What They're Saying: How Crucial Is Fast Start for Lions?

Detroit Lions address the importance of starting the season strong.

The Detroit Lions understand how important it is to start the season off on the correct note. 

Last year, the team started the regular season with a 1-6 record, which ended up being far too great a hole to dig out of. 

On the first day of minicamp, Lions head coach Dan Campbell, Jared Goff and Josh Paschal were asked about the importance of starting the 2023 NFL season strong. 

Dan Campbell 

“That's something I'm always thinking about. How do we do this? Is there a different approach? Were we too light? Were we too hard? Do we need to be more volume? Do we need more intensity? And so I think everything right now, it doesn't necessarily pertain to what you're asking  because we're so far away from training camp now. It's about the 'X's' and 'O's' right now. 

"The situational work, which we're getting a ton of. But, I think it's, as far as the way we go about business, I think we're on track. And, I think some of it is just tinkering with what I said. Do we need to do a little bit more early situational work in practice? Like that's how we start practices. They come right out of stretch, and there we go. Those are little things I'm thinking about, how do we get off to a fast start in a game and in a season? Training camp, it's a bigger focus in training camp. Yeah, I wouldn't say right now because there again, you start doing that and you get them ramped up. And, then all of a sudden, you know, we're too physical. That's not what we're supposed to be doing in spring. But, yeah, I think about it, I'm not turning a blind eye to it. And so there's a few ideas I have. But, it's, man, it's a slippery slope. You go too far one way or another, and you're in trouble. But, I'll keep my eyes on it, certainly.”

Jared Goff

"All the games count the same, so if it's Week 16 or whatever it was, we beat the Packers and it was exciting and it was fun. Was the same as the Seattle game at home. Or, you know, the Eagles game at home. Those games all count the same, so you have to approach it that way, and make sure you take advantage of it."

Josh Paschal

“Oh, you know, that would be a great start for us, if we were able to continue the momentum that we had last year. Last year, we started off slow, we finished strong but we figured out what we needed to do to win. I feel like, going into this season, we have that figured out. It’s time to put in the work during camp and right now, in order to succeed during the year.”