Lions Have 43 Total QB Pressures, While Aaron Donald Has 33 Himself
No question, Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald is the most dominant defensive player in the NFL today.
In Week 5 against Washington, Donald's talents were on full display, as he secured four sacks and a forced fumble.
He was awarded NFC Defensive Player of the Week honors, the first time he’s won the award this season.
On the season, Donald has tallied 33 quarterback pressures himself, while Detroit has 43 total as a team.
The Lions could use a player of his caliber on their defensive line, as Detroit's run defense ranks 30th in the NFL. And there continues to be questions raised as to how Detroit can improve its pass rush.
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Lions defensive coordinator Cory Undlin was asked this week how the interior pass-rush can improve as the season progresses.
“Well, when teams are running the ball on you, the opportunities to rush the passer end up being a lot less than they would be if you were stopping it. That would be my first go," Undlin said during a video conference with Detroit media.
"Obviously, we can get better on a couple different things. That being one of them. We’ll continue to keep looking at it and see if we can start mixing up and putting the best personnel groups out there. And then, we can generate some more of that. But, definitely, I think we all know that we’ve got to create some more pressure on the quarterback, and we’ll see how we can do that going forward this week," Undlin commented further.
The Lions have faced mobile quarterbacks in the first quarter of the season.
The next wave of quarterbacks on Detroit's schedule is more prototypical pocket passers, and could provide Detroit's defense more opportunities to bring pressure.
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