Lions' Defense Is Not 'Passive,' According to Defensive Coordinator
Detroit's defense is among the worst in the league through four games.
It ranks 29th in points allowed (127), 28th in total yards allowed (1,620) and dead last in rushing yards allowed (681).
A common reason for those struggles, according to many Lions fans and pundits, has been a lack of aggressiveness with the play-calling from first-year defensive coordinator Cory Undlin.
Undlin disregarded the notion of the defense being "passive" in his weekly media session Monday.
"I'm going to take it easy on the word passive. The scheme is the scheme. And this is what we're doing," Undlin said. "And I've got complete and utter belief in everything we're doing in this scheme. So, it's up to me just to coach it better ... going back to the other questions about making sure we've got all the right guys in the right spots in all the different packages, so that we can play more aggressive. Be better against the run, create some pressure on the quarterback, all that."
Rob Schumacher, The Republic via Imagn Content Services, LLC
How to fix porous rush defense
Speaking of that rush defense, Undlin & Co. are in dire need of fixing it if they want to have any shot at salvaging the 2020 campaign.
It can be accomplished, according to Undlin, through better consistency from all 11 defenders.
"The biggest thing is just the consistency part of it. I can pull off six different plays -- one time it goes for zero (yards) and then the next time it goes for six (yards) and then the next time it goes for seven (yards), whatever it is. So, the big thing is watching with the players and going back through and having those discussions and then going out and practicing. We’ve just got to be more consistent up front, in the back-end, linebackers, everybody," Undlin explained. "I think we talked about this last time, as well. The run game is not just the D-line and the linebackers. It’s all 11 guys on the field, so we’ve got to just keep pressing forward."
And Undlin believes that if the Lions start playing better defense against the run, it will go hand-in-hand with improvements in the pass-rushing department.
"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. Obviously, we can get better on a couple different things, (with) that being one of them," Undlin commented. "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."
Detroit head coach Matt Patricia echoed the same sentiment in his media session Monday that cleaning up the run defense will aid in improving the pass-rushing unit.
"We have to do a better job in the run game, and we have to settle some things down there that have hurt us and play with better fundamentals and technique and just be consistent," Patricia said. "I mean, that’s the biggest thing for us right now. We have some good run plays on tape and just, unfortunately, too many bad ones. We have to be consistent with it, and try to get teams in a situation where they have to pass the ball more.”
The onus is now on Patricia, Undlin and the rest of the Lions' coaching staff to get the players to learn from their mistakes from the first quarter of the season.
Patricia believes that the Week 5 bye served as a great opportunity for the team to do just that.
"Last week where there is no opponent, it’s a great opportunity for us to go back and review those mistakes and (ask) what do we need to improve on," Patricia explained. "One of the things that’s going to happen, or come up over and over again going forward until we stop them, I think those are situations that you have to go through and explain and teach at a high level, so that they have an opportunity to understand when it does come up again and how we need to handle it, play it or address those situations. So, from that standpoint, once you kind of go over it, hopefully put that information to be and you work on moving forward on the next opponent, but also just trying to sprinkle in those problem plays throughout practice or throughout meetings and just remind them that those are going to come up again, even though it might be something that an opponent doesn’t do necessarily.”
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