Detroit Lions say they're built for adversity. Atlanta Falcons game a chance to prove it.
Dan Campbell straightened the packet of notes he brought with him to his Wednesday news conference and smiled.
After nine minutes of answering questions mostly about the myriad injuries his team suffered in last week's loss to the Seattle Seahawks, the third-year Detroit Lions coach had a gentle reminder for everyone who has spent the past few days hand-wringing over his team's 1-1 start.
"Listen, hey, I hate losing but I love this because this is — I just feel like this is what we’re all about," Campbell said. "And it’s, we’re back to reality, we’re back in the mud. And it’s doom and gloom outside of this building and this world and, man, let’s just hunker down and go to work."
SECONDARY A PRIMARY CONCERN: How Lions plan to replace injured C.J. Gardner-Johnson
The Lions have played their best football the past two seasons while mired in adversity.
They won three of their final six games in 2021 after a disastrous 0-10-1 start. They went 8-2 down the stretch last season after a 1-6 start prompted owner Sheila Hamp to give Campbell a public vote of confidence.
And they're sitting in choppy water again entering Sunday's showdown with the Atlanta Falcons, one of nine undefeated teams in the NFL.
The Lions practiced Wednesday without eight key players — 15% of their 53-man roster — and will be without several starters this week.
C.J. Gardner-Johnson and James Houston are on injured reserve and potentially done for the season because of injuries they suffered against the Seahawks. Kerby Joseph and Emmanuel Moseley did not practice Wednesday, necessitating a personnel shuffle in a new-look secondary that's still in the getting-to-know-you phase. Taylor Decker and Halapoulivaati Vaitai are battling injuries on the Lions' suddenly thin offensive line, which was supposed to be the strength of the roster. And leading rusher David Montgomery and top receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown are day-to-day with injuries that could cause them to miss one or more games and will impact how they run their offense.
Rookie Jahmyr Gibbs is in line to have a bigger role at running back Sunday after logging 14 carries for 59 yards in his first two games. And if St. Brown can't go, the Lions likely will trot out a receiving corps of Josh Reynolds, Kalif Raymond and Marvin Jones against a defense that's tied for the second-fewest passing yards allowed in the NFL, though Reynolds was limited in practice Wednesday by a groin injury.
"We’ve been through a whole lot worse than this," Lions quarterback Jared Goff said. "We lost a tough game. We played well in parts, didn’t play well in other parts but we have some stuff to get better at and some stuff that we like that we can draw on and can use for the next week. But yeah, (Dan's willingness to embrace adversity is) a reflection of our whole team."
CARLOS MONARREZ: Lions' Road to the Playoffs begins here with some good, and bad, after two games
And a reflection of how far the Lions have come.
After two games, the Lions are tied for first place in the NFC North, with a win over the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs and a record most predicted them for at the beginning of the season.
It's a spot both they and their fans would have killed to be in a year ago.
But last week's loss to the Seahawks, when Campbell was criticized for several late-game coaching decisions, and the injuries they've sustained ahead of a tough two-games-in-five-days stretch — the Lions visit the Green Bay Packers next Thursday night — have opened some seats on their once-overflowing bandwagon, and players have noticed.
"You know how it gets as far as on the outside," defensive back Will Harris said. "We can never forget kind of what we were saying last year when we started to turn things around. We can’t forget the inner nucleus that we have here and the things that we have here. We always have had to kind of rely on everything inside the building, cause things go (up and down) as soon as we didn’t come out on top last week and all of a sudden, it’s (a disaster).
"If they put us on the highest of high pedestals or the lowest of lows, either way we can’t be too high or too low. Somewhere in the middle is the most realistic and that’s what we try to do in here. You win a big game, go back to work. You lose one, you take it on the chin, you go back to work. That’s always been our thing."
For the Lions to bounce back this week, Campbell said they must get back to what they do well.
That's run the ball efficiently, strike for chunk plays off the run-action pass, play physical, aggressive defense, and do it all as a team no matter who's on the field.
"I just feel like that’s what we do best," Campbell said. "And I know our guys, I know our coaches. Man, this is challenge accepted. Challenge accepted. So, I feel really good, I do, and I know the opponent’s coming in and if we don’t get back to our identity this team will take your soul and so that’s the motivation."
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions' Dan Campbell: Beating adversity 'what we're all about'
