Beat Writer Calls Out 'Disingenuous' Stat Dan Campbell Shared

Who doesn't love to sit down and browse Detroit Lions stats? Lately, this writer has been skipping the defensive stats, because even the staunchest supporters of analytics cannot find a way to spin them positive.

But, Lions head coach Dan Campbell tried to put a positive spin on Kelvin Sheppard's defense by sharing a defensive stat to start the week, after his team was defeated by the Buffalo Bills.

Campbell shared on Monday, "I'm like, 'Look man, we're number one right now, our defense is, in 2nd-and-7-plus. Nobody's played second longer than we have.’ We're putting them in tough positions right now. That's the whole point of why we do what we do, but we're losing them because we still, they're converting 66 percent of the time."

Detroit Football Network beat writer Justin Rogers described this reference as being disingenuous, being that the team has also struggled to get off the field on third-down, meaning the team is playing many more downs defensively than other NFL teams who execute better.

"Unfortunately, using a volume metric to make a point is disingenuous in this situation. First of all, because of their inability to get off the field consistently, Detroit has played more defensive snaps through two games than any team," Rogers writes. "Logically, that means they’ve worked more first downs. And on those first downs, they’ve given up a gain resulting in a first down 22 times, or 29.3% of the snaps. That’s the second-worst rate in the league."

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Detroit's defense is forcing their opponents into 2nd-and-7 or worse 46.7% of the time (11th), which is not as special as the former NFL tight end is trying to make it out to be.

Not only did Campbell share this publicly, Sheppard and the roster always parroted this all week to reporters.

Sheppard's defense must significantly improve their play on first- and second-down, despite what Campbell was trying to sell to Lions' fans publicly.

Detroit Lions defensive rankings through two weeks

31st - YPG allowed
31st - PPG allowed
31st - Defensive passing (YPG)
28th - Defensive rushing (YPG)
32nd - First-downs allowed (63)
32nd - Fourth-down defense
30th - Third-down defense

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