Snap counts and Aaron Glenn's comments show the Lions aren't fully confident in the idea that one player is making a comeback
Two Sunday's ago the Detroit Lions had a shocking come from behind win over the Houston Texans and part of the reason they were able to win was because their defense absolutely turned it up in the second half. They also got some key contributions from a guy that's trying to make a big comeback. […]
Two Sunday's ago the Detroit Lions had a shocking come from behind win over the Houston Texans and part of the reason they were able to win was because their defense absolutely turned it up in the second half. They also got some key contributions from a guy that's trying to make a big comeback. We're talking James Houston.
Houston had three pressures, two hurries and sack on 16 snaps against the Texans. A pretty good showing. Lions head coach Dan Campbell definitely took notice.
"There was a number of reps that looked different, and it looked like he’s beginning to get some of his confidence back. And even in the run game was a little bit better which is encouraging because he’s got to be able to help us there in rotation. We can’t – I mean we can, but we would rather not just sap (Lions DL Josh) Paschal and those ends, (Lions DL) Za’Darius (Smith) now and (Lions DL) Levi (Onwuzurike). You want them to have enough to where they have plenty in reserves and when we need him – so we need him. He had a couple of really good rushes. He had one where his get off was – that’s what we need out of him all the time, he’s got that ability.”
The thought process going into the game against the Jaguars was that we're going to see if the Lions feel confident in Houston's comeback by seeing if the team decided to put him out there a little more. Obviously nobody saw a starters amount of snaps, but at least 20-25 was expected. The Lions wound up playing him 15 snaps in this game.
Going back to last week, some comments from Aaron Glenn sort of pointed to the idea that the Lions weren't fully confident that Houston was good to go just yet.
“I don’t want to say turned the corner, but I will say that you saw the improvement and I think he got the message of what the expectations of him needs to be and that has to be on a week-to-week basis. And again, like I said, the pass rush, I knew that was going to be there. The way he played the run in this game, that’s what I was excited about for that player because now it’s just going to give him the confidence to go out and do all the things that we know he can do at a better rate.”
So let's take a bit of a deeper look at Houston's game against the Jaguars. It was not as good as his game against the Texans. He did get two pressures in this one, but like Glenn said, that's something they knew he could do. It was against the run where they were hoping to see more.
Houston did not have that good of a day there. PFF gave him a 50.1 run defense grade and have him missing a tackle on a run. That was on only four run defense snaps. Not that great. It should be noted that this was an all time beatdown and that the Jags had to completely abandon the run game as early as the second quarter. Still, you have to be good when you get the chance to.
This is one to keep watching. The Colts are a fairly good running team, so we'll see what he can do on Sunday when he gets the chances.
Two Lions are in line to do the most improbable thing possible and it would be epic if one of them pulls it off
It's genuinely something I never thought I'd talk about here. The Detroit Lions have always had good defensive players and they've had guys that could be in the Defensive Player of the Year discussion, but they were almost always defensive lineman and never guys in the secondary. Even earlier this season the Lions had a […]
