2 weeks Ago By Brandon Carr
HOUSTON – Although we‘re way past Halloween, in a spooky turn of events, Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell’s premonition somehow came to fruition during their Sunday Night Football matchup vs. the Houston Texans. Coming out of halftime trailing 23-7, Campbell did a sideline interview with the NBC broadcast where he spoke about eating into the 16-point lead and how his defense needed to start getting takeaways.
Recommended Videos “We have one error here or there,” said Campbell. If we cut that out, we will be fine. And we got to have takeaways.
Our defense got to have takeaways. We‘re not going to get it all at once here, so just one at a time, we’ll do that." At that moment, the broadcast switched from Campbell to the snap of the first play to open the third quarter, when Texans quarterback C.
J. Stroud threw a pass to wide receiver Tank Dell. But cornerback Carlton Davis miraculously made an impromptu interception to spark the second-half comeback.
In a weird turn of events, #DetroitLions cornerback #CarltonDavis opens the second half with an interception as head coach #DanCampbell mentions getting a turnover in his live comments to the reporter. pic.twitter.
com/e7VB7FuxxV “Going into halftime, we just kind of knew that we had to make plays,” said Davis. “So, honestly, when we‘re losing, there‘s nothing else left to do but fight back. So, that’s all I wanted to do.
I wanted them to really beat us. I wanted them to earn that win. So when I went out there in the half, I knew I had to make a play, and the ball came my way.
” Davis added another interception on an amazing play in which he ran off the screen back onto the screen to stop a once wide-open Dell touchdown in the endzone. The Lions then shut out the Texans in the second half to complete the immaculate 26-23 comeback victory, becoming the first team to win a game after trailing by 15 or more points with five interceptions or more since the Baltimore Colts beat the Chicago Bears in 1970. “This team, we just got a fight like no other,” Davis said.
“I‘ve never been a part of a team that just grinds as it’s nothing but grit, you know. ”And when we‘re down, we‘re never out of a game. That‘s what Detroit is made of.
Whether we‘re up or down, we’re trying to beat you until the game is over." The Lions' defense had to step up tremendously as Jared Goff threw five interceptions under the lights. Alim McNeill , Josh Paschal , Pat O‘Connor , and James Houston all attributed with one sack each to blank the Texans’ offense in the second half.
Texas native Jake Bates squeaked two pivotal field goals past the goal post to tie the game and later walked off the Texans in front of his friends and family, but it all started with Campbell. “Credit to DeMeco (Ryans) and that crew,” Campbell said. “They fought, and we knew they would.
They gave it everything, and that was a hard-fought game, and we had to fight our way back in there. “I‘m proud of the guys. There are some things that we obviously got to clean up, but they just wouldn‘t go away.
Our guys wouldn‘t go away.” Prior to Sunday (Nov. 10), the Lions were 0-12 under Campbell when trailing by 10 or more points at halftime, but his pep talk and his talented defense, led by coordinator Aaron Glenn , are one of the main reasons they’re 8-1 and currently riding a seven-game winning streak.
“For our defense to play the way they played,” Campbell said. “I thought our defense played good early. We just had one play here; one play there that really hurt us, but, the second half you come out and it‘s four punt, two picks and a missed field goal, that‘s huge.
We talked about it at halftime, and we just needed to get our takeaways. So the defense did that, and I knew we‘d wake up on offense; it was just a matter of time, and once we were able to pull it within one score, you felt like, ’Now, OK, we‘re starting to find our way here.’” Look for the red-hot Lions to keep the good times rolling as they’ll face another AFC South team when they play host to the Jacksonville Jaguars next Sunday inside Ford Field.
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