Getty Jaylen Waddle makes a catch for the Dolphins in a 2022 game vs. Detroit.
It’s no secret the Detroit Lions have been awful on defense during the 2022 season, but up until this point, it might have been assumed that the team was not the worst of the worst statistically.
Now, there are some brand new numbers to back up just how terrible the Lions have been on the field on defense. After Week 8’s debacle in which the Lions barely stopped the Miami Dolphins, some stats came in that showed where the defense stands.
As the CBS Sports post reveals, the Lions are dead last in terms of every key statistical category, placing 32nd overall. The numbers are so glaring on the graphic that they are almost unbelievable.
Lions defensive ranks this season
Points per Game 32nd
Yards per Game 32nd
Yards per Play 32nd
1st Down/Game 32nd
3rd Down Conv. % 32nd
It was a week of change for the Lions, who fired Aubrey Pleasant while promoting Brian Duker to his post as defensive backs coach. The Lions needed to do something, because as these numbers show, they were in very bad shape as a whole on the defensive side of the ball.
Clearly, it’s going to be a long way up from the NFL’s basement for the Lions, who continue to set the worst kind of marks thus far this year,
Aaron Glenn Not Down About Lions Defense
In spite of the fact that the Lions have struggled a lot, defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn still sees a positive in the fact that the Lions seem to be getting a lot of good performances from youngsters.
Speaking to the media on Thursday, November 3, Glenn explained what he saw as the positives, even as moral victories were hard to come by.
“A number of positives came out of this game when you look at our young players that stepped up. Just the overall effort of the defense, the overall looking to make plays, looking to right the ship for the most part and trending in the right direction for the past two games,” Glenn said. “Again, there’s no moral victories for us as coaches and as players, but we are excited with it, with the go forward of a lot of our guys.”
Up until Week 8, the Lions had made better progress on defense just to see their offense let them down. This past week, it was the defense’s turn to rest yet again. Glenn seems to think that the team only need try to continue to adjust to solve the problem.
“This game is always about adjusting. It doesn’t matter what situation that you’re in. There are some adjustments that we have made and plus, I think the players have been challenged. They understand that. We as coaches, we’ve been challenged. We understand that and every week we go out, we got to put our best foot forward,” he said. “Listen, we have a good group of guys and they go out and they want to win every game. Early in the season, things wouldn’t happen the way we wanted to happen but like I said, this last two games, you know the guys, they’ve been really showing what they can do and we got to continue improving those situations.”
So far, the numbers show that improving the situation on defense has been very difficult for the Lions. That’s true no matter how Glenn feels.
Lions Defense Has Awful 2022 Stats
Currently, the Lions have offered little resistance on the back end or up front. The team has some awful statistics in terms of defense to help in their terrible 1-6 start.
Detroit sits 27th in pass defense through eight weeks of the season, allowing 266 yards per-game on average. They have also allowed 12 touchdowns this year, and have a long catch allowed of 54 total yards. The Lions are also ranked 30th in rush defense so far this season, allowing 154.9 yards per-game and an awful 13 touchdowns.
As a whole, the Lions have given up 421.3 yards per-game and sit 32nd in total defense after allowing 2,949 total yards so far, good for the league’s basement.
Naturally, these numbers are more than a bit alarming for the Lions, and show that the team has not improved at all. 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. Week 4, they offered no resistance. Week 5, 6 and 7 featured a small turnaround, but still wasn’t good enough.
During Week 8, the Lions were beaten down again by Miami to the tune of an ugly 31 points.
As has been the case since the start of the year, somehow, the Lions have to find a way to be average to bad on defense instead of historically horrible. It seems that time is running out for them to get this done the rest of the way.