ALLEN PARK -- The New York Giants are 2-9 and fired their head coach last week. They are missing two of their young stars for the rest of the season and have started three different quarterbacks.
New York is far from the toughest team on Detroit’s schedule this season. But the Giants are scrappy and have found themselves in five one-score games this season, while blowing four fourth-quarter leads.
They took the Green Bay Packers down to the wire last week and did the same with the Chicago Bears the week before.
Dan Campbell knows their record and situation, but he sees a lot of fight in that team. And the Lions coach knows what it feels like to be in that spot.
“So, actually, I showed the team -- this team has been in a ton of these games,” Campbell said on Wednesday. “And a few of these games, they’ve been up a couple of scores and lost a tight one there a few times. And so they’ve been in most of these games, had a chance to win them, they’re competitive, they play hard.
“It’s a good unit. I know they made the (head-coaching) change a week ago, but they had a chance last week again in that game (against the Packers).”
Campbell has also seen how an interim coach can light a spark and bring new energy to a struggling franchise. He was in Mike Kafka’s shoes back in 2015 with the Miami Dolphins when he took over for Joe Philbin in the middle of the season.
The Dolphins started 1-3 under Philbin, then won back-to-back with Campbell taking over, going 5-7 through the rest of the season. New York fired head coach Brian Daboll a little more than one week ago, naming Kafka, its offensive coordinator, as interim coach for the rest of the season.
“ I think there was some fresh energy last week when you watched them against Green Bay,” Campbell said. “I think sometimes it’s just that newness, and you don’t know how long that could possibly last or the rebound on it. But I think just the change itself -- something a little bit different, a little bit new -- can spark you. And so, yeah, there was a little bit of that.
“I mean, look, they’ve always played hard. Like to me, you watch the tape, these guys have played hard in September, October, early November. But yeah, there’s probably a little bit of that.”
The Lions are double-digit favorites heading into the matchup back at Ford Field. They are 6-4, sitting on the outside of the playoff picture and in third place in the NFC North. The Green Bay Packers are coming to town on Thanksgiving next week, in a big-time divisional and NFC matchup.
However, Campbell isn’t thinking that far ahead yet, even though he knows they’re about to play three games in the blink of an eye.
“I mean, we would love to be sitting here undefeated right now, and that’s not the reality, we’re not undefeated,” the Lions coach said. “But there’s an urgency that’s there. And I know this, if you say well, let’s ramp up more urgency, that’s when you start making mistakes, that’s when you start panicking, that’s when guys start doing things they shouldn’t do. They’re trying to make plays, and then they cost us all. That’s where bad stuff really happens because that means you don’t really believe in what you’re doing. You’re grasping for straws.
“I know what we’re doing, I know what we need to do. We go back to work, we clean up the little things, we adjust, we adapt, we move on, and let’s find a way to get a W.”
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