For the second straight year, the Lions' strength has been weakened before the season opener. The club placed right guard Halapoulivaati Vaitai on injured reserve Monday with a back injury, just when its starting offensive line was ready to make its long-awaited debut.
"Yeah, it’s frustrating, but by the same token, this is what we preach all the time with our team," Dan Campbell said Tuesday on the Stoney & Jansen Show. "And man, nobody’s going to handle adversity better than us. We went through so much last year and we adapted and our guys were ready to go and it was next man up. So, man, this is nothing for us. We’ll overcome this, we’ll be fine."
The Lions lost left tackle Taylor Decker at this time last year for the first eight games of the season, then lost center Frank Ragnow for the season in Week 4. Matt Nelson helped replace Decker and Evan Brown played well in place of Ragnow, but the vaunted unit of Decker, Jonah Jackson, Ragnow, Vaitai and Penei Sewell never played a single snap together.
That won't change this season until Week 5 at the earliest, if at all. Campbell didn't give the most encouraging update on Vatai on Tuesday.
"It hurts to lose Big V, man," he said. "He was a big part of what we did and he was a great team guy. He’ll still be in the building, but that’s life in the NFL and we move on."
Campbell said the Lions have a host of options when it comes to filling Vaitai's 6'6, 330-pound hole. He said they "can kick Sewell down to guard and bump Nelson up" to right tackle. He said they could move Ragnow over to guard and presumably put Brown at center, or shift Jackson to right guard and fill Jackson's spot with Logan Stenberg. He said they can simply replace Vaitai with Tommy Kraemer.
"We got options and we’re going to make this work," he said. "We'll be OK."
Other highlights from Campbell's interview on 97.1 The Ticket:
On where the Lions are most improved from last season: "I would say No. 1 is receiver. The receiver position in general is better. Certainly adding (DJ) Chark helped, but (Josh) Reynolds, I know we got him late in the year but I feel like he’s in a really good spot right now, and then (Amon-Ra St. Brown) has picked up right where he left off. He’s been one of our most consistent players up to this point. You would think he’s in year eight or year nine just the way his approach is, his knowledge of the game, he’s all business. So that’s a good thing. That receiver position has really improved, so that would be the No. 1 spot right there."
On Jared Goff compared to this time last year: "Better, he’s looked a lot better. He’s a lot more comfortable, and that’s a credit to Ben Johnson and that offensive staff, a credit to (Goff's) work that he’s put in and it’s a credit to Brad (Holmes) putting some pieces around him to help him prove. So it’s all encompassing and I love where he’s at right now. There again, all he’s gotta do is just move this offense, be efficient, be smart with the football and we’ll be just fine, but I love where he’s at right now."
Related
On facing the Eagles in the season opener after last year's 44-6 loss: "I think there is a motivation factor in the fact that there are enough players here who tasted that last year. That will leave a bad taste in your mouth. And I think what it says is, this team that we’re getting ready to play is capable of embarrassing you. So you better be on it, we better be on our details, we better be ready to go because if not, this team will rub our face in it like they did last year."
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