Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell didn't take issue with the Seattle Seahawks continuing to rack up yards even after Sunday's outcome was no longer in doubt.
After the two-minute warning in Sunday's 51-29 Seahawks win in what could be the final home game of the Pete Carroll-Russell Wilson era, Seattle ran a trick-play end-around to former Western Michigan receiver D'Wayne Eskridge for 30 yards that came a yard short of scoring. The Seahawks knelt the final two plays from the 1-yard-line.
While some coaches might have taken an issue with Seattle running such a play in that spot, Campbell shrugged.
"The way I look at that is, well, if you don't like it, you better stop it then," Campbell said, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. "And, hey man, kudos. And to be honest with you, if they would have run it in at the end, I wouldn't have had a problem with that, either. It's up to us to stop them. There's 60 minutes on the game clock, so if you got a problem, then why don't you stop it. Otherwise, they'll just keep piling it on. So no, I don't have any problem with that."
It's the type of response we'd expect of a former player who has built a staff full of former players. Campbell might have created memes in the offseason with his knee-biting comments, but during the campaign, he's proven to be a good coach and leader of a team with a dearth of talent at this stage of the process.
Next season, the expectations in Detroit will rise slightly as the rebuild enters Year 2. Then we'll begin to see what sort of program Campbell and general manager Brad Holmes are constructing.
