Detroit Lions Coaching In The Grey Area | Detroit Lions Podcast

Detroit Lions Coaching In The Grey Area | Detroit Lions Podcast

[Music] Hey everybody and welcome to a bi-week edition of the gray area. There’s there’s no football to talk about but plenty of numbers to crunch and vibes to check and that’s exactly what I plan on doing with this edition of the show. We’re going to take a look at the culture of the Detroit Lions and the lessons we should know now seven weeks into the 2025 season. Just exactly what has Dan Campbell proven to goden everybody. We will get into that. We got to talk about the new guys as well. I’m talking about the coordinators. Little bit of a mixed bag through seven weeks with the new coordinators and uh life isn’t fair. They’re not being judged the same at all. And uh we will get into what the numbers say about just exactly where the Lions are with their new coaches and what we might be able to expect from the weeks to come. Dan Campbell has already said some things coming out of the by-week that should give all of us food for thought with just exactly where the focus will be with this Lions team, especially with the offense and the defense and how things are getting called. Speaking of that, reinforcements. You can’t play football games without football players. And I think Lions fans learned that uh in the harshest way possible a year ago. It’s a different story this year. I know I touched on it last week, but it bears repeating. This is not 2024. And the proof of that is in the list of people that are coming back. And because we are headed into November, the leaves are flying off of the trees and we are getting into the heart of the football season. I’m dusting off the enemies list. Yeah, we’re gonna point and fingers and name names about the uh folks that Detroit Lions fans should be most concerned about. The people that are your enemies. We’ll get into that as well. Real quick though, please uh do the like and subscribe thing. Yep, I know everybody on YouTube says it, but there’s a reason for it because that’s how we get to do what we do. All of the content with the Detroit Lions podcast is free. We aim to keep it that way, and we do that algorithmically. I don’t know what that word means, but I’m told it’s incredibly important. And if you like the uh content that’s here, we try to keep it as clickbait free as possible. Um, please recommend it to friends. Spread it on social media. Join the conversation in the comments. I even read the mean ones. They hurt, not going to lie. Very sensitive person. Uh, but I read them nonetheless because we want to know just exactly where everybody’s head is at and what you’re thinking as we make our way through this Lion season. Let’s get started. This all has to begin with a culture check because I think the culture of the Detroit Lions was a thing that just seven games ago almost all of the national casuals and more than a fair share of the local media were completely ignoring. This is Dan Campbell’s football team. And I say that because he was almost summarily ignored in the pre-season ramp up to this season. It was about brain drain. It was about Ben’s genius play calling. It was about him taking his offense in the division, flying over Lake Michigan to Soldierfield and giving it to the Bears. It was about Kelvin Shepard never having been the defensive coordinator before. Panic throughout the land. Frank Ragnau leaving. What about the pass rush? They never got another pass rusher. Remember when they had to get another pass rusher? Remember when Dan Campbell said, “We’re good.” They’re good. And this entire thing is better than anyone said it was going to be headed into the season because the culture and this team are Dan Campbell. He has been consistently and regularly and at times maliciously, that’s all the ease that I can fit into that uh ignored by the media. He has been minimalized. He has been turned into a caricature caricature of a meathead football player. No one gave this guy his flowers as a coach, as a leader of men, and as somebody that was consistently looking around the corners for his own organization. None of the coaches that left were unexpected. He knew he was going to lose Ben. He knew he was going to lose AG to the Jets. And by the way, quick aside, congratulations to Aaron Glenn on getting his first win with the Jets. I was getting tired of watching that team losing. He knew all of that was coming because that’s what happens to good football programs. That’s what happens to a good organization in the National Football League. If you win and you win consistently and you put a quality product on the field, you get poached. That’s how this whole thing works. He’s been a part of this for a long, long time as a player, as an assistant, as a position coach. Dan Campbell’s smarter than most people give him credit for. And what we have learned through the first seven weeks is that you can put away some of the pearl clutching and the panty bunching and all of the other things that were going on in the preseason leading up to this thing. It was all about the steps back that Detroit was going to take. It was about the inevitable falloff that goes with losing the key parts of your organization. and it ignored the key part of the organization and that’s the headman Dan Campbell at the head of this thing was in front of all of these changes and he’s made some good hires and this team has stayed right on track and now you have some of those same journalists. I’m not going to name names. I don’t have to. You know who the clickbait people are? They’re in Detroit and they work for some of the flagship newspapers and that’s unfortunate. Now they’re writing their themselves into the story. Well, this defied my expectations. So what now? Well, you weren’t paying attention and you don’t know Ball. And Dan Campbell does. And Dan Campbell was. And so you arrive here with a team that is very much in the thick of things. And that is the overriding lesson through seven weeks is that the Lions are smack in the middle of this thing. They are going to be a championship contending team this year. with the changes, with the new coordinators, with any injuries, they’re going to be right in the thick of this thing. And they’re going to be in the thick of this thing because they are led correctly and built correctly from the headman down. This is all Dan Campbell’s doing. He’s a damn good football coach and a guy that Lions fans should be happy is to have in charge of that organization for a number of years to come. He is on a Mike Tomlin type track, a John Harbaugh type track to where he just becomes synonymous with the organization because he’s inexurably tied to it. In fact, it’s reflective of him more than the other way around at this point. We’ve learned that through seven weeks. That’s all good news. Now, we get to talk about some of the people who are brand new. Let’s get started with Kelvin Shepard. Speaking of Dan Campbell and his process and Dan Campbell and his leadership and Dan Campbell as and his culture and his structure, Kelvin Shepard is an excellent football coach, but this opportunity and his performance is as much a part of good process as it is anything else. He was put in this position and groomed for this position by Aaron Glenn, by Dan Campbell, and he has taken the reigns and dare I say taken her up just a notch. We’ll talk take a look at some numbers through seven weeks as compared to a year ago. But Kelvin Shepard has proven himself to be a football coach and as Lions fans now know, perhaps more importantly, a leader of men. Go through that locker room and find somebody that doesn’t want to play for Kelvin Shepard. Watch that man on game day on the sideline losing his mind and doing his dances. Watch that defense hold the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to their lowest point total since September of 2024. single digits. Baker Mayfield was the MVP front runner according to far too many leading into that Lions game, took him down a notch, and that was all with that legion of whom makebelieve secondary full of guys that even the press corps couldn’t identify. Kelvin Shepard’s done a fine job. Tactically, he’s very sound. I have also personally, just me, one man’s opinion, been really, really heartened to see a linebacker’s eye view of this defense. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that suddenly the Lions have gotten really good at hemming in running quarterbacks. Whether it’s Lamar Jackson or Baker Mayfield or JJ McCarthy, guys with some wheels, guys that can get out and make plays with their feet, the Lions have answers for that. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that a former linebacker is calling this defense and suddenly those linebackers are exactly where they need to be and playing the kind of sound ball that you need to play to deal with a dual threat quarterback. It’s been a lot of fun to watch this defense grow in that way. And it’s only seven games in. That is going to be an important caveat with regards both this and any breakdowns on John Morton. They’re only seven games in. It’s less than half of the way through and there have been improvements along the way and I think you can expect to see more improvements as we go along. I did pull some numbers. I I’m not going to try to do these all from memory. I wrote them down. Um I pulled some numbers through 7 weeks. Figure that’s a fair snapshot considering what happened to the defense in 2024 and the way that the injuries kind of blew everybody’s spot up and the dramatic loss in roster strength throughout the year. through 7 weeks of 2024, the Lions were allowing 154 points. This this year, 151, slightly down, 22 points a game, down to 21.6. 309 yards per game is down to 300. They are better in takeaways and a tick below in sacks. Now, they’ve had 10 takeaways in 2024, 16 takeaways now. 16 and a half sacks. Let’s not forget the tear that Aiden Hutchinson started the season on last year. They have 13 right now. That’s awesome. You would have taken those numbers any day of the week. A top 15 defense to go with what should be a top 10, top five type offense is an excellent formula as you get through the season. It’s also going to be made all the better with all of the reinforcements coming. And yet, we’ll get into that in a little bit cuz most of them are on that defense as well. There are going to be some on the field against Minnesota as the Lions return from the buy. There are going to be some more as you move through November on towards the Thanksgiving game. This defense is going to get an infusion of talent. And Kelvin Shepard has acquitted himself very, very well with what he’s done as a firstear defensive coordinator. So much so that I’ve seen some Lions fans who need to panic talking about where his next job might be and whether or not he’s going to start to get head coaching nods. And LSU, you listen, you stay away from our guy. You stay the hell away from him. You guys hire badly. Brian Kelly’s living proof. and you have 54 million reasons to think about what you’ve done for a while. You take you you sit this one out. You leave Kelvin Shepard alone. LSU is Kelvin Shepard’s dream job, in case you’re wondering. And as our Jeff Rzden pointed out, it would pay considerably more than pretty much anything in the NFL. So much so that they are paying Brian Kelly $55 million, $54 million to leave. Oh, I should have been a college football coach. I could have been as bad at that as I am at the rest of life and people would have paid me for it. And that brings me to John Morton. And this is where things get a little more complicated. The offense has been a tick off from where it was last year. You might expect that. Not just because they have a new offensive coordinator, but because the entire interior of the offensive line is new and Taylor Decker has been injured and or absent for all of the first seven games of the season. But the questions remain. There are some out there that would tell you uh that there are rumors swirling around about John Morton and just exactly how he’s going to be doing his job moving forward. Looking right at you, Chris. We can see you. What do you know? Um Chris has been at the forefront of this thing and he won’t share his sources. So, I’m just going to have to trust his gut on this. What do we know about John Morton? Um Dan Campbell just came out of the by-week and said in his first press conference on Monday that he spent most of his time on offense. That shouldn’t surprise anybody. Uh the offense was the engine that made this thing go last year. And Dan Campbell is an offensive coach first and foremost going back to how this whole thing started. I think that is where the disrespect is perhaps the thickest is in his offensive knowledge of the game. He’s a really smart football coach and when his offense isn’t working well, I imagine he’s probably gonna want to get in the lab on that. And there are some very specific areas that the Lions do need to improve. I also wonder just how much of the Anthony Lynn phenomenon is going on. Let’s not forget that when this whole experiment started and the roster for the Lions was dog water that Anthony Lynn was brought in to be the offensive coordinator, it never really jived with Jared Goff. He didn’t get into the Dan Campbell way of doing things and then kind of very quietly was segueed out into a different role. Ben Johnson entered in, had the training wheels coming from within, learned from Dan, and then by the end of his first year and into his second year, he was the offensive coordinator. You fast forward, now he’s a super genius. Again, a coach born of good process, just like Kelvin Shepard. I wonder how much of that is going on with John Morton. I also wonder how much of what Dan Campbell learned with Anthony Lynn will get employed in this case because there’s obviously something missing. There are some there are some glaring issues uh on third down especially and that was something that Dan Campbell came out and said was the number one issue. The number one thing for his offense was third down. They’re 20th on third down. Uh that’s not good enough. They are 0 for 20 on third and 10 plus through seven games. That’s not getting close. They are also at least before this weekend’s slate of games 27th in screen passes. Now, I say that because the screen passes make me cuss on Sundays. I pay special attention to them because when they get blown up, my god, do they look bad. Tunnel screens, bubble screens, all screens, screen doors, all of the screens. Um, none of them are working. The Lions were number one in the NFL a year ago. They have fallen to 27th. Jared Goff has also pointed out that they have trouble on short fields. Um, some of the offensive stats are stunted this year because they’ve had nice field position. It’s a good problem to have unless you’re not converting the way that you should be converting and the coach and the quarterback both seem to think that they haven’t done a good enough job in that department or those departments if they are multiple depends on how you want to divide this thing up. At any rate, Dan Campbell’s been working on it and it was something that he focused on throughout the by-week. I imagine he got into long, lengthy, and detailed conversations with his coaches about just exactly what in the blue hell is going on with our third down conversions. How do we get more people involved? How do we make sure that that improves? That’s not unusual for a football team. No football team’s bulletproof. Every single team in the NFL has had their WTF moment. The Buffalo Bills, the Green Bay Packers, the Los Angeles Rams. Pick a good team. The Philadelphia Eagles. They’ve all got losses. They’ve all had games. They’ve all had sequences in series and they have stat lines that they can’t quite understand. It’s a long season. It is not yet halfway over. And the good news is that the staff in Allen Park is well aware of the problem. That’s the good news. The better news is that the rest of the offense, if you just look from 30,000 ft, it’s not that bad. I had a lot of questions like this one here about uh just exactly what the problem is with the offense. I went to the numbers, numbers over narratives. Let the math tell the story. Uh in 2024 the Lions were first in total yards, 3,437 yards. Uh this year they’re ninth. Still top 10, not near as good. 2567. Pass yards, they were first, 24-29. This year they’re 10th, 16 uh 31. 1,631 yards, third in rush yards, they’re fourth this year. Just to tick off there. Uh first in touchdowns. They are tied for first in touchdowns this year. At least again before this slate of games doesn’t count what’s happened over the weekend. Um first in points per game, they’re third in points per game. Ultimately, that’s the most important stat. Are you scoring? How you do it is not as important. And then they were second in turnover differential last year. They’re fourth in turnover differential this year. That’s not a bad offense. That’s top 10 in every category. That’s that’s top 10. That’s top five in almost all of them. All but two, in fact. So, the offense is still incredibly potent, and you would expect it to be with all of those playmakers with an interior offensive line that is learning on the job. And uh both of the new guys, Mahogany and Rattlage, have been credited with two sacks. They have given up uh nine sacks just in the last three games. That is something to address. There will be improvements as those guys gain experience. I know I’ve been beaten that dead horse to death, but it’s true. When you’ve got young players and they’re just getting their first taste of the National Football League, they’re going to get better as they go. There’s just things they haven’t seen and you can’t account for what you don’t know. And those guys don’t know a lot, but they’re learning and they’re going to get better. And now with this chance to take a week off and really get in and detail every single part of the operation, I think you saw a very confident head coach that he can address this and get things right moving forward. Does that involve the structure between the head coach and the offensive coordinator? Truth is, we probably won’t know until after that’s done. Dan has been really, really good about keeping things in house. But I know this, they won’t leave any stone unturned. And nobody’s ego will be um too important to be sacrificed at the altar of production with this offense. This thing has to make the Lions go. It has to. As good as the defense has been and as good as the defense can be, the Lions have to have that top tier offense if they want to ultimately get to the championship level they think that they belong at. They can get there. Dan Campbell’s on the case. That’s good enough for me. And as this team returns to the field, there’s going to be more team to go around. Yeah. No, that that fits. Reinforcements, more players, guys coming back from the injury list, specifically on that defense. Malcolm Rodriguez has begun his practice window, so he is going to get back out there on the field running around. Terry Arnold is going to want to give it a try and will be in pads later this week as the Lions check out whether or not he can be ready to go. You expect to have Brian Branch back from that suspension. And I assume that Brian Branch will just be existing on pure incredible Hulk-like rage for the rest of the year, which is good and bad since he’s proven that he doesn’t always make the best decisions when he’s good and pissed off. If somebody can please just keep him focused, he’s going to be back on the field. And then you’ve got uh over the next few weeks DJ Reed, Avante Maddox, um Marcus Davenport, Kirby Joseph, Miles Frasier, Ahmed Hosanine, all of those guys coming back at different points. Most of them on the defensive side of the ball. The depth is going to be replenished in a lot of cases. You’re getting starters back. That secondary should look way more like itself than it did against Tampa Bay. Although played pretty well against Tampa Bay for being Legion of Whom. a completely different situation than in 2024. This is a totally different scenario. No team escapes injuries. Ask the Baltimore Ravens or the San Francisco 49ers. No team gets through a season without losing some players. Last year, the Lions seemed to be losing two or three a week, but they were losing them for the season, and we all know how that ended up. Eventually, they ended up onelegged, and this year, that’s not the case. This year they’re getting guys back. This year they’ve replenished depth. This year they’ve got more people on that roster that can get the job done and they have managed to do really, really well with it. And now they’re going to get an infusion of talent coming back just in time for November. You want your trials and your tribulations to happen in the middle part of the season, the early part of the season, not the end. And the Lions saved some of the most terrible news last year for the end of the season. This year’s a totally different script. and they are going to be stronger and deeper and more talented as we head now into November and the games that really really matter the most. And that is a great place to be, especially if you’re Kelvin Shepard in that defense. We all know about the need for depth and the value of rotations and all of the different things that you can do when you’ve got all of these pieces to play with. And so, the Lions are headed into November in really, really good shape and they’re getting only better. And that brings me to the return of the enemies list. That’s right. You got to keep track of the people that are on the enemies list. It’s almost November as I record this. The Lions will be playing their next game in the month of November. And we got to keep track of the bad guys. And you got to start you got to start with the worst guys. The ones that are in division, the ones up there in Cheesetown. Yep. The Green Bay Packers and their fans like this one. pictured here wearing Romeo Dob’s actual helmet. The 27 thing is finally dead. Uh the good news is they finally managed to be in a game where they didn’t win by scoring 27 points. The bad news is they won a game. The worst news is um Aaron Rogers’s opportunity to do the funniest thing ever uh was was gone. It was interesting for a hot minute to see uh Packer fans upset about Aaron Rogers rearing back, under throwing a ball, and drawing a pass interference penalty. I enjoyed watching them go through that only because uh I spent I don’t know how many years watching that garbage play. But at the end of the day, Aaron Rogers couldn’t get it done. He’s 42. He probably needs to be put out to pasture. And the Green Bay Packers are a problem. It is um it is not going to be a situation where the Lions get to expect anybody else to do the heavy lifting. They’re going to need to beat Green Bay. They’re going to have to do it themselves. Not everybody’s the Cleveland Browns. Not everybody can just go in and and kick hell out of the Packers and so the Lions are going to have to do it themselves. The upside of that is that Thanksgiving game in Detroit is going to be nuts. Absolute madness is what I would expect from that Thanksgiving game. It’s going to be crazy and uh cannot wait for that. Also making the enemies list, the Philadelphia Eagles. has to be the Philadelphia Eagles, if only because they’re the champs until they get knocked off and they haven’t been knocked off yet. I had high hopes that Scataboo and company could do it with the Giants. They managed to do it once. They couldn’t get it done twice. Scatteraboo’s gone for the year. Um, so that Lions game against Philadelphia in Philadelphia also looms large because the Eagles are going to have a lot to say about just exactly where the road gets routed come postseason time in the NFC. Then there’s a whole situation uh with the NFC West and a team that quite frankly nobody’s really talking about right now and that’s the Seattle Seahawks. They a problem. Uh that team is seventh in scoring defense. They are uh first in rushing defense. Uh so you could see in a pivotal game in the postseason if it came up to it uh the Lions like to run the ball, the Seahawks like to not let you run the ball. And so that sets up to be a bit of a heavyweight fight. And I don’t have to tell Lions fans what a thorn in the side the Seahawks have been over the last few years. Uh they’re playing really really good right now. Uh they’re also sixth in points per game. So they’re scoring points uh as well as playing really really good defense. That Seahawks team is is improved. Now whether or not Sam Darnold turns into a pumpkin at the end of the year like we’ve seen him do, that remains to be seen. Right now today, Seahawks are playing pretty good ball. Staying in the NFC West, Rams. It’s always the Rams second in scoring defense. And there is the neverending parade of the Stafford golf story that we will hear about again later this season when the Rams and the Lions have to play. It is just a thing that sucks and is annoying and it lands the Rams on the enemy’s list. Honorable mention of the San Francisco 49ers. I think the injuries are probably going to catch up with those guys. They’re playing through it. Kyle Shanahan’s a pretty good coach. Um, but man oh man, they’ve got a lot on their plate with the injuries and I think eventually that probably catches up to them. But that whole NFC West, except for Arizona because whatever. Um, is going to be a problem moving forward for the entire NFC. Pretty good out there. The good news is at least with the Seahawks and the Rams, they have to play each other twice yet. So, they’re going to beat each other up a little bit. That’ll help sort some of that out. But that is the return of the enemies list. It’s November. I figured it was time. And now we get back to football. Uh Minnesota coming up next. JJ McCarthy. Um Godspeed my man. There’s going to be some Wolverine on Wolverine crime. I’m guessing if he gets the start as he is expected to uh with Aiden Hutchinson in 97 over there on that defensive side, Alien McNeel in his second game. A lot to look forward to. And I will be again doing the postgame show with Chris after that one. So please join us then. In the meantime, um follow along. I’m on all the socials, all the places at the Michael Grey. Uh that’s uh Twitter and Blue Ski and Instagram, Facebook, all the places. Um and I do legitimately enjoy the conversation. Um even even when it’s mean sometimes sometimes it’s mean. Um I read all the comments, too. I I’m told that I shouldn’t, but I can’t look away. Uh so please be a part of that and like and subscribe to the channel. Uh as I mentioned to begin the thing, it’s how we get to do what we do. And if you any of this was any good to you at all, I I would appreciate you doing that. Until next time. See you. [Music]

Detroit Lions Podcast: Bye Week Breakdown and the Road Ahead

The Detroit Lions are resting at 5-2 heading into their bye week, a well-earned pause after a physical stretch that tested depth, discipline, and coaching adaptability. In this week’s episode of The Grey Area, the focus is on Dan Campbell’s leadership, John Morton’s offensive adjustments, and Kelvin Shepherd’s rapidly evolving defense. The conversation also revisits the state of officiating across the NFL, plus the impact of returning players like Alim McNeil and Malcolm Rodriguez on what’s shaping up to be a legitimate contender in Detroit.

Dan Campbell’s Culture and the Coaching Evolution

The Lions’ turnaround continues to be a reflection of Dan Campbell’s culture. The podcast digs into how Campbell’s process-driven approach has stabilized the organization, even amid significant coaching turnover. Both coordinators—John Morton on offense and Kelvin Shepherd on defense—were groomed internally, proof that Campbell and his staff are developing not only players but leaders. The Lions have carried Campbell’s personality onto the field: gritty, self-aware, and never satisfied.

Offensively, Morton has been under the microscope. Through seven games, the Lions rank top 10 in nearly every major category, but their inconsistency on third down (20th in the NFL) has drawn scrutiny. Jared Goff has been efficient but not perfect, completing over 70 percent of his passes while facing more interior pressure than at any point in his Lions tenure. Campbell acknowledged during the bye that the team’s offensive inefficiencies—especially on third and long—will be a point of emphasis in the coming weeks.

Despite those struggles, Morton’s system remains effective because of the personnel’s versatility. Goff’s timing and ball placement keep drives alive, while Amon-Ra St. Brown’s route precision continues to anchor the passing attack. The run game, powered by Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery, remains among the NFL’s most productive. Morton’s challenge now is translating that success into sustained drives in high-leverage moments.

Kelvin Shepherd’s Defense and the Next Chapter

On the other side of the ball, Kelvin Shepherd’s defense has been the revelation of the season. The podcast highlights his linebackers-first philosophy and creative use of disguise. With Alim McNeil healthy again, the defensive front has regained its push, freeing Aidan Hutchinson and the edge rushers to attack more freely. Shepherd’s background as a former linebacker is evident in how disciplined this unit has become in pursuit angles and tackling.

Malcolm Rodriguez, who returned to practice this week, brings another layer of toughness and range to the linebacker corps. Meanwhile, reinforcements in the secondary, including Brian Branch and Terrion Arnold, are expected to solidify what has become a confident and opportunistic defense.

The Lions exit their bye not just healthier but sharper. Their blend of physical identity, coaching innovation, and locker-room leadership has them firmly positioned among the NFL’s elite. Campbell’s message remains simple: the foundation is built, but the climb is just beginning. With a defense ascending under Kelvin Shepherd, an offense still capable of fireworks under John Morton, and Jared Goff steering the ship, the Detroit Lions have everything they need to turn belief into something far more tangible this season.