Was Covering Tight Ends Truly an Issue for the Lions in 2019?
For a long time, the Lions have been known for having difficulties covering tight ends.
However, opposing tight ends seem to be the least of their concerns, considering Detroit had one of the worst defenses in the NFL a season ago.
The Lions' defense gave up a total of 4,733 yards through the air in 2019 -- second-most in the league.
In breaking down the amount of yards Detroit head coach Matt Patricia’s defense gave up to each position, the Lions were actually the second-worst in both receiving yards permitted to running backs (864 yards) and also in yardage allowed to wide receivers (3,036 yards).
The eight receiving touchdowns given up to running backs were tied for the most given up last season.
It wasn’t much better in the touchdowns granted to receivers standpoint, either.
Allowing 20 touchdowns to opposing wideouts was tied for sixth-worst in the NFL.
Lastly, that leaves the tight end spot.
Make no mistake, the Lions' defense was not good in 2019, and there weren’t too many positives to take away from it.
Oddly enough, the Lions' defense held its own against tight ends, relative to the amount of yards it conceded to opponents.
Yes, Detroit still gave up 842 yards to tight ends, but that is tied for the 17th-fewest in the NFL -- very average.
When looking at the percentage of total passing yards allowed on the year, only 17.8 percent of those yards came from opposing tight ends -- the fifth-best ratio for all teams. That figure shows that tight ends weren’t the problem for the Lions' defense.
Running backs and wide receivers did plenty more damage.
Important to note, though, the Lions played many of the best tight ends in the league a season ago, including Travis Kelce, Darren Waller, Zach Ertz and Evan Engram, just to name a few.
Now, it’s possible that the Lions' pass defense was just so bad that teams didn’t even need to target their tight ends.
It’s also possible, however, that the Lions' safeties -- who more often than not were covering the tight ends -- did their jobs.
No matter the case, the Lions struggled in all aspects on the defensive side of the ball, with covering tight ends being one of the lone positives.
It’s not a strength, and it’s certainly not a weakness, either.
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