Dan Campbell kicks off his fourth season as Detroit head coach on Sunday night. Jared Goff enters his fourth season as the Lions’ starting quarterback. Back in 2009, Sean Payton was in his fourth year as the Saints’ head coach and Drew Brees was entering Year 4 as the New Orleans quarterback.
Back in 2009, Campbell signed as a free agent with the New Orleans Saints, reconnecting with his Giants and Cowboys offensive coordinator, Payton. But an August knee injury ended Campbell’s season – and his 11-year playing career. New Orleans scripted a storybook Super Bowl season and Campbell never got a ring.
Campbell sees plenty of similarities between his Lions and those Saints, he shared on the Costa & Jansen with Heather Show Wednesday on 97.1 The Ticket. Remembering Brees and Jonathan Vilma making pre-snap adjustments during camp, Campbell said he had flashbacks last month when watching Goff and linebacker Alex Anzalone.
“You watch Goff get up there,” Campbell said, via Will Burchfield, “he’s making the call, he’s turning the protection, all of a sudden Alex flips the pressure and now Goff sees it coming, ‘Do I have time to make the adjustment?’ … Man, that’s next level,” Campbell said. “And that’s where we’ve gotten to, where we’ve grown.”
New Orleans opened 13-0 in 2009. Campbell, Goff and Detroit are hoping to begin 1-0 when they host a rematch of their 2023 playoff thriller against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday night (8:20 p.m. ET, NBC).