Frank Ragnow has seen this before.
The Detroit Lions (1-4) have rattled off four underwhelming starts in the five seasons since Ragnow was drafted. After Sunday’s 29-0 loss to the New England Patriots, the Lions own the worst point-differential in the NFC North ahead of an upcoming bye week.
“I know things might seem gloomy right now, but it’s a long season,” Ragnow said Monday. “And we as a team, importantly need to realize that. We can’t allow ourselves to get down in the dumps. We have to feel and acknowledge what happened yesterday.
“But then we got to have that 24-hour rule, and we got to learn from it. And really not let it carry over and tumble like it has in past years.”
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In past years, the Lions’ slow starts morphed into double-digit loss seasons. This year, the second under head coach Dan Campbell, was supposed to be an improvement. But with just one win over the first five games, Campbell and Lions players who spoke Monday weren’t ready to press the panic button on a season careening toward irrelevance.
“It’s been very frustrating,” Ragnow said. “But we’ve done a lot of good things. And we can put that all together. Everything’s in front of us.”
Optimism comes in form of the defense, Campbell said. He was encouraged that the unit did not allow a red zone touchdown in four attempts and that the Patriots went 3-for-9 on third downs.
The Lions also intercepted a pass from third-string rookie quarterback Bailey Zappe; just Detroit’s fourth takeaway through five games.
“I felt like we stopped the bleeding, what we’ve been going through last couple of weeks … we gave ourselves a chance, really,” Campbell said. “For what we were getting ready to play and the style that we were gonna play, I thought we did what we needed to do. … Not saying it’s good enough, but it’s better.”
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The Lions defense yielded ugly per-play averages (New England averaged 9 yards per pass, on an 80.9% completion rate, and 5 yards per run) but forced field goals instead of allowing touchdowns. Sounds like enough for a win with the league’s best scoring offense, at 35 points per game entering Week 5, but Bill Belichick had an answer for Lions quarterback Jared Goff and Co.
Campbell said the Patriots did a good job with stunts and different pass-rush combinations inside. After rewatching the game, Campbell felt the Patriots were trying to attack the Lions interior offensive lineman, specifically the guards.
“They really pushed the pocket on Goff and then (Matthew) Judon, he did get us a couple times on the end, but that guys, their stunt games (was effective),” Campbell said. “… We could just not get in a rhythm. Goff was uneasy early and we could never get him going. And everybody’s got a hand on that.”
He hypothesized that if the offense played “half” as well as it had the four weeks prior alongside a defensive effort like Sunday’s, the Lions would be 2-3.
“I think everybody knows we’re better than 1-4,” Campbell said. “But we haven’t shown that collectively — in pieces we have.”
Right now, those pieces are on pace for more than a dozen losses.
No regrets
A few weeks after Campbell quickly admitted he’d like a re-do of the most-important play-call in a narrow loss to the Minnesota Vikings, the Lions coach made no such declarations despite some second-guessing of his choices vs. the Patriots.
Campbell said there were no calls he regretted making Sunday; most notably his decision to go for a fourth-and-9 en route to the team failing on all six of its fourth-down tries to set an NFL record.
“I wanted to be patient in that game but I also know this: Shoot man, the first fourth-and-1, that was less than half a yard and we’re running behind (Penei) Sewell and Logan (Stenberg) and we’re giving it to Jamal – I didn’t second guess that one bit,” Campbel said. “I would take that every day of the week.”
Now the team moves to a bye, where Campbell said the team will experiment with different combinations of players and will harp on fundamentals. “All resources,” he said, will go into winning Week 7 vs. the Dallas Cowboys, who may be starting backup quarterback, and former Central Michigan star, Cooper Rush.
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He reiterated the belief that, while rebuilding, this roster is good enough to win now. The team could be looking at key additions from the injury report (D’Andre Swift, Josh Paschal, to name a few) post-bye and may work “a lot more” one-on-one drills in an effort to sharpen in-game execution in route-running, coverage and pass-rushing, Campbell said.
Injury updates
Ragnow, who has been battling a foot injury for about a year now, hinted Monday that it’s still not fully healed, but did not use it as an excuse. Still, he’s looking forward to the extra rest the next week brings.
“Yeah, personally this bye week is good timing, just the foot and everything, get me a true whole week to relax it,” Ragnow said. “And I think as the team, there’s a lot of injuries. I think, timing-wise it’s good. … it’s a long season.”
Jonah Jackson told reporters his finger injury, which he played through Sunday, has been feeling better as well.
Along with the possible debut of Paschal, the Lions’ 2022 second-rounder, Campbell said Charles Harris is expected to return after the bye.