In college, teams find motivation in being the homecoming opponent on another team’s schedule.
In the NFL, Dan Campbell is thrilled his Detroit Lions are the Dallas Cowboys’ foe Saturday when Hall-of-Fame Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson is being inducted into the team’s ring of honor.
“That’s awesome,” Campbell said Tuesday. “I feel like that was for us.”
Campbell said he grew up “a huge Jimmy Johnson fan” in rural Texas, where he watched Johnson build the Cowboys into perennial Super Bowl contenders.
WATCH THE SPEECH: Dan Campbell dedicates Detroit Lions’ NFC North title to ‘old guard’ in locker room speech
Johnson went 1-15 in his first season in Dallas and missed the playoffs in Year 2 before winning three straight division titles and back-to-back Super Bowls in 1992-93. The Cowboys won a third Super Bowl two years later, after Johnson left in a dispute with owner Jerry Jones, with a roster still constructed in Johnson’s image.
“I’ve just, I’ve always been fascinated with him,” Campbell said. “His style, the way he coached, what he was about, the way he built that roster. The way they played. And I just, I think he’s special. I think he’s one of these rare special coaches.”
Campbell said he’s not worried about his team getting up in the Cowboys mystique this week — Dallas is 7-0 at home this year and 15-1 at AT&T Stadium the past two seasons — and takes no offense to being the Cowboys’ opponent for Saturday’s game.
[ MUST LISTEN: Make “Carlos and Shawn” your go-to Detroit sports podcast, available anywhere you listen to podcasts (Apple, Spotify) ]
He said he’ll draw personal inspiration from Johnson’s ring-of-honor ceremony and will mention it to players “cause I respect the hell out of the man.”
“To me, it’s like an honor that we get to go out there, cause that’s what I think of,” he said. “Obviously, our team, man, a chance to get a win, but do something that he’d be proud of. He can watch us play and be like, ‘I like that style. I approve of that.’ So I think it’s pretty cool.”
MORE FROM BIRKETT: Lions’ NFC North-clinching victory was multiple games in the making in Minneapolis
Roster shuffle
Edge rusher James Houston is close to returning to practice from the fractured fibula he suffered in September, with Campbell saying “there’s a chance” the team could start Houston’s practice clock this week.
“I made a comment (on the radio) this morning about it, I don’t know,” he said. “We may, we may wait a week. He’s close to starting the clock.”
The Lions have a lighter-than-usual practice schedule this week ahead of Saturday’s game, and an abundance of pending roster decisions.
They could have to clear multiple spots on their 53-man roster in the coming weeks with Houston, safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson, fullback Jason Cabinda and defensive tackle Alim McNeill all potentially returning from injured reserve, and kicker Michael Badgley down to one remaining practice squad elevation.
If Badgley kicks against the Cowboys, he will need to be activated before the Lions’ season finale next week.
NFL POWER RANKINGS: How Detroit Lions can earn No. 1 seed in NFC playoffs
Campbell said Gardner-Johnson could return to action Saturday after the team opened his practice window last week. Teams have 21 days to activate a player to their 53-man rosters once the player returns to practice.
“We’ll just kind of take it as it comes,” Campbell said. “Certainly, if he’s ready, it adds another weapon on defense is what it does, another playmaker.”
Injury report
Tight end Brock Wright was listed as a non-participant on the Lions’ estimated practice report Tuesday after sitting out last week’s win over the Vikings with a hip injury, while Taylor Decker (groin), Gardner-Johnson and Cabinda were limited. The Lions held a walkthrough instead of practice Tuesday. Linebacker Derrick Barnes (shoulder) and cornerback Jerry Jacobs (hamstring), who did play against the Vikings because of injuries, were listed as full participants.
Contact Dave Birkett at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.
