I have a message for new Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell: You do you.
Go ahead. Put on that racing helmet. Bite some kneecaps. If this really is who you are, stick with it regardless of what any critics say. Be yourself, be authentic.
Just as long as Campbell and everyone else understands the culture he’s trying to promote of having fun and being looser doesn’t guarantee one iota of success — the same way the culture of running laps for punishment and being strict also doesn’t guarantee success.
When I saw Campbell wearing the racing helmet last week, I rolled my eyes like I’m sure a lot of other people did. I thought it was the kind of stunt a college coach would pull. Actually, make that a mid-major college coach.
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But so what? Campbell was only trying to have fun and promote the Detroit Grand Prix in his own creative way. He’s a rookie full-time head coach, so he’s probably feeling his way through it all.
And really all he’s doing is adhering the NFL Coaches Operating Manual and Quick Setup Guide, which states under Subsection 19, Paragraph 30: Every new coach must be exactly the opposite of the previous coach.
I asked Trey Flowers on Wednesday how much Campbell’s fun and loose style might contribute to winning, since Flowers is uniquely qualified to compare Campbell’s style with the less-fun style he experienced under Bill Belichick and Matt Patricia.
“You’re dealing with a lot of guys,” he said. “It’s 90 players here. When it comes to things like that, to me it I think there’s many ways to skin a cat. There’s different ways you can get good, quality work out of different guys. There’s different approaches to winning, there’s different approaches when it comes to this game.
“What Coach Campbell is doing is he’s doing his approach his way in the best way the thinks he can get the best results out of this group of guys. He believes in it. We as a team, the teammates and the players, are buying in to what he believes in in his approach. So we’re going to see how it goes and we’re working hard right now so we in it for him, we got his back and we’re trying to have great results for him.”
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Flowers was doing his best to support his coach, but if you read his words carefully he’s admitting there’s no single right way of getting the most out of players. Yeah, we can talk about a different vibe and a different tone around the Lions. But different doesn’t mean better.
I don’t blame Campbell for any of this, because almost anything he does will be different than what Patricia did. As a former player, Campbell at least seems to have a good instinct for what players like and he played to that instinct Wednesday when he incorporated a competition at the end of minicamp practice that pitted the offense and defense in a one-on-one obstacle-course race that’s probably better suited for “American Ninja Warrior” than it is the NFL. Even assistant coaches participated.
Players from the winning sideline hooted and hollered and went crazy, because if it’s one thing elite athletes like it’s playing games where they get to one-up each other. Jarrad Davis and Jaylen Reeves-Maybin used to play a game in the locker room of one-on-one basketball that featured monster dunks — with a pretend ball. I am dead serious. No ball.
But there’s also such a thing as having too much fun and I think Campbell and his staff made a mistake during a goal-line situation. Jared Goff threw a touchdown pass to Tyrell Williams on a shallow crossing route with Amani Oruwariye defending in tight coverage. Williams and Oruwariye went to the ground and wrestled for the ball for a long while. Cheers went up from both sides and a few teammates joined the pile. Eventually Goff came in and pulled a defender off the pile.
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It was irresponsible of coaches to let the play go that far with players not yet in pads. Normally, a coach would admonish them by yelling, “Get off the ground!” Because that’s how injuries happen in practice. It goes a little too far, someone gets rolled on and suddenly a key player — which Williams and Oruwariye are — is missing time with an injury.
This is not the time for that. Campbell and his staff have to remind players about protecting themselves and each other. Let’s not forget that in his first practice as the Miami Dolphins’ head coach in 2015, Campbell put his players through a version of the Oklahoma drill, a notoriously brutal exercise designed to instill toughness and that Campbell had to defend and diffuse during his introductory news conference in January.
Campbell learned from using the Oklahoma drill the way I hope he learns from players being too aggressive Wednesday in the name of having a fun, spirited practice.
If fans are allowed to attend training camp this summer they should easily notice the Lions are having plenty of fun. Maybe that will make things more entertaining for everyone. Maybe Campbell will win more hearts and minds among players and fans with his approach.
But let’s not forget winning is all that matters. The 1993 Houston Oilers had one of the most tumultuous seasons in NFL history that included defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan punching offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride during a game, and they tied for the league’s best record at 12-4.
So having fun? And smiling? And hooting and hollering? Is it possible to lose while having a blast? Is it possible to win without having fun? Even Flowers admitted he didn’t know.
“I think coming in here as he has he’s been confident in what he believes in and how his approach will work,” Flowers said of Campbell. “So we’re going to roll with it and we’re going to roll with him. So I don’t know if one thing as far guys having fun equates with winning.”
At the very least, Flowers said what a lot of his teammates have said about their new coach. They’re on his side and they want to let him do his thing his way.
“I feel like a lot of players are buying in with his approach,” Flowers said. “We’re loving it, having fun and they’re being themselves, so we’ll see.”
Contact Carlos Monarrez at cmonarrez@freepress.com and follow him on Twitter @cmonarrez.