Lions Mailbag: An interesting defensive coordinator option appears
Welcome to the Week 14 edition of our Detroit Lions mailbag. The playoffs are on the horizon for the NFL and things are about to get real in December. We've got some great questions today. Let's jump into them. We'll start with everyone's favorite topic, the defense. Yes. I know it's really hard to believe […]
Welcome to the Week 14 edition of our Detroit Lions mailbag. The playoffs are on the horizon for the NFL and things are about to get real in December. We've got some great questions today. Let's jump into them. We'll start with everyone's favorite topic, the defense.
Yes. I know it's really hard to believe this and, believe me, your body is going to want to reject it, but the Lions defense showed improvement against the Saints on Sunday. They were able to be in control for most of the game until they had some bad third downs in the middle of it all. The Lions were maybe the best they had been in a while when it comes to first and second down. They just had to deal with stuff like a bad luck tip into Olave's hands instead of a Jerry Jacobs interception or a Bruce Irvin attempted murder on Derek Carr that killed a 3rd-and-long situation.
The Lions actually had the Saints in multiple 3rd-and-long situations. They just need to finish on those and we're telling a much different story on Sunday.
In terms of upcoming offenses that they'll play, here's the Offensive DVOA rank of each one:
- Bears: 25th
- Broncos: 17th
- Vikings: 19th
- Cowboys: 8th
- Vikings: 19th
That's a manageable schedule for the Lions defense if they build off of the improvement they showed Sunday. Continue to be better on first and second down and then make sure you finish on third. If Gardner-Johnson's tease for his return to practice is real, then there's a chance we see him against the Cowboys. A game they could use all the defensive help they can get in.
To start, I don't think he gets fired at any point. I even think there's a strong chance that he's back in 2024. The only thing that could take Glenn out of here, in my opinion, is a head coaching job in the NFL. Which is still possible by the way. The word on Glenn is that he's a great leader of men and teams are always looking for a coach like that.
If he is gone, I think the Lions would likely continue the trend of in-house hirings with the promotion of Kelvin Sheppard. One interesting name that has been on mind for a bit is Dennis Allen. If the Saints decide to look for a new head coach after this season, Allen is a guy that Campbell goes way back with. they played together at Texas A&M and they coached together for four years with the Saints. Allen was a pretty good DC during that time.
That's been a bit of a problem with Ben Johnson as of late. Here's what I think happened. Johnson has a bit of an issue with game planning. He sticks to it a little too much. The plan was probably to get out in front and then run the ball all day and wear the clock out. they got the first part down, but then the Saints started stacking the box and making it hard to keep running the ball.
Johnson should have made some adjustments there, but he didn't. He kept on going with the game plan. eventually he turned to the Jamo page and we got to see Jameson Williams run the speed limit of a residential area and put the Lions out farther in front. Johnson needs to adjust a little faster. The gameplan should be to pummel and then spend the last quarter running out the clock. Not pummel and take a couple quarters off.
I'm with you. It's time. I think the gloves are already pretty much off though. Williams is playing more now than he's ever played. What needs to happen is that Jared Goff needs to start throwing his way. I think there's a possibility that there might be some trust issues still there. Goff knows he can rely on Amon-Ra St. Brown, Sam LaPorta and Josh Reynolds because they have constantly shown it.
While it hasn't happened in while, Williams did have some problems with drops and route running. He's fixed that. It's on Goff now to find him and utilize him more. There was definitely an instance or two on Sunday where Goff could have hit an open Jameson Williams and sparks could have flown. Let's see if he gets it going in the next five weeks becasue Williams can change a game with that speed.
It is surprising that we haven't seen more of Ifeatu Melifonwu. He had two games in which he played a game worth of snaps this season and he actually played pretty well in both of them. He had a 76 grade against the Falcons and a 67.9 grade against the Packers. Since then he's played seven total snaps on defense.
Walker has been struggling mightily since the bye week. The thing is, with C.J. Gardner-Johnson's return potentially right around the corner, the Lions might be waiting for then to make a change. They should definitely look to get Melifonwu more involved in the interim though. Even if he doesn't start.
Ooh a chance to do some rapid fire. Ok, here we go:
- Bruce Irvin should get more opportunities against the Bears and that should result in John Cominsky's snaps dropping a little bit. I think they still go pretty much committee on that side of the line though.
- I don't know, but it should be coming sooner than later. We'll have that news for you as soon as we know.
- I just wrote an entire story answering that one. That is right below.
Jared Goff is one of the NFL’s best deep ball passers in 2023
Boy that Jared Goff scrutiny from Detroit Lions fans never stops does it? I get it. The Lions are at a point with Goff where they're more than likely about to spend a ton of money on him and I get that fans want to see the Car Fax report on him before their team […]
