Aaron Glenn: Lions Seeking 'Elite' Status
The Detroit Lions learned plenty about themselves throughout the bye week. Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn dove into the intricacies of his team's performance in an effort to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of his team ahead of the season's final nine games.
The team has had success, owning a 6-2 record. As they move into the final stretch, Glenn and the rest of the staff are aiming to vault the Lions from a good team to an elite team.
In doing so, they want to establish a standard that creates high expectations year after year within the walls of the team's Allen Park facility.
"We're in the business of improving, from myself, the staff and with the players. When you take that next step as a team, you look at things a lot different," Glenn said. "There are things that are just unacceptable when it comes to practice, there are things that are unacceptable when it comes to meetings, there are things that are unacceptable when it comes to walkthrough. The guys have to understand that because the stage is bigger. The expectations are bigger and now you want to put yourself in that elite category."
Detroit's third-year defensive coordinator even wants the expectations so high that a season that only results in nine wins could result in changes being made to the coaching staff.
"That's what we're doing as a team, as an organization, we're trying to be one of these organizations where, year in and year out, you're gonna be up there in the fight," said Glenn. "That's something we want to be. I want to be a part of one of those organizations that, every year, if you go 9-8, there's a chance you get fired because the expectations are so high. I've been a part of that in New Orleans and this is where we're going with this organization."
The success of his defense has been a 180-degree turn from years past. After finishing near the bottom in run defense in each of his first two seasons, the Lions are the NFL's second-best run defense through the first nine weeks.
"Our guys have really done a good job of understand exactly what we're trying to create as a defense," Glenn explained. "Come out this first part of the season, where we're at on third down, explosive plays, run defense and I would even say pass defense. How we've stopped the run has been really, really good. I'm impressed with the way our guys are understanding that."
On the flip side, the defense ranks 26th in the league in red zone touchdown percentage at 65.4 percent. Fine-tuning this area will be a point of emphasis moving forward.
Additionally, the Lions rank 19th in takeaways per game with 1.3. Last season, Detroit's second half renaissance was fueled by the defense's ability to create secure interceptions or force fumbles.
Glenn isn't stressed about the team's lack of created turnovers through eight games. He's remained confident, knowing the flurry of takeaways the Lions created in the second half of last year.
"Man, we've got to do a better job in the red zone. We as coaches, and the players, understand that it's a joint effort between all of us," Glenn explained. "That's something we've talked about quite a bit coming back from the bye, getting better at that and continue to try and get these takeaways. We're not gonna force them, we're not gonna go out of our way to try to get them because we do know they come in bunches. It happened last year to us, we're expecting the same things this year."
