Poll: Do You Trust Matt Patricia's Defense?
The Lions' biggest weakness last season was clearly their defense.
The de facto leader of that defense: None other than Detroit head man Matt Patricia.
His "bend-but-don't-break" style led to the Lions allowing the 26th-most points per game a season ago (26.4/game).
His defense also allowed the 31st-most yards per game at 400.4 yards a contest.
This was all while Patricia and former Lions defensive coordinator Paul Pasqualoni deployed a ton of man coverage.
In fact, according to USA Today analyst Doug Farrar, "In 2019, the Lions played 336 snaps in man coverage, the most in the NFL. In man coverage, Detroit allowed 23 touchdowns to just three interceptions."
This issue was compounded by an anemic pass rush that failed to provide Detroit's cornerbacks with a sufficient opportunity to stay in front of the opposition while in man coverage.
It left the defensive backs consistently on an island all by themselves with no help from the team's pass rushers.
Then, on top of all that, Green Bay Packers wide receiver Davante Adams came out earlier Wednesday, and revealed that the Lions' secondary never disguised its coverage a year ago.
As Peter Bukowski, host of the "Locked on Packers" podcast, tweeted,
"Adams watched 200 clips, and (ex-Lions CB) Darius Slay never followed WRs if it was zone but always did in man. Said he even told Slay he knew that."
As for the positive aspects of the defense, it starts with Detroit general manager Bob Quinn going out and drafting former Ohio State standout cornerback Jeff Okudah with the No. 3 overall selection in this past April's draft.
He has the chance to be an All-Pro corner one day -- and maybe sooner rather than later.
Going into his first NFL season, his defensive coordinator will be Cory Undlin.
Undlin spent the past five seasons as the defensive backs coach for the Philadelphia Eagles (2015-19).
During his time in Philadelphia, the Eagles finished in the top 10 in the NFL in interceptions three times.
Even with the departure of Slay earlier this offseason, Undlin has a chance to elevate the level of play of the Lions' defensive backfield, with Okudah and veteran corner Desmond Trufant, a fellow offseason acquisition, in tow.
If Undlin can pull that off and get the pass-rush to be more effective in getting to the quarterback, the defense will definitely see a bump in productivity.
However, in terms of whether or not I trust Patricia's defense headed into 2020, I'm still going to say no.
Now, it's time for you to voice your opinion: Do you trust that his defense will be able to perform at a productive level this upcoming season?
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