If you ask Vegas, the Packers are the favorites in the North after trading for star pass-rusher Micah Parsons. If you ask Dan Campbell, "Vegas has done what, again?"
The Lions aren't using the new odds as bulletin board material ahead of Sunday's season opener at Lambeau Field, Campbell said. They're nothing more than another outside opinion.
"Listen, that’s all good. To each their own," Campbell said. "We haven’t talked about any of that."
The Lions are two-time defending champs in the division. They've won the most games in the NFL over that span, including three of four against the Packers. But with the addition of Parsons, Green Bay leapfrogged Detroit as the team to beat -- at least according to the sportsbooks -- in a division that featured three playoff teams last year.
"Look," said Campbell, "they’ve got a good roster, they’ve got good coaches over there, competitive every year. This division is tough, as we’ve said, but we wouldn’t want it any other way. This is why you do it, you love this stuff, the competition that’s involved in it."
As for Parsons in particular, Campbell acknowledged the Lions will "have our eyes on" how he might change the look of the Packers' defense, especially on third down. It helps that the Lions can answer the All-Pro edge rusher with an All-Pro right tackle in Penei Sewell.
"We know what kind of player he is, he’s a really good player. But we’ll have a plan," Campbell said.
He joked that "whatever we had planned for Kenny Clark, we’ll just have planned for Micah" after the Packers sent the three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle to Dallas in the trade.
"Look, you’ve got to be prepared and they’re going to find plays that they can use him where he can excel, and like I said, we’ll have a plan," Campbell said.