Lions Preparing to Deal With 'Pressure' From Commanders
The Detroit Lions' offensive line will have a formidable defensive line to battle against in Week 2.
The Washington Commanders dialed up a blitz on 21 occasions in their season opener last week against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
"You have guys that are quick and understand (how to blitz), you want to use those guys," Commanders head coach Ron Rivera said Wednesday, via the Lions team website. "It does help the d-line because if you blitz, and blitz early in the game, they don't know what to expect. They have to anticipate a little bit more. Maybe changes the way they look at things."
Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson indicated handling what the Commanders can accomplish upfront is a point of emphasis this week.
"They do. They certainly pressure a lot more than what we’ve seen. They’ve got some really good guys, particularly upfront. I think it starts there with them, (Montez Sweat) 90, (Jonathan Allen) 93 and (Daron Payne) 94. Those guys are about as good as it gets, and they have some great complementary people upfront as well," said Johnson. "So we’ll have our challenge controlling those guys, and then on the backend, they’ve got some seasoned players.
"I was with Bobby McCain in Miami, so I know he’s a heck of a player that plays hard at safety and then two veteran corners that have been around and played a lot of ball. We’ve got our work cut out for us, but the pressure is something that we are focusing on.”
Running back Jamaal Williams understands what a challenge a blitzing team can present, but expressed to All Lions the keys to making sure the awareness of what is occurring defensively remains sharp.
"We just got to look for the signs," Williams said. "Where they're stacked at, where's the safety at. How far somebody's aligned. Just looking at their regular formations on film. Just watching their normal tendencies. Or, watching their tendencies when their blitzing or when they're not blitzing. It's about just playing football and having that pre-snap awareness. And after that, you just go with the whole team -- just making sure everybody is aware and the whole team help each other see what's happening. It's going to come down to communication."
