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.