Getty Lions defensive end Trey Flowers gets a hug on the sidelines.
After finally gaining some health back in recent weeks, the Detroit Lions are suddenly starting to feel the heat in terms of injuries across their roster.
Monday, Matt Patricia revealed that the Lions were placing defensive end Trey Flowers on the IR with injury. Even though that news may seem ominous, the Lions are expecting the stay of Flowers to be short on the list with the injury.
Flowers left Sunday’s game against the Colts late, and was dinged up. No word came from the team in the aftermath because the injury played out so late, but it was clear on Monday that Flowers was going to need some time to heal up.
Losing Flowers at this point isn’t ideal for the Detroit defense. He’s one of their only big guns up front and a guy who can generate pressure on the pocket. Romeo Okwara has been statistically better than Flowers this season,
Detroit will add Everson Griffen to the mix this week which will help, but the team was likely banking on Flowers being a big part of the defense with Griffen coming up to make them even more dangerous.
For at least the short term future, that won’t be the case for the team.
Trey Flowers Stats
Flowers answered the bell and played well himself with 7 sacks during the 2019 season. This year, he has gotten off to a slow start with just 22 tackles and 2 sacks. Even in spite of that, Flowers is a key veteran presence up front and a guy who understands the defense and everyone’s role within it.
In the NFL, Flowers has 237 tackles and 30 sacks. He’s been a weapon for the pass rush within Patricia’s defense, even if he hasn’t completely lived up to the hype and contract he signed with the Lions thus far.
Lions Pass Rush Struggling
During this season, a disturbing trend has emerged with the Lions early on. 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 a few months back, Detroit’s pass rush win rate percentage was 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 8 showed why this was the case, as the team wasn’t able to touch Philip Rivers much if at all in key moments. That was the difference between winning and being blown out by the opposition’s offense and aging quarterback. On the season, the Lions still have just 3 sacks to their credit, which is far too low a total to sustain success defensively.
The Lions have to hope Griffen and Okwara can drive the bus and begin to heat up the pocket now with Flowers sidelined temporarily.
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