What the Lions box score didn’t tell: Detroit’s secondary wasn’t nearly as bad as 410 passing yards suggests
New Orleans threw for 410 yards against Detroit, but the volume, game script and underlying numbers paint a much different picture of the Lions’ secondary.
Now that Week 1 is out of the way for the Detroit Lions, we’re debuting our new series called “What the Lions box score didn’t tell.” The idea behind this series is that we want to dig a little deeper beyond the counting stats you’ll see if you just look up the basic box score.
Sometimes the stuff we’ll find will be analytical; sometimes it’ll be a player we noticed doing things that deserve some more credit, and sometimes we’re going to point out some of the illusions we’re seeing on the field since we’re big on illusions. Speaking of illusions, that’s exactly what I want to talk about today.
The illusion that the Lions’ secondary had a bad day is fairly wrong
If you simply look at the box score for the Lions vs. Saints game, you’re going to see that the Lions allowed 410 passing yards in this game. That’s obviously going to make you think, “geez, it was an air raid over there.” That’s not exactly what happened. It’s kind of not what happened at all.
If you’re going to focus on the box score, focus on a different part of it for a second. The Lions shut the Saints’ run game down, and they shut it down fast. That meant that all the Saints could possibly do was pass the ball, and they did it 56 times! That is not a little bit. So naturally, if you throw the ball 56 times, it’s going to get caught once or twice, right? Which is how you wind up with 410 yards.
Analytics tell a different story too
You might also think that the Lions’ secondary probably graded out really poorly in this game, but that’s not really the case either. Here’s how Pro Football Focus graded out each player in the secondary on Sunday:
Keith Abney: 75.1
Roger McCreary: 67.7
Thomas Harper: 67.0
Chuck Clark: 65.6
D.J. Reed: 60.1
Avonte Maddox: 56.2
Rock Ya-Sin: 48.1
Nobody is elite here, but PFF grades tend to go like this: Elite (90.0+), High Quality (80.0–89.9), Above Average (70.0–79.9), Average (60.0–69.9), Below Average (50.0–59.9), and Poor (49.9 or lower).
The Lions’ secondary falls pretty much into the average range, with Abney, who played just 17 coverage snaps, being the one above-average guy. Nothing wrong with average. Obviously, you want better than average if you can get it, but if you think there are a bunch of teams out there with starters in the higher category every week, you’re crazy.
Offense deserves some blame for the Lions’ defensive issues
The Saints ran 90 offensive snaps in this game. 90! You don’t get that many snaps on offense unless the other team gives you the ball. Yeah, the Lions did put up 31 points in this game, but they also had eight offensive drives that either stalled out or they turned the ball over. This was not the best day for the Lions’ offense and the second half showed that. Despite coming out swinging in the third quarter and going up 21-7, the Lions then punted on their next two drives. The Saints scored both times.
Then they stalled out and had to kick a field goal. The Saints scored again. Then, for some reason, they punted on fourth-and-2 midfield. Luckily for them, the Saints didn’t score that time.
The Lions scored on one of those drives, just one, and we’re talking about a completely different game that ended in regulation.
Sometimes dudes just make plays
Look, if you want to talk about the Lions allowing things to happen, we can do that, but it was primarily on the back of one of the best receivers in the league. Chris Olave just went out there and was Chris Olave. There isn’t a whole lot you can do about it.
Olave got 100 yards on Reed, and it’s worth noting that all three were explosive plays, but he just kind of did that to everyone. Outside of Olave, the Lions were actually better.
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