Amon-Ra St. Brown Dan Campbell play calling
St. Brown said that Campbell fed him the ball a lot more when he took over the play-calling duties in 2021.
- The Detroit Lions and Philadelphia Eagles, two of the NFL’s top teams, will face off for the first time since 2022.
- Both teams anticipated playing each other in the playoffs, but it never materialized the last couple of years.
- Despite a 7-2 record, the reigning champion Eagles have shown some offensive inconsistencies this season.
- Lions coach Dan Campbell views the game as a major test and says it will show where Detroit stacks up among other contenders.
Ten months ago, as Avonte Maddox and the rest of his Philadelphia Eagles teammates plotted their playoff path toward Super Bowl 59, they began mentally preparing themselves for a showdown with the Detroit Lions.
An encounter with the NFC’s top seed was not only probable – it seemed inevitable.
“They were playing so much football throughout the year,” Maddox told the Free Press this week. “We were planning for who we were going to face. We thought it was going to be them. And unfortunately, they ended up losing. So, we didn’t get a chance to play them.”
The Lions’ season instead came to a sudden end with a shocking defeat to Washington in the divisional round. The Eagles, meanwhile, made it all the way to the postseason finale, in which they wrested the Lombardi Trophy away from the Kansas City Chiefs in a thorough 40-22 conquest of the NFL’s most recent dynasty.
Not long after Philadelphia celebrated its second title, Maddox – a do-everything defensive back and Detroit King alumnus – came home to the Motor City and signed with the Lions. The organization he joined shared a lot in common with the one he had just left. Their rosters were among the best in the league, chock full of talented players who proved themselves at elite college programs. Their rushing attacks were powerful because they invested heavily in both the backs and their offensive line. Stylistically, they were rugged and relentless – often using all four downs, which helped them win games on the margins.
“The way they play physical, the way they play tough, the way they play with effort, the way they play with fundamentals, I see a lot of similar things that are happening in their program that happen here in our program,” Philadelphia coach Nick Sirianni told reporters Friday, Nov. 14.
It’s no surprise then that the Lions and Eagles hold the best records in the NFL over the last three seasons. Since the start of 2023, Detroit is 33-10; Philadelphia, 32-11. But the Eagles and Lions never played each other during that 43-game span. On Sunday night (8:20 p.m., NBC), they’ll finally square off in a meeting that could have major implications on the 2025 NFL postseason.
“This will be a will be a huge test for us,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said.
The reigning champions, after all, are again one of the top contenders, even though they don’t look nearly as formidable or as functionally sound as they did last season. Their offense, at times, has been clunky – scoring fewer than 20 points in three of nine games. The connection between quarterback Jalen Hurts and star receiver A.J. Brown has flickered and occasionally gone offline. The production from running back Saquon Barkley, a 2,000-yard rusher a year ago, has plummeted. On the other side of the ball, there has been a dropoff in performance as well. The takeaway rate is way down. The average yards allowed per play is significantly higher. And yet, Philadelphia sits atop the conference with a 7-2 record.
“To be the man, you’ve got to beat the man,” Lions senior defensive assistant David Corrao said. “And until somebody else wins the Super Bowl, that’s the team we’re all trying to beat.”
Campbell has had his eye trained on the Eagles for a while. Philadelphia, after all, is the only NFC team the Lions haven’t vanquished since he came aboard as Detroit’s coach in 2021. The last time they played was the 2022 season opener, with the Eagles prevailing, 38-35. At the time, Campbell was still in the process of pulling Detroit out of a deep depression. Once he did, during the ensuing months, the Lions began to establish a winning identity. They finished that year one game above .500, then reached the NFC championship game the following season. Harnessing the momentum from that intoxicating run, they tied for the most regular-season victories in 2024. But a Super Bowl continues to elude them. Strangely enough, so did a matchup with the Eagles.
“Yeah, I mean really the last two years we thought we were going to face them at some point,” Campbell said. “We really believed that. And so, I would just say that’s always kind of been there like, ‘Hey, we’re going to face the Eagles.’”
In his mind, Campbell assessed the Lions’ body of work each week and wondered whether it would have been good enough to beat Philadelphia on any given day. It’s why he views this game as a litmus test for Detroit – a 6-3 team that remains a bit of a mystery through the first 10 weeks as it has dealt with a rash of injuries in its secondary, Campbell’s sudden move to take over the play-calling duties from offensive coordinator John Morton and inconsistent performances across the board.
A victory Sunday would have a stabilizing effect while solidifying Detroit’s standing as a championship-caliber squad.
“We’ve been looking at this one on our calendar for a long time,” star pass rusher Aidan Hutchinson said. “We’re going to be ready for this game. I really see this as a must-win.”
At the very least, it’s a high-stakes affair that could serve as a preview of a future playoff encounter.
“I’m excited,” said Maddox, a backup who has appeared in seven games this year. “It’s going to be a great matchup between us and them. … And now I’m on the opposite side.”
Contact Rainer Sabin at rsabin@freepress.com. Follow him @RainerSabin on X.
