It’s the second year in Detroit for head coach Dan Campbell and his Lions staff. The relative continuity with the coaches is something that Campbell appreciates.
While the offensive coordinator has changed from Anthony Lynn to Ben Johnson, the transition happened during last season. Johnson has worked with Campbell and the offense enough that it’s a nice familiarity and trust. Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn earned that same trust and respect in his first season in Detroit, too.
Coach Campbell talked about it prior to Wednesday’s practice session, the second day of minicamp.
“I feel good with where we’re at for what we’re doing because I do feel like we are a step ahead of where we were this time last year, and I just feel like some of the situations that we’re in now,” Campbell said. “Look, I told Ben Johnson and (Glenn) AG this — as a head coach, what is very satisfying for me right now that I’m feeling that I didn’t necessarily feel this time last year, was that we were testing each other.”
Campbell continued,
“You want to feel like your coordinators are playing a chess game amongst each other, and you’re trying to be one step ahead of each other because now, it creates problems and then you learn to solve problems and then you go to the next thing. I think that’s how you get really better schematically and then just developing your talent. What can we do inside the system? Where can we take advantage of a weakness on either side? And I feel like we’re doing that right now so that gives me—that’s what makes me feel pretty good right now. I can feel our coordinators playing the chess game. We are, there are problems being solved and created on both sides.”
The chess moves were evident in practices this week. Johnson had the offense scurry to the line and quick-snap the ball to catch Glenn’s defense still efforting to diagnose and adjust a few times. The defense has countered with exotic blitz looks and moving pieces all around the formation before the snap, creating odd reads for the offense.
