The Green Bay Packers are floundering. Tom Brady is starting to look his age. And if the playoffs started today, both New York teams would be in the postseason for the first time since 2006.
The NFL in 2022 looks nothing like what most people expected two months ago, and nothing like what Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown experienced last year in his rookie season.
“This league looks a lot different this year,” St. Brown said Monday. “But the thing that I always think about, it’s a long season. We’re only what, six weeks in for us, only five games played, so you look at the teams like you said, the Packers, some teams that might not be in the position that they want to be now, there’s a lot of football left and the best teams usually in this league they peak towards the end. Yeah, all I have to say to that, it’s a long season.”
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The Lions are in a similar boat as the three-time defending division champion Packers (3-3) in that their season has gone nothing like they expected so far.
They opened with a hard-fought loss to the undefeated Philadelphia Eagles and dominated the lowly Washington Commanders in Week 2, but things have unraveled in the month since.
The Lions blew a winnable game against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 3 and suffered disheartening losses to the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots before the bye.
At 1-4, they are tied for the second-worst record in the NFL (behind the 1-5 Carolina Panthers), though head coach Dan Campbell insisted Monday things are not as bleak as they appear.
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“I’m not discouraged,” Campbell said. “I’m not happy with where we’re at. I mean, I don’t think anybody is, but when you really look at it, you’re one or two plays away here and all of a sudden you’re sitting here with three wins. But the reality is we only have one, so that’s where we’re at.”
To fix that, Campbell said he has several changes in mind for the next 12 weeks.
He declined to detail what tweaks he will be making to the Lions’ league-worst defense, but said “we looked at everything (over the bye), from the front to our personnel, to even the back end, what do we do there, scheme, personnel, all of it,” and that adjustments are coming.
Offensively, the Lions are counting on improved health to get back to their high-scoring ways after getting shutout by the Patriots. St. Brown, D’Andre Swift, Frank Ragnow, Jonah Jackson and DJ Chark are among the offensive starters who missed time with injuries in the first five weeks who should benefit from the time off.
And Campbell said he is altering the Lions’ practice schedule to try and get back to “who we’ve been and what we are.”
The Lions have opted for longer walk-throughs and have not had any padded practices in recent weeks because of their injury woes. This week, the Lions are returning to padded practices and will incorporate more one-on-one periods in their workouts.
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“A lot of it was just with where we were at, we had a number of injuries and so you dial back a number of things to feel like you can get through what you need to get through in practice but yet still prepare them,” Campbell said. “I think when I really look back on it, it’s, well, maybe at the expense of us losing some reps and we’re a young team and you may put a strain on other groups because you’re light in other area but, man, the rest of your team needs that work.
“And so I just feel like we got to get back to those things we were doing in camp. And we’re not talking about going out there for 2½ hours, but, man, we got to get back to some of the competitiveness, the good-on-good and just good ol’ one-on-one work.”
St. Brown said that could be just what the Lions need as they look to become a team that peaks in the second half of the season.
They visit a good Dallas Cowboys team this week and should know by early next month, after games against the Miami Dolphins and Packers, whether the playoffs are even a pipe dream.
“Everything starts on the practice field,” St. Brown said. “The plays that they draw up for us, the execution, just envisioning making those plays on Sunday, it starts out there on Wednesday, Thursdays and Friday. He tweaked a couple things for practice, which I’m all for. I love one-on-ones and that’s going to be in practice Mondays and Thursdays now for us, so I’m excited, get to work on your craft, get better, compete and that’s what I’m about.”
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.