Getty Geno Smith celebrates a touchdown.
The Detroit Lions got off to a horrible start on defense against the Seattle Seahawks, and fans were downright frustrated about how things went early.
In the first half, the Lions gave up 24 points to the Seahawks, and didn’t offer much resistance on the defensive side. The way they were being carved up by Seattle was quite hilarious to some fans.
Yahoo Sports analyst Charles Robinson found it funny that the Lions were making the very average Geno Smith look like Lamar Jackson.
“Lions got Geno Smith looking like Lamar Jackson out here,” Robinson tweeted.
While the irony of that was funny to some, the performance was no laughing matters to others. Aaron Glenn is taking some heat from fans from a defense that they see is no good.
I’m sure Aaron Glenn is a lovely guy but HOLY SHIT HIS DEFENSE SUCKS. #Lions
“I’m sure Aaron Glenn is a lovely guy but HOLY SHIT HIS DEFENSE SUCKS,” they tweeted.
Others took it even further, calling the Detroit defense one of the worst of the team’s history given the way they are playing and some of the mistakes they are making.
This #Lions defense has to be the worst in Lions history. Absolutely no stopping any offense. D-Line makes no pressure unless it’s a blitz, LB core has 1 good player in Rodriguez, and our secondary is injury-filled with Okudah being the only highlight. Scheme is horrible.
“This Lions defense has to be the worst in Lions history. Absolutely no stopping any offense. D-Line makes no pressure unless it’s a blitz, LB core has 1 good player in Rodriguez, and our secondary is injury-filled with Okudah being the only highlight. Scheme is horrible,” the account tweeted.
As others put it, the team may not have any hope down one of their best players on defense, making the effort awful.
“This is just awful, Okudah getting absolutely bossed by Metcalf, D line is non-existent, we have no hope at Safety position without Walker. Sigh,” they wrote.
A simple wish was put forth by Steven Kopp, who just wants the team to have a defense.
Kind of wish the #Lions had a defense.
“Kind of wish the Lions had a defense,” Kopp tweeted.
Add it up and it was a lot of frustration, all of which was directed at the team’s defense for their poor play.
Aaron Glenn Had Confidence Within Defense
Aaron Glenn knows that the Lions have some work to do in order to improve the rest of the season, but he has come away very impressed by what the Lions have been able to do early-on in the season.
Speaking to the media on Thursday, September 22, Glenn was asked for his assessment of where the Lions are at. As he said, it’s been a mixed bag, but the Lions have some improvement to hang their hat on at this point in time.
“I think we’ve done some stuff really, really well. Obviously there’s some things that we gotta work on, but I’ll tell you what, you look at our young guys and you look from game one to game two, you see growth there,” Glenn said. “You look at some of the guys that I spoke of before that we count on from game one to game two, you see growth there. It kind of marries up to what our head coach expects, (which is) a race to improve. So if we’re measuring off that, I think those guys have done a pretty good job now.”
In terms of all the points the team has given up, Glenn admitted he took a deep dive and found a lot have been in short yardage. While it’s not an excuse, it’s a teaching point.
“The points we’ve given up, I did a study on that actually, and man, one yard line, two-yard line. Which is hard to stop in those situations. But we got to stop them. We have to stop them,” he said. “I do think our guys are doing a pretty good job. We have a ways to go. We will get there, but I think this defense is going to be a pretty damn good defense as we’re going through this year.”
The start has been a bit slow, but the Lions have managed to do a nice job early on with their work. Though they have given up some yards and points, the team is playing well and holding together.
That clearly leaves Glenn encouraged about where the Lions will be trending in the near future the rest of the season, even as frustrated as fans are.
Lions Defense Struggling in 2022
Currently, the Lions have offered little resistance on the back end or up front. The team has some ugly statistics in terms of pass defense to start the year in spite of a decent start.
Detroit sits 27th in pass defense through three weeks of the season, allowing 280 yards per-game on average. They have also allowed five touchdowns this year, and have a long catch allowed of 54 total yards. The Lions are also ranked 27th in rush defense so far this season
Naturally, these numbers are more than a bit alarming early on for the Lions. They did play one of the NFL’s best offenses in Week 1 and were pitching a shutout until letting up a big in the second-half of Week 2 and Week 3. Still, there’s a lot of numbers to be concerned about, pointing to a need for a turnaround.
Glenn knows the Lions have to get things squared away, but he still understands that the team might be trending in a solid direction. After Week 3, he’ll have a good idea of how much further the team has to go.
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