed with 7 more.
Sam LaPorta added another 9. After Sione Vaki hauled in an 8-yard pass, Detroit burned its final timeout.
Williams then came through with a contested 12-yard grab near the sideline to set up a kick, and Jared Goff spiked the ball with 3 seconds left.
With Jake Bates resting, punter Jack Fox knocked through a 48-yard field goal to finish off the drill.
It was the kind of operation Campbell wants to see more often, especially as the team heads toward its Sept. 13 home opener against the New Orleans Saints.
“I want to know that we can run the football, I want to know we can stop the run, and I want to know that we're ready for situational football,” Campbell said Thursday. “Probably those three things, if you want me to feel comfortable.
The other stuff will come, 'Ah man, we're a little off on red zone, third down.' Those are always a work in progress, game-plan specific.
“But man, you better be able to run the football, stop the run, and situational football - end of half, end of game -(so) that you feel comfortable and that you can function at a high level. So, those, which is why we'll do a bunch of that, especially when we get in pads.”
The running game was a weird mix for Detroit last season. The Lions hit explosive plays - nobody in the league had more runs of 40 yards or longer, with seven - but the overall efficiency lagged. According to Next Gen Stats, Detroit finished 22nd in expected points added per rush at minus-0.06 and 21st in team rushing success rate at 40.7%.
That’s a sharp drop from the standard the Lions had set. They hadn’t finished outside the top 20 in either category since 2022, the year they opened 1-6 before winning eight of their last 10. That was also before Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery were both in the backfield, with Montgomery arriving about a month before Detroit used the 12th overall pick on Gibbs in the 2023 NFL Draft.
The defense had its own issues against the run in 2025. Detroit ranked 18th in EPA per rush allowed at minus-0.03 and 21st in rushes of at least 10 yards allowed with 54, even though it was sixth in stacked rate at 33.9%, according to Next Gen Stats. That metric measures how often a team lines up with eight or more defenders in the box.
For much of the season, the run defense held up. Through Weeks 1-14, the Lions allowed an average of 103.7 rushing yards per game.
But the finish got messy. Three of Detroit’s last four opponents cleared 150 rushing yards, including the Rams with 159 in Week 15, the Steelers with 230 in Week 16, and the Vikings with 158 in Week 17.
Minnesota’s total came with a caveat: 65 of those yards came on a Jordan Addison end around with 3:43 left in the fourth quarter. Even with that play, the defense still limited the Vikings to 23 points while the offense coughed up the ball six times.
Linebacker Jack Campbell said Friday that the standard on the run defense should be simple and nonnegotiable.
“I hang my hat on the run game, so hopefully there's no issue there (this season),” he said. “There's no excuses, too.
That's something we're not going to go for this year. Do your job.
If you don't do it, you don't do it, and you can see it on the tape. It's blatant.
“It doesn't matter if you're the top guy or the bottom guy on the roster, we need you to do your job. Everyone will be held accountable. I feel like that also starts with me, I can work to continue to improve on that.”
Detroit has already shown it can look elite in the big-picture moments Campbell cares about. In 2024, the Lions were one of the league’s best rushing teams, their run defense was around the middle of the pack while dealing with injuries, and Goff tied for third among quarterbacks with four game-winning drives. The result was a franchise-record 15 wins and a 7-2 mark in one-score games.
That number dipped last season. The Lions went 3-5 in one-score games in 2025, even though Goff still authored three game-winning drives.
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