Dan Campbell: 'AG's Gonna Get This Thing Right'

Dan Campbell defended his defensive coordinator.

The Detroit Lions won a shootout Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers as both team's defenses had no answers. 

After Detroit punted on its opening possession of the third quarter, the rest of each team's offensive series resulted in points. The Lions had the ball last and won on a Riley Patterson field goal with no time remaining. 

The defense struggled to contain the Chargers' passing attack Sunday, allowing Justin Herbert to throw for four touchdowns. However, coach Dan Campbell spoke confidently about defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn's ability to bounce back ahead of the team's Week 11 matchup with Chicago. 

"You come off the bye, you want to know that you haven't lost your mojo or that it would take a little bit to get it back. I felt like, when you win coming off the bye, on the road, long trip, especially that type of game, that was big," Campbell said. "We feel like, alright man, we got our flow back a little bit. Found a way to win and now we improve from here. I felt like, there again, the offense took a step up and the defense, we took a step back, but I know that we're about to take three steps up again. I believe that. AG's gonna get this thing right."

While the Lions were happy to leave SoFi Stadium with a win, Campbell said there was frustration within the defense because of their performance. The head coach spoke postgame of not apologizing for winning and echoed that message Monday. 

Lions Grades: Offense Near Flawless, Defense Does Not Measure Up

"Those guys defensively, I could see it on their face. You don't want anybody disappointed, but a win is a win. Those guys on defense, every one of them last night, they were frustrated, pissed off," Campbell stated. "That's kind of what you want, but you want them to enjoy the victory. Like honestly, if we don't win that game, to me I'd put that on the offense. That's where the game is going, you've got to outscore that opponent and they did that. Our guys stepped up." 

Among the areas where Detroit struggled was in pass rush. The defense was unable to record a sack, marking the third time this season where they were unable to log a takedown of the opposing passer. 

As a result, the team will continue to revisit both technique as well as physicality to win in 1-on-1 situations more often. 

“We’ve got to really hone in on our technique with where we’re at. We’ve got a lot of things that are schemed up that we can be better at," Campbell explained. "The execution of it, we had a number of different pressures and games that we had lined up in second down, third down that we just weren’t getting there fast enough. We talk about it all the time, the rush and the coverage. It was, we’re covering pretty good and then we’re just not quite getting there. (Keenan Allen), we’ve got him doubled and then he’s able to run through the double because we’re not getting there fast enough. Then on the flip side, we’re getting there but we’re not tight enough in coverage."

The inability to play complimentary defensively has been a shortcoming at times. Coverage and pass-rush are symbiotic, as solid performance in one area breeds success in the other. 

Good rushes lead to bad throws, with good coverage naturally giving rushers more time. The Lions have talent in both areas, so finding that combination is a key for the defense down the season's final eight-game stretch.

"We’ve just got to get them to mirror up and we’ve got to keep working our technique. We’ve got to win our 1-on-1’s when they show up up front and really, even in the back end too," the third-year coach said. "When those times present themselves, we have to win our 1-on-1’s and certainly more than yesterday. It’s something we’ve been pretty good at. We bounced back and played pretty good against the Raiders, played damn good. So we will bounce back from this and we’ll get it right.”