Allen Park — How do you prepare for an NFL game during a week like this?
Days after linebacker and captain Jack Campbell was immobilized and carted off the field — and still hasn’t recovered full mobility or strength in his upper body — the Detroit Lions are forced to compartmentalize their concern for their teammate as they get set to travel to Miami and play the Dolphins.
There simply isn’t an alternative.
Last week’s game against Minnesota wasn’t called after a 10-minute stoppage to tend to Campbell during the opening seconds of the fourth quarter, so the league sure as hell isn’t going to postpone an upcoming contest.
The show must go on. The business is callous in that way, but, would anyone be surprised to learn that’s how Campbell feels about the situation. Certainly not defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard.
After the team processed lingering emotions Wednesday morning, when the players returned to work, they’ve made this week of meetings, practice and prep about honoring Campbell by mirroring how they’re captain would have approached things.
“The theme has been let’s prepare and play like 46,” Sheppard said on Thursday. “Every day, I wake up, ‘What would 46 want me to do today? Would he want us to sulk and feel sorry?’ I can guarantee — y’all know Jack — absolutely not. He’d be pissed off if he found out guys are crying and guys are (crying) about him. That’s just his makeup and that’s what makes him the person that he is.
“So, that’s what we’re doing,” Sheppard said. “Everything we do, every meeting I told the unit, every walkthrough, every play, you all know how Jack prepares. You all know how he plays. The way you honor him is to wipe those tears from your eyes and make sure we prepare and play like him.”
Campbell’s passion and intensity are as much his hallmarks as his All-Pro production. Since arriving in Detroit as a first-round draft pick in 2023, he hasn’t missed a game. He’s barely missed a snap since entering the starting lineup, returning the week after he had a teammate’s cleat pierce his face, requiring plastic surgery to repair the gash.
That’s their leader. That’s their inspiration. And knowing he’s on the mend, however slow that process might be, has brought a sense of relief that’s spread through the building.
And, frankly, having days to process the situation doesn’t compare to what the Lions have to do last Sunday. When every player had to watch Campbell carted off, uncertain of his condition or future, buckle up their chin straps, and finish a critical divisional matchup that could easily have playoff implications two months down the road.
As the cart carrying Campbell disappeared up the tunnel, the Lions defense lined up for a critical fourth down, attempting to protect a narrow lead.
In those situations, the Lions rarely blitz. Under Sheppard, they send an extra rusher on fourth down less frequently than anyone in the league. But the coordinator read the moment, heard his players emotions, and unleashed them.
Aidan Hutchinson, eyes still red from crying moments earlier, came screaming off the edge. Derrick Barnes, one of Campbell’s closest friends on the roster, got loose from the opposite side on the blitz. The two met at the quarterback, cathartically obliterating Kyler Murray, causing his pass to sail and get broken up.
Barnes, who logged his fewest defensive snaps in three years, is going to be a huge part in replacing Campbell. Malcolm Rodriguez, the man Campbell displaced from the starting lineup years earlier, will also be called upon to shoulder much more.
At the practice facility, Barnes and Rodriguez’s stalls flank Campbells. On Sunday, after suppressing their emotions for a quarter to secure the win, the two couldn’t fend things off any longer, sobbing together in the locker room for the their friend and brother.
Sheppard has full faith that duo, as well as Campbell’s best friend on the team, Trevor Nowaske, will step up and make their brother proud.
“I raised these other guys that are about to play,” Sheppard said. “Malcolm Rodriguez and Derrick Barnes, those are my little brothers and they know the standard. They both have worn the green dot before. So, this isn’t like a first-time ordeal for either one of them, because that load might get shared. We’re still working through that, but I’m confident in either one of them.”
Sheppard has said a number of times, Detroit’s defense is Jack Campbell’s defense. The coordinator made it clear, even if Campbell won’t be on the field for the foreseeable future, that doesn’t change.
“This is still Jack Campbell’s defense,” Sheppard said. “Every time I call a play, he’s going to know, wherever he’s at, why I’m calling that play. If you think he’s not tuned in — (Nowaske) just told me, he talked to him yesterday — if you don’t think he wants to know what’s going on here, you don’t know Jack Campbell. But aside from that, it’s time for his brothers to step up and do it the way that Jack would do it, do it the way he would want them to do it.”
Great piece, Justin. Beautifully written insight into the man Campbell is and the impact he's had on this team. Love this, thank you.