HOUSTON >> Za’Darius Smith wanted to play, but Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell wouldn’t let him.

The veteran pass rusher acquired by the Lions at Tuesday’s deadline said during a postgame interview with NBC’s Sunday Night Football crew that he basically begged to be active for Detroit’s 26-23 win over the Houston Texans.

Instead, the 32-year-old, 10-year veteran patrolled the sideline, tablet in hand, coaching up the team’s linemen alongside position coach Terrell Williams.

“A lot of the guys up front was getting a lot of chips, a lot of slides, and I was just telling them, man, ‘Just listen to the protections. Listen to it. If you listen to a (right) or a (left) call, you actually know where he’s going,’” Smith said. “We was able to get some pressure after that, and I’m just so happy we got four sacks after making that call.”

Campbell said he considered allowing Smith to play, but giving him the time off “just felt like the right thing to do.”

Previously, Campbell — speaking on behalf of general manager Brad Holmes — reiterated over and over that Detroit wasn’t going to make a panic move at the trade deadline after a season-ending injury to Aidan Hutchinson. Really, from the time Holmes and Campbell arrived in Detroit all the way back in 2021, they’ve been consistent in their desire to prioritize culture fits over anything else when acquiring talent.

So far, it looks and sounds like Smith is the best example of that.

“I was just talking to Coach, I can’t wait (to get out there). I hate that he gave me this week off. Obviously, I didn’t want it,” Smith said.

“That’s something that they wanted for their players and that’s what I love about this football team, because they care about their players, and … he was a player, so he understands what’s going on.”

All of this comes just a few days after Smith was spotted courtside at Little Caesars Arena wearing a shirt with a photo of Brian Branch flipping double middle fingers.

He is as Detroit as they come.

“He’s a veteran guy, he’s been around it and he’s wholly embraced the eight wins,” Campbell joked. “‘Hey, we got eight.’” … Look, it’s one of the reasons he’s been a good player. It’s not just the physical ability he’s got. He’s been around it, he’s seen it, he’s pretty instinctive, he understands the game.”

And for all of the panic surrounding Hutchinson’s injury, landing Smith has certainly softened the blow.

Comeback motivation

The Lions’ comeback from down 23-7 at halftime was reminiscent of another that took place last season: The San Francisco 49ers’ comeback from being down 24-7 against the Lions in last year’s NFC Championship game.

In a way, Sunday was a full-on exorcism of those demons. They’re the team that is never out of it. They’re the team that can induce nightmares.

What’s most impressive is the Lions — like so many other past shortcomings that they’ve embraced — actually used the 49ers’ comeback last year as inspiration for a comeback of their own.

Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson told his unit at halftime that “this is San Francisco in reverse,” Campbell said. Lo and behold, it worked.

“That’s one of those last lessons learned, to have the ability to overcome when, man, nothing’s going your way,” Campbell said. “Now, our defense played well, and if they don’t, we don’t get back into that, but you’re talking about five turnovers. I mean, the odds of winning a game like that are slim-to-none, and to be able to just hang in there and believe you still gotta chance, you still have the ability, it’s going to flip any minute.

“… When you got that belief and you get that type of production when you need it, you are a dangerous team.”

Nixing Mixon

The Lions’ defensive performance on Sunday night was wholly built on their ability to stop Texans running back Joe Mixon, who has been one of the most dynamic playmakers in the league this season.

Entering Sunday, Mixon was averaging 116.3 yards from scrimmage per game. He had a rushing touchdown and popped a screen pass for 36 yards in the first quarter, but he was completely ineffective outside of those two plays.

Mixon finished with 46 yards rushing on 25 attempts, the lowest rushing average (1.8 yards) by any player with 25 or more attempts against the Lions in franchise history.

Campbell said the entire defensive game plan was predicated on slowing Mixon down. The Lions came up with four tackles-for-loss outside of their four sacks, with many of them being significant losses, and not just one or two yards.

“He was the most dangerous player that we had to deal with for them. He was the guy and we felt like they were going to try to force the issue with him and he’s a violent runner, he gets yards after contact, and man, we shut him down,” Campbell said. “Really, we kept them one-dimensional, and I thought that was a big part of it.”