The Lions have a clear identity. On both sides of the ball.
That’s been the case for the entirety of the Dan Campbell era, the most successful era in Lions football since the Barry Sanders era in the mid-to-late 1990s.
Let’s dive into those clear tendencies before the Buffalo Bills host the Lions on Thursday Night Football in Week 2. You know, the home-opening prime time game you’ve had circled on the calendar for months now. It’s finally right around the corner.
Lions offense
Jared Goff vs. pressure
Every quarterback experiences a dip
in efficiency while under pressure. It’s only natural. BUT, no one has a larger discrepancy in performance from a clean pocket compared to when pressured over the past three seasons.
Check this from Fantasy Points’ Scott Barrett, posted right before the season:
So while technically every week “pressure the quarterback” could be key to the game for a defense, it’s really important in this game for the Bills against Goff. He might be the last true drop back quarterback in today’s NFL.
Not only does he have the largest EPA per drop back difference in his clean pocket vs. pressured drop backs, his clean pockets amounted to the No. 1 EPA per drop in all of football from 2023 to 2025. Bananas!
He was only pressured on 22% of his drop backs against the Saints in Week 1 — a very low number — and went 3-of-7 for 49 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions. But the larger-sample based point remains.
Getting to Goff is absolutely paramount.
Under center
The surge in under center plays across the NFL was one of the fascinating storylines from Week 1, and a reminder of the league’s cyclical nature.
The Lions want to live under center. And their narrow victory over the Saints was an indicator of the point of emphasis for Detroit’s offense.
Per Football Insights on Twitter, via Fantasy Points Data, the Lions were under center on 75% of their offensive plays in Week 1, second only to the Raiders (75.5%). The third place team in under-center snaps (Ravens) came in at 66.7%.
The Bills were under center on 64.3% of their offensive plays in Houston.
Jahmyr Gibbs, workhouse
In his first two seasons in with the Lions, Gibbs was indisputably in a running back committee with David Montgomery. ‘Tis not the case anymore, especially with Isaiah Pacheco on IR.
Gibbs toted the rock 29 times — for 156 yards — against the Saints. Backup Sione Vaki had two carries for seven yards. Gibbs also caught five passes for another 30 yards. His 29 carries were five attempts more than anyone else in the NFL in Week 1.
Make no mistake about it — Gibbs is a distinct workhorse in this Lions offense. They want him to touch the ball as frequently as realistically possible, and he’s super explosive, all of which is why he likely went No. 1 overall in your fantasy draft.
Lions Defense
Blitz happy
Detroit defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard — yes, that Kelvin Sheppard — had his unit blitz at the 13th-highest rate in 2025 at 26.6%.
In Week 1, he ignited the blitz, sending an extra rusher on 43% of the Saints drop backs, which amounted to the fifth-highest rate among all teams.
For the record, Jim Leonhard blitzed C.J. Stroud 24.7% of the time, the 17th-highest in Week 1.
Given the Lions don’t have their starting safeties, Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch, who, when healthy, might be the best safety tandem in the NFL, if Week 1 is any indication of Sheppard’s philosophy, he simply wants to regularly send the house in hopes of getting the football out of the hands of the opposing quarterback as quickly as possible to limit long-developing routes being targeted downfield.
Aidan Hutchinson, workhorse
For as much as Gibbs is a one-man show — and a damn good one at that — in the backfield for the Lions, Hutchinson is a one-man wrecking crew on the edge getting after the passer on this Detroit defense.
In Week 1, he registered a whopping 10 pressures. The next-highest pressure total came from nose tackle Alim McNeill, who had three.
Last season, counting the playoffs, Hutchinson accumulated 100 pressures. Second on the team was Al-Quadin Muhammad, with 53, and he signed with the Buccaneers in free agency.
In April, the Lions drafted Derrick Moore in the second round, a rusher I liked quite a bit before the draft, but expectations shouldn’t be astronomically high for him. D.J. Wonnum was the free-agent signee to bookend Hutchinson on the edge. He did muster three pressures against New Orleans yet has only eclipsed the 40-pressure plateau once in his NFL career, and that came back in 2021, his second professional season.
The Lions lean on Hutchinson to generate consistent pressure probably more than any other club relies on its No. 1 pass rusher.
