Both Detroit Lions wins can definitely be categorized as “ugly wins.” Against both the New Orleans Saints and New York Jets, Detroit blew a two-point lead. Both opponents—despite very little success early in the game—were able to tie the game late, and it took Detroit’s offense to control the game and the Lions’ defense to produce just one game-defining play. It succeeded in both cases, but clearly neither win instilled much confidence in Detroit’s Super Bowl chances—especially on defense.
But at the same time, the Lions defense certainly shook things up against the Jets this week. There are interesting personnel decisions. Rock Ya-Sin was sent to the bench in favor of Roger McCreary, and Ennis Rakestraw also appeared to jump Ya-Sin. Detroit sent veteran linebacker Devin White to the inactive list, and, instead, leaned on Malcolm Rodriguez and Trevor Nowaske. And Christian Izien, in his first career start for the Lions, was all over the field making plays.
Detroit also made some significant schematic changes. Defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard has cooled off aggressive blitz packages (22.7% blitz rate compared to a season average of 33.6%), hoping seven players dropping into coverage will take some stress off the secondary.
The results are…. eh… mix it up. Detroit’s run defense was outstanding, and they got five sacks—including the game-winning strip sack from Chuck Clark. But Detroit’s outside cornerbacks still haven’t stopped Geno Smith from lighting up Ford Field again. And while there are fewer miscommunications and missed assignments in high school, there are still some too much.
Put it all together, and I think it’s fair to say Detroit has improved defensively, but not by much. The question is: will they get to the point where they play really well.
As Dan Campbell pointed out the other week, they won’t fix everything overnight. It’s a gradual improvement that will hopefully continue to improve as these players gain chemistry with each other and just get reps to knock off some rust.
On this week’s PODcast, we discuss all about the Lions’ 31-24 win over the Jets. It’s not just about the defense, but the strides we continue to see on the offensive side of the ball. Jared Goff is off to a hot start, Jahmyr Gibbs is still on pace to be in the Offensive Player of the Year discussion, and the offensive line (when at full health) looks more like the standard set in Detroit. Additionally, several other arms stood up on Sunday.
At the end of the PODcast, we also discuss the pros and cons of trading for Joey Porter Jr.
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