Our record is 8-3 which is great, but we seem to be on a downward trend. So here is my unwanted analysis of what is going wrong with the Detroit Lions.
Offense:
I’m not sure if it’s an issue with recognizing the blitz or just not having the personal to pick it up, but we have struggled with corner and nickel blitz all season. There has been multiple instances of free runners coming off the edge while our tackles are already engaged with the defensive end.
Interior pressure, anytime we are dealing with a large defensive tackle we struggle with QB pressure. We are not giving enough help to our center or left guard. Sorsdal is showing that he is an inexperienced rookie right now. Nearly every one of Goffs turn overs in the last 2 games were caused from pressure off the left guard or center.
Both of these are huge issues seeing how Goff is not mobile enough to get out of these pressures and still make a play.
In combination with this our screen/ quick pass game is non-existent. This creates a dynamic where the defense can blitz too often, this Goff never gets his rhythm going. We need to compliment our run/PA game with quick passes that have a high completion percentage to keep defenses honest.
I know it’s our identity but we seemily try to force the A gap run scheme even when it’s clearly not working. Our tackles are the strength of our line, so why no run off them more?
Defense:
Holy shit AG you make Joe fucking Barry look like a god.
This 1.5 gap scheme is 100% the reason why we have zero pass rush. It’s not lack of talent, its an over emphasis on stopping the run while forcing the ends to be responsible for both an inside gap and maintaining an edge. You can watch any one of our edge guys get a pass rush win and then stop in their tracks to maintain their gap integrity to prevent a scramble. To compound on top of this our blitz schemes are not working. We either A gap blitz or blitz the C gap. There is no in-between. We need to blitz the B gap off hutch: because he just forces the tackle to drop so deep.
Coverage. We went from playing the most man coverage to the most zone and in both instances we lack the flexibility to adjust to what offenses are doing. Zone becomes a liability without pass rush, it’s great against the run though. Man is terrible against the run, but can handle the lack of pass rush for longer. I don’t see how suddenly Jerry Jacobs and Kerby Joseph could regress so far without it being an issue with the scheme. We need to get more flexible in our coverage.
The defense is way too conservative and predictable until we are in a hole and are forced to all our blitz every passing down to get a must have stop.
I don’t think AG is a dummy, but I do believe he is stubborn as all hell and blames his players for not executing his scheme. This is such a terrible coaching trait. Your scheme should account for human error, and mental errors. A 2 gap scheme is what we finished last year with when our defense was top tier, we need to go back to that so our edge rushers can just cut it loose and get after the QB.
Anyways that’s my thoughts, but what do I know im just another armchair GM who played football in highschool.
I think you’re spot on, man. Somethings gotta give.
I also felt BJ wasn’t getting creative with run calls enough. We just seemed predictable across the board there.
Also DC coached desperate yesterday and he knows it. That won’t happen again.
Only thing I’d say is we are still in a good spot. We NEED to win in NO next week and see where we go from there. Overall, I think we win the division, which is awesome! A playoff game will be amazing. BH will get these issues fixed this offseason, so I trust in that!
We are built for the long haul so lets go baby! BNL
This is actually really good analysis. One thing I have noticed is that teams don’t seem to be biting as hard on play action. Honestly feels like we have a tell. I think a big part of our pass protection success has been play action in the past and linemen are ignoring it for the most part right now. You can see it with how Reynolds numbers are suffering we just aren’t getting enough time to hit the deep read as often.
Not even going to get into the defensive woes. You pretty much nailed it. Our secondary isn’t doing an awful job. Our push rush is literally non existent. And it seems like when we do blitz the QBs pick it up and read it every time. Have to do a better job disguising it.
Don’t have to worry about the PA if you rush 5 every down
Remember when we moved Hutch all around the defensive front? It seems that’s when he really thrived getting to the passer and being disruptive.
Now it’s the same spot, same angle over and over.
What gives?
We were having communication issues within the defense when hutxh was moving around, which made moving him look ineffective.
We need a QB spy. We let other QBs sit in the pocket for almost 30 seconds- minute which is wild.
I agree and we have the perfect linebackers for this. But AG and Kelvin Shepherd both say QB spy doesn’t work, they’re wrong but that’s what they think.
How to beat AG:
Go against whatever your normal tendencies are. He won’t want to adjust his gameplan from last Monday and he’ll stick with it even if it’s not working