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When the Detroit Lions were crushing the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 11, some fans and media were wondering why head coach Dan Campbell didn't pull his starters out earlier than he did.
With the Lions up 42-6 going into the fourth quarter, Detroit kept it starters out there on both sides of the ball before Campbell ultimately pulled a bit later on. However, that wasn't early enough for some critics.
When asked about the decision during his usual appearance on 97.1 The Ticket, Campbell made it quite clear he's never going to pull his starters earlier than he did.
“If you’re able to pull them out in the early fourth, great, and we were able to do that (against the Jags),” Campbell explained. “But if you’re asking me to pull somebody out in the third quarter, or pull somebody out in the second quarter before Anzalone gets hurt, I’m never gonna do that.”
Campbell went on to explain his reasoning for that approach.
“Well you want to win the game. That’s number one,” he said. “What you don’t want to do is you get in one of those and you’re up, and then you decide you’re gonna let off the gas and, ‘Let’s get the starters out,’ and then they mount a comeback.”
“You want to make sure you end on a good note,” Campbell added. “You’re playing good, efficient football, the guys feel good about it, you’re in a rhythm, I think it bleeds into the next week and I think that’s important, so we did that.”
The Lions have been blowing teams out on a regular basis this season, and that has led some to accuse the Lions of trying run up the score to embarrass opponents. Campbell made his stance on that very clear, also.
"I mean, hell, we pulled our freaking guys out early fourth quarter," he said. "We’re just playing ball, man. This is what we do, and we’re not playing any different than we have since I got here. We’re an improved team, we’re a better team and we’re going to play football the way we believe in football. That’s the bottom line. We got a confident team."
Cornerback Carlton Davis and safety Kerby Joseph both addressed the idea that the Lions are trying to run up the score and embarrass opponents after the win against the Jags, and both had the same message.
“If people have a problem with what we’re doing or complaining about it, then they can just come out here and play better football,” Davis said, according to Jeff Riger of 97.1 The Ticket.
"We're just playing football," Joseph said, per the Detroit Sports Podcast. "If you're not coming ready to win, then you're going to get your a__ whooped."
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