It wasn’t Bill Raftery in the Monday Night Football broadcast booth, but Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell and his ONIONS! still got a shoutout from Troy Aikman.
With the Lions up by a touchdown late in the fourth quarter on the road against the Baltimore Ravens, the team faced a 4th and 2 from midfield. A first down would win the game for all intents and purposes, while not making it would give the Ravens a short field in an attempt to force overtime. Ever the gambler and bold play caller, Campbell of course chose to go for it.
And the decision paid off when Jared Goff completed a beautiful pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown to clinch the victory for the Lions. A play later, David Montgomery ran in a touchdown to truly clinch a huge MNF victory for Detroit.
Of course, if the call didn’t work, then the strategy of Dan Campbell would have been the subject of all the morning debate shows about how his aggressiveness backfired and he should have punted given how dominant the Lions defense had been in the second half. But that’s the beauty of sports, isn’t it. And Campbell had faith not only in his offense winning the game, but in his defense backing him up if the move didn’t come off.
After a shaky opening week to start the season against the Packers, the Lions are now 2-1 following impressive victories over the Bears and Ravens. It looks like another year where we will be seeing the “onions” of Dan Campbell on full display throughout the season with the Lions firmly in contention in the NFC. And it was one more example of why he is one of the most popular coaches in the NFL.
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