Detroit Lions’ Aidan Hutchinson explains why preparing for Week 1 is difficult

The Detroit Lions have expressed that the Los Angeles Rams are a better football team than they were eight months ago, when Dan Campbell’s team defeated them and advanced to the playoffs.

As the Rams strengthen their offensive and defensive lines and their players improve, it will not be easy for them to win on Sunday Night Football to open the season.

Aidan Hutchinson said the first week’s games were challenging because teams played with standard strategies in the preseason and many key regular players were not even used.

“It’s going to be interesting. You wonder if they’re going to change their approach. But you never know for sure. Week 1 games are always a little difficult to prepare for because you don’t really have film to work with,” Hutchinson said. “Maybe they want to change their mentality with this or that. At the end of the day, just staying true to our rules and what we do on defense is the only thing we can control.”

This year, the Rams may be without two starters on the offensive line, as Alaric Jackson has been suspended and Rob Havenstein may miss the opening game due to an ankle injury.

“I think it’s one of those things where it helps that we played them last year. So you already have a good grasp of their O-line, some of their core players that they have,” Hutchinson said. “As far as injuries and the guy that just got suspended, I’m just going to play whoever they put in front of me. I don’t really care. That’s always been the mentality and that’s going to be the mentality on Sunday.”

Dan Campbell expressed in his weekly radio interview on 97.1 The Ticket that the team will continue to focus on its strengths.

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“I think you should start by taking what you’re good at and what you’ve mastered in training camp,” Campbell said. “You should trust the players that have been the most consistent over a period of time and also during training camp, and you should trust them to make good plays.

“As far as the opponent goes, I honestly feel like most of the work was done in training camp. You’d like to think so,” Campbell continued. “And what I mean by that is you’ve tested each other enough, the coordinators, coaches and players, and you’re constantly trying to manipulate each other. You try to be petty and find every weakness in what you find in them. I think that forces you to adapt, and that’s really good.”

The Rams will be bringing in running back Kyren Williams and a familiar face that the former No. 2 pick struggled with with the Michigan Wolverines, Blake Corum, selected by the Rams in the third round of this year’s draft.

“Blake has been a tough opponent in practice at Michigan. It’s always fun to play against his old teammates,” Hutchinson said. “He’s an all-time Michigan legend. He’s a great player and I’m excited about it. I think all of these backs have a similar build and a similar style of play. I wish him the best, but not in Week 1.”