DETROIT – Dan Campbell outlined three specific ways he wants the Detroit Lions to improve during the second half of the season.
Campbell spoke Monday for the first time since the team’s bye week. The Lions are currently 6-2 and in first place in the NFC North, but there are still certain areas that need improvement.
Turnovers
The greatest equalizer in the sport, turnovers are a point of emphasis for pretty much every football coach. Campbell is no different.
Detroit has been a middle-of-the-pack team in terms of turnover margin so far this season. The Lions have thrown five interceptions and lost five fumbles while picking off seven passes and recovering three fumbles of their own.
For the math-averse out there, that’s good for a turnover margin of exactly zero.
That’s not awful, but it means the Lions are missing an opportunity to take advantage of the most seminal plays in football. There are 11 teams in the NFL with a positive turnover differential, and every single one of them is a playoff contender except the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (and they’re not bad, either).
On the other hand, there are 16 teams with a negative turnover differential. It’s still possible to be successful -- this group includes the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs, after all -- but that makes life much tougher.
Campbell thinks his team can be even better in this area. Jared Goff typically takes care of the football, and it’s very unlike David Montgomery to already have lost two fumbles in four and a half games.
The defense actually ranks in the top half of the league in interceptions, but only three teams have recovered fewer fumbles than the Lions. Fumbles are inherently random, but there are ways the Lions can try to make more plays on the ball.
Red zone efficiency
Campbell also wants his team to be much more efficient in the red zone, on both sides of the ball, but especially on offense.
He thinks the Lions need to improve in the later downs to covert more red zone chances into touchdowns.
“We need to do better in third down, but some of that is because second down wasn’t as good, and you’re getting in some of these long situations,” Campbell said. “Defensively, really on both sides, they’re self-induced. That’s the tough part of it, but it’s also the encouraging part. We can clean all these things up.”
According to Team Rankings, the Lions rank 24th in the NFL with a red zone touchdown percentage of 48.15% -- that means they’re scoring touchdowns less than half the time inside the opponent’s 20-yard line.
For a team that’s built around a strong offensive line and a reliable running game, it’s surprising that the Lions haven’t been more effective getting into the end zone -- especially with a receiving tight end as dangerous as Sam LaPorta.
It feels like the Lions could really improve as a red zone offense in the second half. They were the fourth-best touchdown-scoring team in the red zone last season, at 66.18%. Maybe they’re missing Jamaal Williams, but overall, the offensive weapons have only improved.
Third quarter
Detroit’s third-quarter struggles have been a bit strange, especially since the team has mostly been consistent throughout the rest of the games.
Overall, the Lions have outscored opponents 200-165 this season, good for a plus-35 point differential. But the third quarter has not been kind, particularly on offense.
The Lions have been outscored 38-28 in the third quarter this season, which means they’re averaging just 3.5 points per quarter. Detroit has been shut out in the third quarter four times, and has never scored more than once.
They’ve gotten the ball first coming out of the break in five of the eight games, so it’s not even a matter of having fewer possessions -- quite the opposite, actually.
It seems like an odd trend, and it might be a bit fluky, but Campbell has noticed and clearly wants to do a better job coming out of halftime.