The Lions went up and down the field in their rout of the Jags last week. They scored touchdowns on their first seven drives. They did not punt. They were so dominant that Jared Goff and most of the offensive starters were on the bench early in the fourth quarter.
So thorough that you'd think they'd struggle to find anything to fix.
"Offensively one of the things that came up here is, how do you improve on scoring every possession?" Dan Campbell said Tuesday on 97.1 The Ticket. "Well, there were about three of them where we could’ve scored five plays sooner, or four plays sooner."
While those errors didn't cost the Lions against one of the worst teams in the league, "what if you're playing Green Bay, you’re playing Minnesota, Kansas City, whatever it is?" Campbell said. "You’re in one of those games where you have to go score for score, you may not have that luxury to get another reload on it. So you gotta clean those up."
Just how obsessive are the Lions with improvement? Jared Goff threw for 412 yards, most of his Lions tenure, four touchdowns and finished with a perfect passer rating and said Tuesday, "There’s a ton of chances to get better." To Goff -- who threw fewer incompletions than the Lions scored touchdowns for the fourth time this season -- even a completed pass presents opportunities for growth.
"Every play provides some chances to get better, even if it’s something as simple for me as ball location, or my feet, or my eyes," Goff said on 97.1 The Ticket. "Every single play there’s going to be something you can find, and the great ones will find ways to get better. The great teams will. And we’re still in this race to improve that we talk about all the time: how can we keep getting better and better and better (so that) by the time the tournament starts we can be at our best?"
Through 10 weeks, the Lions are the only NFL team that ranks in the top five in both scoring offense and scoring defense. As Campbell put it, "You want to be playing your best football by the time you hit late December, January, and I feel like we're on our way to doing that. That’s important." The defense had another strong showing last week, keeping the Jags out of the end zone on a day that Detroit lost starting linebacker and co-captain Alex Anzalone to a broken forearm.
But the Lions can be better on that side of the ball, too.
"Defensively we had some things come up where we weren’t where we were supposed to be on a few plays and it didn’t catch up to us, but you play Josh Allen or you play (Jordan) Love, or you play one of these (top QB's), they’re going to find it and it’s going to hurt you," said Campbell. "And it won’t just be an explosive, it’s going to be a touchdown."
The Lions' standard doesn't bend, and "our guys know that," Campbell said.
"You should strive to be perfect. You should strive to play a perfect game knowing you never will, but you’re always grasping for it," he said. "You’re always trying to find a way to absolutely play the perfect game."
And by February, maybe they'll be the perfect team.
"These games are all great and dandy to win by how much we’re winning them by, but all that matters is getting that W and keeping ourselves in first place in our division right now," said Goff. "And all that stuff, if it’s meant to happen, it will."