Both of the Detroit Lions’ wins can certainly be categorized as “ugly wins.” Against both the New Orleans Saints and New York Jets, Detroit blew two-score leads. Both opponents—despite very little early-game success—were able to tie the game up late, and it required Detroit’s offense to take control of the game and the Lions’ defense to just make one game-defining play. It worked out in both cases, but it’s clear neither win instilled much confidence in Detroit’s Super Bowl chances—particularly on defense.
But at the same time, the Lions defense certainly shook things up against the Jets this week. There were interesting personnel decisions. Rock Ya-Sin was sent to the bench in favor of Roger McCreary, and it looks like even Ennis Rakestraw has jumped Ya-Sin. Detroit sent veteran linebacker Devin White to the inactive list, and, instead, leaned on both Malcolm Rodriguez and Trevor Nowaske. And Christian Izien, in his first career Lions start, was all over the field making plays.
Detroit also made a some significant schematic changes. Defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard cooled off the aggressive blitz packages (22.7% blitz rate compared to season average of 33.6%), hoping that seven players dropped into coverage would take some stress off the secondary.
The results were…. eh… mixed. Detroit’s run defense was outstanding, and they did tally five sacks—including the game winning strip sack from Chuck Clark. But Detroit’s outside cornerbacks still could not stop Geno Smith from lighting up Ford Field yet again. And while there were fewer miscommunications and missed assignments in the secondary, there were still too many.
Put it all together, and I think it’s fair to say Detroit improved defensively, but not by a lot. The question is: will they eventually get to a point where they are actually playing well.
As Dan Campbell pointed out during the week, they aren’t going to fix everything overnight. This is a gradual improvement that will hopefully continue to get better as these players gain chemistry with each other and just get the reps to shake off some rust.
On this week’s PODcast, we discuss everything about the Lions’ 31-24 win over the Jets. It’s not just about the defense, but the strides we’re continuing to see on the offensive side of the ball. Jared Goff is off to a red-hot start, Jahmyr Gibbs is still very much on pace to be in the Offensive Player of the Year discussion, and the offensive line (when at full health) is looking much more like the standard that has been set in Detroit. Plus, a few other weapons stood out on Sunday.
At the end of the PODcast, we also discuss the pros and cons of trading for Joey Porter Jr.
You can catch the PODcast on any podcasting platform by simply searching “Pride of Detroit.” Or you can just listen using the Spotify embed below.
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