Lions Film Study: Aidan Hutchinson went through the seventh circle of Hell on Sunday
Well, here we are. The Detroit Lions got dominated on Sunday, and Lions fans are overreacting at an all-time high. This is a group that had people who wanted Kellen Moore to start over future Hall of Famer Matthew Stafford. Now, they want Aidan Hutchinson gone, or they want him to take a pay cut.I […]
Well, here we are. The Detroit Lions got dominated on Sunday, and Lions fans are overreacting at an all-time high. This is a group that had people who wanted Kellen Moore to start over future Hall of Famer Matthew Stafford. Now, they want Aidan Hutchinson gone, or they want him to take a pay cut.
I don’t think anyone knows what Hutchinson went through against the Packers. He was doubled, tripled, chipped, and at times, flat-out assaulted. The Packers clearly worked their entire gameplan around stopping him, and that includes just not dropping back a lot. The Packers dropped back just 23 times in this game, and just six times in the second half. They had a plan, and it worked.
I charted every single one of those dropbacks, and now we’re going to watch some of the most egregious ones together.
Aidan Hutchinson film study
Snap 1: Doubled hard
Of all 23 clips that I charted, this one is a good representation of what most of the day looked like. This isn’t Madden, where you can run around two guys, and it’s not NFL Blitz, where you can bust through it like the Kool-Aid man.
This is real life, where two guys have a pretty good chance of stopping one. Plus, you’ll note that the Packers get the ball out quickly in a lot of these dropbacks. Everyone thinks Love was just chilling back there all day. In some cases, he was, but the Packers had a clear plan to get it out fast most of the day, and it worked.
Snap 2: Holding and a chip
Oh, that’s nice. This guy gave Hutchinson a little hug before letting him go. Might be a pretty loose holding call, but that’s a hold for sure. Then, once he lets go of Hutchinson, there’s a guy there to chip him immediately, and that slowed him down. There’s just not a lot you can do here when you’re getting held and then chipped.
Snap 3: Another one that probably should have been flagged
We’re just diving at dudes knees out here. I don’t know how a chop block isn’t called there, but it’s pretty dirty to be diving at the legs of a guy coming off a broken leg. But again, there was another guy there waiting to chip Hutchinson.
This is just such a good example of what the day was like for him. He was either getting doubled or guys were waiting in line to hit him, and it worked every play. I’m not kidding when I tell you again that the Packers’ entire offensive gameplan was to stop Hutchinson.
Snap 4: Someone call the police
This is a flat-out mugging. Offensive linemen were just straight-up tackling Hutchinson out there. Again, I don’t know what you want him to do here. He gets piled on immediately. Would it help to have someone else on the opposite side? Yes, of course. But teams are still going after him.
This would have been a good spot to have Alim McNeill or Levi Onwuzurike, because they could have taken advantage and brought pressure up the middle until the Packers had to shift their plans, but the Lions are missing both.
Snap 5: Not everything was bad
I know there are a lot of people mad online right now who think that Hutchinson looked bad, but this clip shows that he’s still a problem for the offense, and this wasn’t the only instance. There were two other pretty good pressures. Here, he gets past his man and pulls a nice move on the chip before getting in Love’s face. Love then overthrows his man, and it’s almost picked off by Alex Anzalone.
In conclusion, stuff like this is why you keep Hutchinson. Because teams work their gameplan around him, and when he’s not getting mugged or doubled, he pulls off a nice play. We’ll see how he plays against the Chicago Bears on Sunday. It should be a better outing.