Getty The Lions defense tries to sack Kyler Murray.
The Detroit Lions defense is trying desperately to turn around their fortunes this season, and a big way many thought that would happen was with more pressure on the quarterback.
So far this season, however, a similar disturbing trend has emerged with the Lions. Once again, the team is not putting nearly enough pressure on the pocket and that has played a direct role in both of the team’s defeats so far this season.
Worse than that, the numbers indicate what most already know. The Lions are a team that doesn’t often get after it up front or generate much pressure. According to ESPN, Detroit’s pass rush win rate percentage is dead last in the NFL at an ugly 19%. It’s a huge dip from the teams near them in last place as well, who have pass rush win percentages in the 30% range.
Matt Patricia, who was hired to build a defense and change the culture, is coaching up a no-energy unit that’s dead last in ESPN’s pass rush win rate. It’s not close either.
29. Giants 33%
30. Rams 32%
31. Bengals 30%
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32. Lions 19%
Obviously, the Lions have to turn around the pass rush if they want to win games. Week 3 showed why this was the case, as the team put a tiny bit of pressure on Kyler Murray in key moments and used it to their advantage to turn around the game and pull out a close win. On the season, the Lions still only have 3 sacks to their credit, which is far too low a total to sustain success defensively.
Safe to say that as these numbers show, the Lions have to start winning more battles up front if they want to win more battles on the field on defense.
Cory Undlin: ‘No Panic’ Over Lions Defensive Start
Even on the heels of one of the ugliest performances by the team in recent memory in Week 2, Cory Undlin says there’s plenty of football and time left for the Lions to turn things around on his side of the ball. As a result, he’s not panicking a bit about where the team is currently at.
Lions defensive coordinator Cory Undlin: “No panic right now in our room with any position group. We are all aware of the fact that we haven’t played great in the first two weeks and we’re 0-2.”
Such an explanation will likely not sit well with Lions fans, who’ve been panicking since the fourth quarter of Week 1 on. Undlin is right, however, in that there is plenty of football left to be played and the Lions have also been dinged up a bit on the back end.
Still, urging folks not to panic after the team has started 0-2 and is seemingly staring down the barrel of 0-4 is a difficult proposition. His defense would be wise to heed his words and try to keep a level ship at this point.
Lions Defense Ripped Over Performance
Why has the Lions defense been so bad under Matt Patricia? Finding an explanation for these anomalies has not been easy to do, but analyst Doug Farrar from Touchdown Wire has taken perhaps the best possible step in explaining why the Lions continue to struggle in their scheme while it works in New England. As Farrar said, it’s a matter of personnel in Detroit, even as the Lions have tried to take steps to improve their roster in recent years.
Farrar wrote:
“So… why are the Lions so bad at man coverage, and why do they insist on doing it more than any other team? Personnel is a big part of it. If your secondary personnel isn’t matched to your schematic concepts, you’re going to get eaten alive — even if the opposing quarterback is Mitchell Trubisky. Before the 2019 season, the Lions signed former Seahawks slot defender Justin Coleman to a four-year, $36 million contract, making Coleman the highest-paid slot defender in NFL history. But Coleman had excelled in Seattle’s zone-based defense, and he wasn’t used to playing man as much as the Lions asked him to. The numbers played out as you might predict: Coleman allowed five touchdowns to just one interception in man and combo coverage last season,
Patricia, on the other hand, seems to have made the worst mistake a game-planner can possibly make: He’s subscribed to the idea that no matter what kinds of players he has on his roster, he’s going to run what he runs, and to heck with reality.”
In Farrar’s mind, the Lions still don’t have the right kind of personnel to be able to run the type of man defense that has become Patricia’s bread and butter during his time in the league. As he admits, the Lions do have Jeff Okudah on the roster perhaps coming to help aid in this, but the team still doesn’t have the types of players to run their scheme successfully. Worse, they don’t have the commitment of the coaching staff to switch things up when their stated plan doesn’t work.
Detroit’s had some tough injuries at cornerback to start the season which has prevented them from feeling completely comfortable, but if Patricia continues to struggle on defense and the year spirals out of control, it will be bad news for the former super genius coordinator turned head coach.
So far, Patricia’s plan to win in Detroit with man defense hasn’t turned out well whatsoever, and he hasn’t been able to adapt otherwise. That could prove bad news for his long term plans of sticking around if things don’t change.
If the Lions could find a pass rush, plenty of these problems would be solved. Right now, that hasn
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