Detroit’s preseason opener against the New York Giants unintentionally morphed into the Nate Sudfeld house of horrors. The reserve quarterback got the start in the game but played quite poorly, especially early on.
Sudfeld misfired on four of his first five throws, and the Lions offense picked up one first down in the first six drives with the erratic, shaky Sudfeld at the helm.
“There’s some decisions in there that I would like to be better. I expect better from him,” Campbell said in his postgame press conference. “I’m not as concerned right now or yet about the accuracy with what it is, wet ball, this and that, but there’s just a couple of decisions in there that I know he can be better on.”
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Sudfeld was forced back into the game when Hendon Hooker, who operated the offense far more efficiently and effectively, left the game with a concussion. Campbell was quick to credit Sudfeld for playing better in that circumstance than he had looked earlier in the game.
“But, like I said, I did think when he came back in he played a lot better. I thought he got in a rhythm, kind of got us going there and so that was good to see.”
Sudfeld led the Lions on an 11-play, 60-yard drive after reentering, looking sharper and connecting with multiple receivers before stalling out in the red zone.
For his part, Sudfeld had this to say after the game,
“I just don’t think that we were firing on all cylinders in any of the areas, run game or pass game. It just wasn’t able to quite click tonight, but I’ll have to watch the tape to see really what went wrong on some of it. But hard to say.”