“It’s reckless and disrespectful!” Emmanuel Acho lashes out at Dan Campbell for going overboard with aggressive offensive calls
Emmanuel Acho criticized Lions head coach Dan Campbell for his decision to attempt an onside kick, which ultimately cost the team a crucial victory.
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Dan Campbell and Emmanuel Acho (Via Imago/YouTube Screengrab)
The Detroit Lions are coming off a poor loss which snapped their long-standing 11-game winning streak against the Buffalo Bills in Week 15. While head coach Dan Campbell did not step back from taking responsibility for the loss, Emmanuel Acho isn’t ready to hear any excuses.
Seeing his defense struggle against the solid Josh Allen-led offense, Campbell called for an onside kick in the final 12 minutes of the game out of desperation. It would have worked if only the Bills’ wide receiver Mack Hollins hadn’t recovered and returned it to five yards.
While talking about how things went sideways for the Lions due to Campbell’s aggressive coaching approach on Fox Sports 1’s The Facility, sports analyst Acho lashed out at the Lions head coach.
What Dan Campbell is doing is just asinine. It’s crazy, reckless, and disrespectful. It’s no longer aggressive. To me, it was just dumb because you’re putting your team in a position to lose. Either he’s smarter than everybody else who is currently coaching, calling, and analyzing the game of football or he’s making decisions which are dumb.
Emmanuel Acho asserted
“What Dan Campbell is doing is just asinine. It’s crazy, reckless and disrespectful. It’s no longer aggressive.”@EmmanuelAcho reacts to the Lions onside kick to start 4th quarter pic.twitter.com/Q0y8vHjmNn
— The Facility (@TheFacilityFS1) December 16, 2024
Perhaps if the Lions’ defense wasn’t plagued with injuries, pulling the onside kick wasn’t entirely an impossible thing to opt for. Nonetheless, they have clinched a spot in the playoffs because of the aggressive coaching style of head coach Campbell, who has always proven a competent leader when it comes to taking accountability.
Dan Campbell reflects on controversial onside kick decision
In the post-game press conference, head coach Campbell was inquired about his decision to go for the onside kick instead of playing defense. He thought his team would recover the ball and gain the momentum they need to outperform the Bills.
Obviously, now sitting here in hindsight, after them taking it down to the [five]-yard line, yeah, I wish I wouldn’t have done that. But it is what it is.
Dan Campbell said
The opposing head coach, Sean McDermott, also addressed the Lions’ decision for onside kick, admitting the team had been quite aggressive with their plays throughout. He drew parallels with their loss against the Green Bay Packers when Detroit repeated the same mistakes as before.
Tied for the best record of 12-2 in the NFC, the Lions are now headed for their Week 16 game against the Chicago Bears next week.
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Pratyusha Srivastava
(2015 Articles Published)