Wednesday open thread: Do you agree with Dan Campbell’s decision before halftime vs. Cowboys

The Detroit Lions were stagnant on offense for much of Sunday’s matchup against the Cowboys. That meant that points were hard to come across, and every possession mattered. At the same time, that meant you really didn’t want to force anything downfield. Dan Campbell leaned towards the latter, putting aside his usual aggression and running out the clock before the half.

The Lions initially recovered a fumble at their own 3-yard line, which wasn’t exactly a position to be aggressive in. However, after gaining some breathing room, the Lions found themselves with first-and-10 at their own 26-yard line with three timeouts and 29 seconds on the clock.

Question of the day: Do you agree with Dan Campbell’s decision to run out the clock before halftime?

My answer: At first I didn’t. I was adamant that with three timeouts, the offense ought to at least put the ball in the air. However, the wonderful folks of Lions twitter who took the time to engage in some civil discourse with me made some very fair points.

For starters, the Lions had lost their best receiver in Amon-Ra St. Brown amidst an already-depleted receiver position. Likewise, the offensive line hadn’t held up well at all through the first half. It’s also worth noting that the Lions were trotting out a field goal kicker whose maximum range is 50-55, a far cry from the days when getting to midfield meant it was time to trot out Matt Prater.

Most importantly, however, was the man with the ball in his hands. It was far from Jared Goff’s day Sunday, and while we hadn’t seen the worst of it by this point in the game, it was clear it wasn’t one of his sharper days.

Hindsight is 20/20, and hindsight showed that it was absolutely the right decision not to press the offense to get in field goal range in that situation. I wasn’t a fan at first, but on second look, there were so many things working against the offense in that situation that it was probably the right call not to take the risk.

What do you think? Do you agree with Dan Campbell’s decision? Was he too conservative? Vote in the poll below and let us know your thoughts.