It has been a whirlwind over the last couple of weeks with reports and rumors popping up everywhere about who the Detroit Lions SHOULD hire and who they WILL hire to be their next head coach. But on Friday, a report surfaced that the Lions are zeroing in hiring New Orleans Saints assistant Dan Campbell to fill their head coach vacancy.
So, what can Lions’ fans expect to see if Campbell is indeed hired by the Lions?
Back in 2018, Campbell spoke with The Sporting News about his coaching philosophy and it is pretty clear that he wants to play smash-mouth football.
During his playing days as a Texas A&M tight end in the late 1990s, Campbell took a class on leadership while pursing his undergraduate degree. The focus of one project paper was Parcells, who Campbell said shared many of the same beliefs as then-Aggies head coach R.C. Slocum.
“Just from a philosophy standpoint on how you play the game, offensively and defensively, it was like identical,” Campbell said. “It’s about running the football. Your quarterback makes smart decisions. You don’t win or lose with the quarterback. Your defense is balls-to-the-wall, all-out.
“Those are the (games) you’re winning because of your defense and you’ve got time of possession with the run game. And then when you throw it, they’re explosive passes.”
Something else stood out about Parcells that Campbell has tried to emulate: the ability to connect with players from a myriad of different backgrounds.
“One player had to be pushed differently than this one,” Campbell said. “He always talked about Lawrence Taylor needing a different message than Phil Simms, Jim Burt and Harry Carson did.
“I was always fascinated by that. And then once you go to play for the guy, you understand exactly what he’s doing and how he’s doing it. It’s so simple, it’s brilliant.”
Nation, does it concern you that Campbell is going to want to come in and run the ball and win games by playing great defense? Sounds kind of familiar, doesn’t it?
