Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell spoke to the media Monday one day after Detroit fell to 2-2 on the young NFL season with a 32-26 loss to the Carolina Panthers.
Here are all the key questions from Campbell's Monday press conference:
What was Campbell's biggest takeaway from evaluating Sunday night's film?
He doesn't think they are playing very good complementary football right now.
The defense hasn't been good, but he also said until they figure some things out on that side of the ball — and he thinks they can, whether that's scheme changes or personnel changes — the offense and special teams have to pick up the slack. Currently, that's not happening consistently enough for Campbell's liking.
"We have to play a lot smarter than we are right now in areas," he said. "Really across the board. We have to get things cleaned up. That's really where we're at right now."
Campbell thinks playing close games and needing to make winning plays late in games might be their winning formula until they settle some things down defensively.
"Until we find our true footing, man, we have to be ready to win these games at the end of the fourth quarter when you have an opportunity to get a stop and you find a way to win those games," he said. "It's going to take all three phases. And then you find your way a little bit here. That's where we're at."
Generating more takeaways is one of the keys moving forward as well, he said.
How does Campbell go about fixing the defensive numbers through four weeks?
Detroit's currently 32nd in points allowed (31.8), total defense (423.8), passing defense (304.8) and third-down defense (52.8 percent) through four weeks.
He thinks there are things they can do defensively they haven't tried yet. They're still looking at and evaluating everybody they have on the roster and practice squad all the way to players who are not currently on the roster.
"And then different (defensive) calls," Campbell said. "There's some other things we can try."
Besides the defensive numbers, what has Campbell most concerned about the 2-2 start?
"It's the penalties," he said. "It's the pre-snap penalties, the discipline penalties. We're putting ourselves in a bind. And I understand you're going to get some calls that are going to happen on defense if you want to try to play a little more sticky coverage. That's not what I'm talking about."
Detroit's been flagged for 31 penalties in four games and were flagged nine times for 67 yards in the loss to Carolina. A few of those were drive-killers for them and drive-extenders for the Panthers.
"You need to be able to eliminate those other things to where now all of a sudden, you just gave up a free five, one way or another. You either gave it to them, or we put ourselves in a hole," he said. "And that's really where we got in trouble yesterday. We just kind of, we imploded a little bit at different times, and we weren't able to counter because of that.
"So, to me, that's the starting point with all of this. And then it'll be about, we may tweak some of this personnel that we've got here a little bit and see if we can mix it up some and then we'll go from there."
Does Campbell feel the fan concerns about the secondary play?
"Yeah, sure. I get that. I know there's some frustration and there's things, there's a lot of worry. There's a lot of anxiety over what it is," he said.
He also said he's a big believer in Detroit improving on what's in the building right now.
"There's a ton of the little things. And it's not just defense, it's us as a team," he said. "If we go down, alright, we stall out on the very first drive, which is of our own doing. It's three-nothing. We get a stop on defense. We take it down and now it's 10-0 middle of the first quarter, end of the first quarter. It could be a different game. It's those little things to where, we've got to play much better complementary football.
"I understand what it is, but I'm also not in panic mode. I've got to get these guys better. We have to get these guys better collectively. And some of that is the other two units picking up the slack in some areas. It's not just one unit."
What does Campbell feel is the identity on defense right now?
"Well, I do think we have a pretty good front, and we got hit on a couple of runs that we misfitted. But all in all, I do feel like we hit blocks. I feel like we're creating pressure on the quarterback, and we're really driven by those guys is what we are," he said.
Detroit's defensive front has been pretty consistent all season ranking in the top of the league in sacks and total pressures.
"And we just need a little help in other areas right now," he said. "And there again, we can be better in the back end. We can be better on offense. We can be better on defense. We've got to be much more consistent and that alleviates a lot of stress everywhere else."
What are the latest injury updates?
Campbell said the team is waiting for final approval from the doctors, but there's a chance Pro Bowl safety Brian Branch could return to the practice field this week.
The news is not as good for cornerback Rock Ya-Sin, who left Sunday's game with a hamstring injury and did not return.
"I don't think (Ya-Sin) looks good right now," Campbell said.
Defensive lineman Tyleik Williams suffered an undisclosed injury and is 'day to day,' per Campbell.
