If you're a Detroit Lions fan, I'm sure you've heard this story a lot. The Lions have a real problem coming out of the half in the third quarter. It's something that's effected this team quite a bit this season. You can just see it. While things have changed in this regard in the last few weeks, I was curious to see just how big of problem this is. So I did some stat diving and here's what I found:

Offense

Offensively it's not that bad. It's not great, but it's not as bad as I thought it would be. The Lions are 11th in total yards in the third quarter and 12th in total touchdowns. See, it's not as bad as you might have thought. 

That is the Lions offense's lowest output of any quarter though. Here's the stat breakdown by quarter. 

Quarter	Total Yards	Touchdowns
First	1,600	14
Second	1,893	17
Third	1,446	9
Fourth	1,773	17

There's definitely a dip there for sure. The Lions are actually best fourth quarter offense team in the league if you're going by yards gained and points scored. They're up there in first quarter stats too. They just take a real dip in that third quarter. The Rams have a pretty good third quarter offense if you're curious. They're fifth in yards and sixth in touchdowns.

What about turnovers? Are the Lions turning it over a lot in the third quarter? The answer is yes. The Lions have turned the ball over 23 times times this season. Here's how those turnovers breakdown per quarter:

Quarter	Turnovers
First	6
Second	5
Third	8
Fourth	4

The last one I was curious about is sacks. The Lions haven't allowed a ton of them this year. 31 in total. That's 29th in the NFL. That's very good. How are those sacks coming? Is that a third quarter thing too? Let's take a look by quarter:

Quarter	Sacks
First	6
Second	8
Third	6
Fourth	11

Didn't see that coming. The fourth quarter is where the Lions have taken most of their sacks. Yet they're still able to overcome that with all the yards and scoring. Not bad. 

Defense

Surely the defense is the problem in the third quarter right? Absolutely they are. The Lions defense allows the sixth most yards and the second most touchdowns in the league in the third quarter. That's a real problem. Let's take a look at how the defense breaks down per quarter because I have a theory that they're otherwise not that bad. 

Quarter	Yards Allowed	Touchdowns allowed
First	1,379	9
Second	1,389	10
Third	1,557	12
Fourth	1,314	11

Would you believe me if I told you that the Lions have a top defense in the second and fourth quarters? The Lions are 24th in yards allowed and 24th in touchdowns allowed in the second quarter. They're also 19th in yards allowed and 18th in touchdowns allowed in the fourth quarter. 

What about turnovers and sacks during the third quarter? Is the Lions defense doing those things? Let's take a look by quarter:

Quarter	Takeaways	Sacks
First	8	9
Second	7	13
Third	1	5
Fourth	7	14

I mean, wow. That is not a typo. The Lions have forced exactly one turnover in the third quarter all season long. That was Brian Branch's pick six in Week 1. The Lions have otherwise played 16 straight games without a turnover in the third quarter.

So there you have it, the third quarter is a problem. That's pretty confirmed. 

Lions to place Jerry Jacobs on injured reserve, opening roster spot

On Thursday afternoon Detroit Lions cornerback Jerry Jacobs put out a cryptic tweet thanking the city of Detroit. This naturally had some Lions fans concerned because just last week, Bruce Irvin and Isaiah Buggs put out tweets saying the same thing and they had just been released. Well, there's some good news and bad news […]