Lions run defense is on a historic pace in 2023
I don't now if anyone has noticed, but the Detroit Lions defense has been playing pretty well in 2023. Well enough to make you say wow! The Lions defense has allowed a total of 1,122 yards and 83 points in the first four games of the season. That's pretty good. That's the fourth best in […]
I don't now if anyone has noticed, but the Detroit Lions defense has been playing pretty well in 2023. Well enough to make you say wow! The Lions defense has allowed a total of 1,122 yards and 83 points in the first four games of the season. That's pretty good. That's the fourth best in total yards and the 12th best in total points.
That is an amazing turnaround from where things were at with the start of the 2022 season. The Lions allowed 1,779 yards and 141 points. They were the worst defense in the entire NFL. Now, after one year, they're on a historical start. Especially in the run stopping game.
The Lions had allowed 662 rushing yards in the first four games of the 2022 season. That's the 113th worst start of the Super Bowl era. This year, the Lions have allowed 243 yards on the ground. That's the 27th best start in the Super Bowl Era.
That means only 26 teams have allowed fewer rush yards to start their season since 1966. Only four of those teams are from the last 10 years. The 2019 Buccaneers allowed 237 yards, the 2017 Broncos allowed 203 yards, the 2021 Bucs allowed 190 yards and the 2016 Packers allowed 171.
The record, if you're curious, is 157 yards, That's held by the 1995 San Francisco 49ers.
In total, only 129 teams have been able to keep teams under 300 total rushing yards in their first four games. Only 40 have been able to keep it under 250.
That's some pretty special stuff by the Lions. It's not like they're playing bad running teams or bad running backs either. These are big names.
Isiah Pacheco, Kenneth Walker III, Bijan Robinson and Aaron Jones is no walk in the park at all. Three of those guys were at the top of the league in rushing last season. Both Jones and Walker ran for over 1,000 yards. Pacheco was close behind with 830. This year both Robinson and Pacheco are in the top 10 in rushing yards so far. Walker isn't far behind at 23rd. Jones just played his first game of the season last Thursday.
The Lions also outperformed some of the greatest defenses off all time.
Ok, two more things. first, 19 of the 27 teams ahead of the Lions went on to finish their season with a winning record and make the playoffs. Three of them won Super Bowls.
The other thing is this. The all time record for fewest rushing yards allowed in a season is 970 by the 2000 Baltimore Ravens. The Lions are a bit behind the eight ball on that one. They'd have to allow 56 yards or less in the next 13 games. That's a very tall order. The Lions would have to do it for one extra game as well.
As for the Lions record, the 2014 Lions hold the sixth best record in the Super Bowl era with 1,109. As you can see from the tweet above, this 2023 team is already on a better pace.
Ok, I lied. One more thing because I'm sure people will want to point it out. What about the pass defense? The Lions 879 passing yards allowed is 15th in the league. They had allowed 1,117 yards through the air in the first four games of the 2022 season. That was the third worst in the NFL last year.
This defense is significantly better across the board. Let's see what they're able to do in the next 13 games.
Ok, I lied again. One more thing. The Lions have had four straight games with less than 100 yards allowed. The team record is five straight. They did that in 2016. The NFL record in 11 by the 1997 49ers.
The one and only deal the Lions could make for Chase Claypool
This is something that I never thought I would write. Even a few hours ago I thought it was crazy to even consider a world where the Detroit Lions would even consider the idea of trading for Chicago Bears receiver Chase Claypool. Then my colleague Justin Rogers of the Detroit News tweeted this. Now I'm […]
