Getty DeShon Elliott runs trying to tackle a Patriots back in 2022.
Things haven’t been good for the Detroit Lions on the defensive side of the ball this year, and it’s not a stretch to say there are plenty of reasons that’s the case.
Taking a deeper dive, though, why is Detroit’s defense struggling so much? It’s a tough question to answer, but one that deserves a deeper dive. Fortunately, the folks at Pro Football Focus have tightened their focus to do so.
Within a new ranking piece, unsurprisingly, the Detroit defense came in 32nd in the league in the site’s mind, meaning they are the worst team in football on that side of the ball. Statistically and otherwise, that’s certainly been the case through the early part of the season.
Some ideas were thrown out in a piece by Marcus Mosher, and as the analyst pointed out, most of the trouble has been with the defensive front even with as much as the backfield has struggled and been dinged-up thus far.
As Mosher wrote, Detroit’s defense is playing bad due to some issues they’re having in the trenches.
“This is just not a good defense right now, especially with all of their injuries in the secondary. It also doesn’t help that they can’t generate a reliable pass rush, as only Aidan Hutchinson (15) and John Cominsky (10) have double-digit pressures this season,” he wrote.
With all the problems up in the pocket, the team is also getting pushed around against the run as well.
“The Lions are also the league’s worst run defense in EPA allowed per run, at 0.094, as they’ve allowed 838 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground across five games,” Mosher pointed out.
Combine that with the seven sacks the Lions have as a team and it’s clear there’s some familiar problems. Detroit just doesn’t pressure the quarterback and cannot stop the run. That represents double trouble for their defense.
From the start of the year, there was question about whether or not the team would be able to measure up in the trenches. So far, the answer to that question has been a resounding no for the team. Not only are the Lions once again not generating a consistent pass rush, but they are struggling to stop the run.
If that sounds familiar, it’s been a usual one for the team the last few seasons on the field. Detroit’s defense had only 30 sacks last year, and ranked 28th in total run defense, allowing nearly 135 yards per-game on the ground.
This offseason, the hope was the Lions had done enough to fix their defensive front. Clearly, that hasn’t been the case as this proves.
Statistically, Lions’ 2022 Defense Awful
It certainly isn’t a stretch to proclaim this the worst defense in the NFL this season. So far, all the relevant numbers are helping to make that the case in an easy way.
Detroit sits 26th in pass defense through four weeks of the season, allowing 261 yards per-game on average. They have also allowed eight 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 167.6 yards per-game and an awful 10 touchdowns.
As a whole, the Lions have given up 428.6 yards per-game and sit 31st in total defense after allowing 2,143 total yards so far, good for the league’s basement.
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. Week 4, they offered no resistance. Week 5 featured a small turnaround, but still wasn’t good enough.
As a result, there’s a lot of numbers to be concerned about, but also plenty of opportunity to turn things around in a bigger way.
Detroit Can Turn Things Around
If there’s one thing that is obvious at this point, it’s that the Lions will have plenty of time to find fixes and make improvements.
Detroit has only played five games, and while their defense has some ugly numbers, there will be a chance for those numbers to improve. The Lions can find a way to tighten up the scheme and get marginally better, it might help their team improve overall.
Already, some signs were seen of that in Week 5. The Lions’ defense only allowed the Patriots into the end zone once while holding the team to field goals. Typically, with a high-scoring offense, this would have been enough. Sadly for the Lions, their offense laid an egg on the road.
Another variable to remember? The Lions have multiple injured players on defense, and will have a chance to clean that up as folks return after the bye week. The Lions could be seeing the likes of cornerback Jerry Jacobs, defensive lineman Josh Paschal, edge Romeo Okwara and others return soon enough to provide reinforcements.
The Lions will have to hope some of the returns work out in helping to solve some of their same usual issues.