Fourth downs were the biggest difference in the Lions’ win over the Packers on Thursday night: Detroit went for it five times and converted four of them, while the Packers kicked on every fourth down. Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown says that’s what coach Dan Campbell told he offense to be ready for.
St. Brown said Campbell made it clear during preparation for the Packers that the offense should plan to stay on the field on fourth-and-short, although even St. Brown wasn’t sure if Campbell would go for it on the final fourth-and-1, when the Lions set up their game-winning field goal as time expired.
“We knew all game we were going to go for it if it was fourth-and-close. That last one, I didn’t know if we were going to go for it or not, but he said we were staying in,” St. Brown said.
St. Brown endorsed Campbell’s decision to go for one final first down to take the remaining time off the clock so the Lions could kick the game-winning field goal as time expired, rather than kicking the field goal and giving the Packers about 35 seconds to score themselves.
“If you kick it and you go for three there, they have some time to come back and win it,” St. Brown said.
Campbell made the gutsy, but correct, call. It’s what he’s been doing since he became the Lions’ coach, and it’s one of the reasons he has turned the Lions from losers into winners.
