Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell spoke to the media Tuesday following his team's 24-9 win over Tampa Bay on Monday Night Football. Here are all the key questions to come out of Campbell's Tuesday press conference:
What stood out the most about Monday's performance after watching the tape Tuesday?
Campbell was complimentary of the defensive performance following the game Monday night and doubled down after watching the tape Tuesday.
Detroit's defense allowed nine points, 251 yards of total offense, defended 12 passes and totaled 40 quarterback pressures led by Aidan Hutchinson (12) and Al-Quadin Muhammad (9). Campbell said the entire defense received a game ball Tuesday.
What does the bye week schedule look like?
The players are getting their league required five days off Wednesday through Sunday. Campbell said the coaching staff is being sent home Tuesday night but he gave them some homework.
"Just a couple of answers on a few things," Campbell said. "But I think it's important they get away. I do, man. This will be the last chance we get."
As for Campbell himself, he said he's going to continue to work through the break at home.
"Where can we improve and get a little bit better in areas?" Campbell said. "Set our players up in certain areas to have a little more success across the board."
What is one area offensively Campbell would like to see improve coming out of the bye?
Detroit was just 3-for-13 on third down against the Bucs Monday night and are now just 32-for-85 (37.6 percent) converting on third down this season which ranks 20th in the NFL.
Campbell wants to see that improve so they can extend drives and get more plays and subsequently get more players involved in the offense week to week.
Why did the Lions opt to play Nick Whiteside at cornerback vs. veterans like Tre Flowers or Kendall Fuller?
"He'd been here and been in the system," Campbell said. "That was a big part of it. He understood our terminology, what we were looking at and how we were going to play certain leverages per the call. He'd been around (Dave) Fipp and the special teams. There was just more of a comfort level with him."
Whiteside rewarded that faith by playing a terrific game. He was Detroit's second-highest graded defender in the game by Pro Football Focus. He had three passes defended. Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield was just 1-of-5 for 22 yards when throwing at him, and the one completion was a screen pass.
Was the plan coming in to play Alim McNeill 64 percent of the defensive reps?
No. McNeill ended up playing 44 snaps, which was more than the team planned coming in. Part of that was because Tampa Bay got into a pass happy offense down double digits and had 16 third down plays and five fourth downs. McNeill was heavily involved in third down packages defensively.
"It was a little more than we wanted to give him his first time out," Campbell said. "We were shooting for a little less than that just to be smart with him. But I thought he handled it well. Got out of it good. He's got the bye and will come back now in a little better football shape."
McNeill totaled five pressures, one tackle and one pass defended.
