NFC Notes: Lions, Packers, Vikings, Odell Beckham

Lions

Lions HC Dan Campbell said he doesn’t feel discouraged by their 1-4 start to the season and feels they are “one or two plays away” from having at least three wins. 

“I’m not discouraged,” Campbell said, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “I’m not happy with where we’re at. I mean, I don’t think anybody is, but when you really look at it, you’re one or two plays away here and all of a sudden you’re sitting here with three wins. But the reality is we only have one, so that’s where we’re at.”

Campbell added that they’ve had to adjust practice due to the number of injuries suffered on the team. 

“A lot of it was just with where we were at, we had a number of injuries and so you dial back a number of things to feel like you can get through what you need to get through in practice but yet still prepare them,” Campbell said. “I think when I really look back on it, it’s, well, maybe at the expense of us losing some reps and we’re a young team and you may put a strain on other groups because you’re light in other area but, man, the rest of your team needs that work.”

Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown mentioned that they must be able to practice at a high level in order to see results on gameday. 

“Everything starts on the practice field,” St. Brown said. “The plays that they draw up for us, the execution, just envisioning making those plays on Sunday, it starts out there on Wednesday, Thursdays and Friday. He tweaked a couple things for practice, which I’m all for. I love one-on-ones and that’s going to be in practice Mondays and Thursdays now for us, so I’m excited, get to work on your craft, get better, compete and that’s what I’m about.”

• MLive.com’s Kyle Meinke writes Lions  WR DJ Chark (ankle) is in a walking boot at practice but he does not require surgery.
• Meinke adds that Chark could potentially miss multiple games. 
• The Lions worked out WR Antonio Nunn and WR Stanley Berryhill, who signed with the team. (Aaron Wilson)

Packers

• Packers WR Sammy Watkins felt discomfort in his hamstring vs. the Bears, but finished out the game. It wasn’t until practice when he was going “85%” that he felt a pop and knew something wasn’t right: “I had to just fall down, or I felt it was going to tear off the bone.” (Ryan Wood)
• Packers HC Matt LaFleur said they are still evaluating Watkins to see if he can play in Week 7: “Yeah we’ll see. He was limited yesterday and I thought he did a nice job in terms of what we asked him to do.” (Rob Demovsky)
• Packers QB Aaron Rodgers said he’ll be good to go on Sunday: “I’ll go out and practice tomorrow and Friday and take it easy Saturday and be ready to go Sunday.” (Matt Schneidman)
• Regarding rotating OL Elgton Jenkins back to the guard role, LaFleur responded that they are trying to work through their options to determine the best decision: “Trying to feel that out right now… Do you move one guy? Do you end up moving two guys? Or do you just work through what we’re going through right now?” (Demovsky)

Vikings

• USA Today’s Judd Zulgad writes there are a few reasons to connect the Vikings as a potential landing spot for free agent WR Odell Beckham Jr.
• He points out Beckham would know Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell from his successful stint with the Rams last year, and O’Connell would know how to maximize Beckham in the offense. There are also a number of LSU players on the Vikings, so there’s a connection in the locker room. 
• Zulgad adds at 5-1, the Vikings fit the criteria of a contending team, and they also happen to play in a dome. While they don’t have a huge need at receiver with Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen and K.J. Osborn, adding Beckham wouldn’t hurt.