The Detroit Lions' secondary is the most misunderstood group in the NFL, here's what people are getting wrong
In 2023 there was no doubt in the world that the Detroit Lions had a problem in the secondary. Cameron Sutton and company were getting beat on the regular. This is why the Lions went out and heavily invested in this unit over the offseason. Now the problem is fixed. That is unless you ask […]
In 2023 there was no doubt in the world that the Detroit Lions had a problem in the secondary. Cameron Sutton and company were getting beat on the regular. This is why the Lions went out and heavily invested in this unit over the offseason. Now the problem is fixed. That is unless you ask the talking heads.
For example, former tight end Tony Gonzalez said on Thursday night that he didn't think the Lions were the best team in the league because of their "25th-ranked defense." I don't know what Tony is talking about there, but we'll get into that in a minute.
Then on Wednesday former Lions quarterback Dan Orlovsky said if he were going up against the Lions, he'd take three deep shots a quarter because the Lions unit is good, but not great.
It feels like a lot of times when it comes to national analysts that cover all 32 teams, things tend to leak over into the next year. This is something they remembered from last year and think that it's just still what's happening. I fully get it. Covering one team's every move is a lot, covering all 32 is a lot more.
The problem is that nobody thinks about context when it comes to the Lions' secondary. If you go onto Pro Football Reference right now and look up all 32 team's defensive stats against the pass, you'll see that the Lions have given up the 10th most passing yards in the NFL. A really simple way to combat that idea is to look at the passing attempts against. 455 passes have been thrown against the Lions this year. That's the sixth most.
Some may read that and wonder why the Lions have been passed against so much. Well, slide over to the rushing stats and take a look. The Lions have allowed just 1,221 rushing yards this year. That's the fifth least. Teams are having a hard time running the ball on this team, so they pass.
But wait, there's more. All you have to do is go back and look at the halftime score of a lot of the Lions' games this year and you'll see that this team is frequently in the lead of games going into the second half. What do teams do when they're trailing? They abandon the run in favor of passing the ball to pick up chunks of yards and try to get back in.
It's not like that's working though. The Lions have allowed just 11 passing touchdowns. go back to PFR real quick and tell me where that ranks in the NFL. Never mind, I'll do it. It's the fewest. The Lions and the Jets are tied for the fewest passing touchdowns allowed this season. That seems good to me.
As far as the deep shots thing, allow my former boss Jeremy Reisman of Pride of Detroit to shut that idea down.
Ok, turns out they're good at that too.
One last thing I want to look at. The Lions currently lead the league in defensive pass interference calls with 17. This one is kind of easy to break. Terrion Arnold has seven of those. Five of them were in the first month of the season. He's had two since then.
Carlton Davis has four called on him, but he hasn't been penalized for anything since Week 7. So basically 11 of these are all from quite a while ago.
The Lions have a very good secondary right now. Arguably one of the top units in the NFL. All anyone has to do is look at the context of things and they'll see that.
Detroit Lions practice squad check-in, how many elevations have been used, who has some left, and playoff availability
There may not be a team in the NFL that uses its practice squad the way the Detroit Lions do. They are essentially an extension of this team's 53-man roster. Pretty much everyone is going to get a chance to play during the season. The Lions use these guys a lot. With that in mind, […]
