Lions star jordan love sents i terrifying message.
Defensively, the Detroit Lions have a long way to go before it’s too late.
Why the Detroit Lions are struggling on defense and what they can do to fix it before the playoffs.
The Lions are having one of their best years in a long time, but if they want to move away from the “feel good story Lions” and become a serious contender, they must address their leaky defense. Detroit ranks 23rd in the NFL in points allowed per game, 26th in sacks per game, and in yards per attempt, while allowing the 12th-most passing yards in the league.
The Detroit Lions have been one of the best teams in the NFL in recent years. But if the Lions want to move away from being a “feel-good story” team and become a serious contender, they must address their weak defense.
The Lions are 23rd in the NFL in points allowed per game. They rank 26th in the league in sack percentage and yards per attempt, and they have allowed the 12th-most passing yards. The Lions’ secondary has been severely weakened by the season-ending injuries of defensive backs, with the absence of pressure from their front seven. This presents a glaring weakness in the Lions’ playoff-bound defense, and it must be addressed if Detroit is going to be a serious contender.Lions
2023 Team Statistics:
400.6 offensive YPG (2nd)
27.3 offensive PPG (5th)
322.4 defensive YPG (14th)
23.8 defensive PPG (23rd)
To be fair, Lions fans may be overjoyed at the prospect of an exciting 9-3 team with a bright future. After all, the Lions are tied for 5th in the NFL in points allowed, tied for 3rd in yards allowed per game, and tied for 2nd in yards gained per game. As any Lions fan will tell you, that’s a huge improvement over last year.
Still, aside from the Week 1 win over the Chiefs, Detroit has lost to the Chicago Bears (twice), Carolina Panthers (twice), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (twice), New Orleans Saints (twice), Las Vegas Raiders (twice), Atlanta Falcons (twice), Los Angeles Chargers (twice), and Green Bay (twice) (when the Packers were struggling at the start of the season). All of these teams are 6-6 right now, and only two of them are in playoff contention heading into Week 14.
To be fair, Lions fans may be overjoyed at the prospect of an exciting 9-3 team with a bright future. After all, the Lions are tied for 5th in the NFL in points allowed, tied for 3rd in yards allowed per game, and tied for 2nd in yards gained per game. As any Lions fan will tell you, that’s a huge improvement over last year.
Still, aside from the Week 1 win over the Chiefs, Detroit has lost to the Chicago Bears (twice), Carolina Panthers (twice), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (twice), New Orleans Saints (twice), Las Vegas Raiders (twice), Atlanta Falcons (twice), Los Angeles Chargers (twice), and Green Bay (twice) (when the Packers were struggling at the start of the season). All of these teams are 6-6 right now, and only two of them are in playoff contention heading into Week 14.
Aside from the significant injuries to the secondary, however, the Lions’ problems begin on the defensive end. Last year’s first-round draft pick, Aidan Hutchinson, recorded 9.5 total sacks. This year, he has only 5.5, but the lack of production is not entirely his fault. “They know Aidan is a player, so they’re putting two players on him,” the Lions’ defensive coordinator, Aaron Glenn, said. “Most of the time with the other players, you’ll look at the tape and they’re maxed out, and whoever is in a one-on-one, they have to win. It’s up to us, as coaches, to keep teaching them how to always get on the edge in these situations.”
Hutchinson leads the team with 36 QB pressures, while the next-closest rusher Charles Harris has only 14. That’s a huge workload for an already banged-up secondary.
The team’s poor sack percentage of 5.8 also hurts its ability to generate turnovers and keep opponents out of the red zone, where it ranks 30th in red zone defense.
| Defensive Lineman | 2023 Stats |
|---|---|
| Aidan Hutchinson | 5.5 sacks, 6 TFL, 36 pressures |
| Alim McNiell* | 5 sacks, 6 TFL, 12 pressures |
| Rest of Lions’ DL | 6.5 sacks, 12 TFL, 34 pressures |
Lack of interceptions
Detroit secondary: 9 INTs (tied for 18th), 47 PASS DEFENSIVE INTERROGATIONS (tied for 25th)
92.5 QB QBR (tied for 26th)
Quarterbacks have a much lower rate of making bad decisions if they don’t have to worry about getting hurt, so it’s not surprising that the Lions rank 22nd in the NFL in takeaways allowed per game at 1.2. Lions coach Dan Campbell called the low number “disheartening.”
What we need to do is get takeaways. This is one of the things that we did really well at this point last year. We played hard, we got pressure on the quarterback, we affected him, but then we were getting these takeaways. You’re getting two a game right now, and I think that’s a mindset and that’s something that we need to work on.
Detroit hopes to replicate last year’s success, when it forced just six turnovers in the first eight weeks before collecting 16 takeaways in the final 10 weeks (10 picks, 6 fumble recoveries). Turnovers are unpredictable and difficult to forecast, but it’s no secret that more pressure would have helped.
“Health is wealth”
“7 key defensive players are out/will miss time with injury”
