Cade Mays debut: What encouraged Lions coach Dan Campbell

Center Cade Mays had some ups and downs in his Detroit Lions debut against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, Oct. 25.

But what matters most is that he’s headed in the right direction — and got his feet wet before the season’s biggest test, with Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores bringing his blitz-happy unit to town this weekend.

Mays’ debut put him under the microscope after he accidentally punched the ball out of running back Jahmyr Gibbs’ hands on a red-zone trip and later fumbled an exchange with quarterback Jared Goff, costing the Lions another series. He also gave up a strip-sack on Goff that the quarterback recovered.

But all in all, Lions coach Dan Campbell was encouraged by the performance.

“It’s good to get him back out there, it’s the reason we got him,” Campbell said Tuesday morning in an interview with Costa & Jansen with Heather on 97.1 The Ticket.

“And I would say — look, he’s gotta shake some of the rust off, I’ll start there, which is understandable. I mean, you’re asking a lot to go in there and play 68 plays, and really — yes, you’ve practiced, but so, [that’s] a lot — but I would say it was better than I thought it might be, too, if that makes sense.”

Mays suffered a wrist injury during training camp and didn’t return to practice until Oct. 7. At the time, the injury was considered devastating to the team’s offense, but Juice Scruggs performed well enough as the starter to raise serious questions about whether Mays should automatically get his starting job back.

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But the Lions “ripped the band-aid off” against Green Bay, presumably to give Mays a chance to get his feet under him before facing the NFL’s most creative defense. Campbell specifically mentioned Mays’ processing when talking about the positives from his debut in a 20-17 win against Green Bay.

“What you do see is, man, he’s a heavy player. You see the density. Man, he was processing pretty quick, and he’s only gonna get better,” Campbell said. “And actually, I thought the second half was when he settled in some. Now, that’s when you start getting a little tired when you haven’t had that many reps, but I thought he settled in in the second half, so he’s only going to get better, get more comfortable now that he’s back, and that game was great for him, it really was.”

Minnesota has the league’s second-ranked passing defense and is first in both pressure rate (48.8%) and blitz rate (68.4%), leading in both categories by a significant margin. In last week’s win over the Colts, the Vikings blitzed on 85% of dropbacks, according to ESPN Research, the highest blitz rate for any team in 20 seasons.

Mays will certainly have his hands full, but at least it won’t be his first day on the job.

“We’re fired up to have him back,” Campbell said.

nbianchi@detroitnews.com

@nolanbianchi

This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Cade Mays debut: What encouraged Lions coach Dan Campbell