Dan Campbell Can FINALLY TRUST The Lions Defense To Get A Stop! Are The Lions Elite?

at the conclusion of the Rams versus Lions Sunday Night Football matchup there was a lot of people whether it be the fans whether it be the media or whether it be outside information sources that still say that the Detroit Lions defense is not good enough there are people saying that the secondary didn't improve enough people saying that the run defense took a step back people saying that this defense is nowhere better than where they were last season and that they will still be the downfall in the detriment of the Detroit Lions season now today we're going to take a look at those claims we're going to take a look at what the Detroit Lions did on the defensive side of the ball versus the Los Angeles Rams what circumstances they were working with compare it to the Los Angeles Rams game in the Wild Card just a few months prior and talk about the improvements between both games as well as whether or not the lions are truly ready to take that next step in the future for the defense so let's start off by taking a look at what the Lions were able to do on Sunday night they held Matthew Stafford to a completion percentage of 69% with completing 34 of his 49 pass attempts passing for 3177 yards one touchdown and one interception on the ground the rushing defense was really good 23 attempts for 83 yards as a team for the Los Angeles Rams held them to just 3.6 yards per carry with one touchdown on the ground from one yard out on third down opportunities the Detroit Lions allowed just five third down conversions on 12 attempts and of course the most important statistic of the night is they allowed just 20 points on the entire game right as much as Matthew Stafford was able to throw for 300 yards as much as you might say oh Cooper cup you know slashed and gashed the Detroit Lions defense they allowed just 20 points they allowed just one offensive two offensive touchdowns in that game and they were significantly better than they were last time around when they played the Rams now taking a look at a couple of other statistics that I think are really important to keep in mind the Detroit Lions on Sunday night played 74 snaps on the defensive side of the ball that is the second most only behind the Indianapolis Colts who played 76 defensive snaps the Detroit Lions played the second most defensive snaps in all of football through week one they allowed the 25th most yards in the NFL but when you look at average yards per play they ranked 15th in the NFL which isn't Elite by any means of course but going up against an elite play caller an elite quarterback an elite wide receiver that's not so bad considering they went up versus one of the most volatile and I would argue that one of the best offenses in the NFL from play caller to quarterback to weapons giving up the 15th yards per play in the NFL in the upper half of the NFL considering the circumstances the Detroit Lions were under really isn't all that bad right comparing that back to 2023 the Detroit Lions on defense played the sixth fewest snaps of all NFL teams they played only five NFL teams were on defense less than the Detroit Lions in 2023 and despite that the Detroit Lions allowed the 19th most yards in the NFL and the 27th most yards for playing the NFL almost the exact opposite of where they were after week one this year right last year weren't on the field a lot but when they were they were giving up a lot of yards a lot of big plays and a lot of points this year they were on the field a ton they were on the field the second most in the league and yet they allowed just the 15th most yards per play and still were pretty good overall when it comes to yards allowed in total taking a look at last year's game versus the Los Angeles Rams Matthew Stafford on far less passing attempts had the same completion percentage threw for 50 more yards and two touchdowns as opposed to zero interceptions on the ground the Los Angeles Rams in the Wild Card went for 17 attempts 68 yards and zero touchdowns but on a yards per play basis they rushed for four yards per attempt as opposed to the 3.6 allowed on Sunday nights and of course again the important statistic being that the Lions allowed 24 points in that matchup as opposed to the 20 that they allowed on Sunday Night Football so from all metrics compar comparing these two games the Detroit Lions certainly got better they allowed less points they allowed less rushing yards per attempt they allowed less passing yards allowed less passing touchdowns and overall they were significantly better the secondary was better right less passing yards allowed less passing touchdowns allowed the pass rush was better more pressures more quarterback hits more sacks the run defense was better less yards per play right less of a rushing average and Kiren Williams for the second game in a row versus Detroit was held to a below average day by his standards the turnovers improved right the secondary head in interception and they were able to take the football away something they weren't able to do last year in the Wild Card round touchdowns allowed improved yes they gave up two to two right it was the same number but the secondary looked better and without those two pass interference calls in the end zone which one of them I would say was really soft and the second one was just a rookie mistake that probably won't happen very often it was a very situation without those two pass interference calls putting the Rams at the one yard line there's a good chance that at least one of those touchdowns doesn't occur if not both of them right the win margin was better the Lions won by six points in Sunday night as opposed to one point in the Wild Card round in overall by every metric that you look at the Detroit Lions defense was improved and they were better despite it being the first game that this secondary played together right despite this being the first game in the rookie debut for terion Arnold despite this being his first game as a Detroit line for Carlton Davis despite the pass rush having new people on the defensive line right Alim mcneel was back but you know last year he was injured you have Marcus Davenport who's brand new Kyle Pico was brand new maai Wingo was brand new right the second defensive tackle next to alen mcneel was different last year it was I don't remember exactly who started versus the ram but know that it wasn't Levi or Kyle Pico so that second defensive tackle was different there were changes made to the Detroit Lions defensive front into their secondary and this was the first time they've played a live game together and overall I thought that over I thought they were really good I thought that they had great moments I thought that they were overall really solid outside of maybe one or two plays and really outside of you know looking at it as oh the Lions gave up another 300 yard game and looking at just the statistics they were significantly better than they were a season ago and whether you look at it from the tape you look at it from the numbers the Improvement is impossible to deny now I think the biggest thing that was glaringly obvious after this game from the defensive side of the ball is that Dan Campbell trusts the defense now right and I think that the Lions fan base should trust the defense now not only trust them to not lose you football games not only trust to them to you know go out there and maybe get a couple of turnovers and maybe make a couple of stops so the offense can have that one more opportunity to win a shootout I think there is true trust and true belief within this defense now to hold offenses to 21 points or less to hold offenses to bad days by their standards and I think it shows by the play calling on offense I think it shows by the decision making at the end of games and I think it really shows based off of what the Detroit lons coaching staff chose to do throughout that game Dan Campbell is known for his fourth down conversions he's known for being aggressive and a lot of that had to do with not trusting the defense in years past if it's fourth and one and you're in the opponent's territory you might as well go for it because if you punch it and you get it at the 20 yard line there's a good chance that your defense gets driven on anyway and within two to three plays the opposing offense will be right back at where your offense is currently slated anyway but this season and a in week specifically the Lions had just one fourth down attempt they did convert it I believe it was a fourth and one Rush by David Montgomery they did convert it and that was in the Red Zone but other than that in third and fourth down opportunities the lions were maybe even a little conservative by their standards they weren't afraid to punt they weren't afraid to put the ball in the defense's hands and they weren't afraid of their defense hitting the field I think again another big part of that the Lions settled for field goals in years past when the lions are in the red zone and it's even feasible they go for it on fourth down the prime example is fourth and five versus the Los Angeles Chargers in the second quarter last year they ran the ball on Fourth and five they converted right but that is not something that you want your team not a position you want your team to be in because they didn't trust the defense and they didn't trust the kicker from that range last night and against and Sunday night football versus the Rams they settled for two field goals those field goals ended up being the difference in sending the game to overtime and speaking of that overtime field goal that was another situation where Dan Campbell showed he trusts the defense right he trusted that if the coin flip had gone the other way that the defense would be able to hold the Rams to nothing or at the very least a field goal and give the Lions offense an opportunity to win the game in years past again even looking back to week 15 of last year versus the Dallas Cowboys the Detroit Lions didn't trust their defense in overtime they chose to go for a two-point conversion if three straight times other than you know and an opposed to kicking the field goal kicking the extra point and going to overtime they didn't trust their defense they felt like they had better odds of winning on a two-point conversion from the seven yard line than they did winning that game and overtime if their defense was to hit the field they deferred the kickoff something the Lions never ever did as a offense or as a team last year they always took the ball first they always set the tone they always sent their offense out first because it was better this year they deferred they sent their defense out first and their defense was really strong throughout the game now looking forward throughout the season right because I think that it's important to look at matchups throughout the rest of the Season Take a look at what the Lions have to face throughout the rest of the season and when you look at it it's really encouraging to know that this game is probably a top three matchup for the Detroit Lions in the entire of the season right I think when you look at the quarterback slate coming up for the next you know 15 16 weeks there are three maybe four quarterbacks that you could say are better than Matthew Stafford that being CJ Stroud Josh Allen Dak Prescott and potentially Jordan love if he is available to play I expect that he will be by time those matchups come around especially the first one but you're playing at best right in a best case scenario for the other teams four quarter backs that are better than Matthew Stafford you're playing maybe two offensive coordinators in Matt lafur offensive play callers I should say in Matt laflor and Kyle Shanahan that are better than Shawn McVey and that is of course arguable you could say that McVey is better than LEF Flor that mcvey's better than Shanahan that's of course an opinion that we can argue about but at worst case scenario the Detroit Lions are playing two offensive play callers better than Shawn McVey they're facing at best three wide wide receivers better than Cooper cup that being cidi lamb and Justin Jefferson twice a season right outside of that I don't think the lion secondary sees a wide receiver better than Cooper cup or puka nakua they face maybe at worst five teams that are better than the Los Angeles Rams potentially the Packers if you believe so potentially the Cowboys again if you think that way the Texans I would say are the 49ers I would say are better and I would say potentially the bills as well there's only two teams on that list that I would say definitively would go into Los Angeles or host Los Angeles and I would feel good about their Victory odds that of course being the Texans and the 49ers but I think if you put the Rams up against the Packers the Cowboys or the bills that's a scrap that's a fight and I think either team could come out of that game with a victory so yes the Detroit Lions in their opening night with their brand new secondary they allowed 300 passing yards but that's 300 passing yards on 50 passing attempts by Matthew Stafford whereas last year it was nearly 370 on just 35 passing attempts so the secondary got better the Lions last season were not able to get pressure they weren't able to finish sacks this season they had 22 pressures on 50 dropbacks that is a I believe 49% pressure rate nearly half the dropbacks that Matthew Stafford had and the quarterback hit percentage was 12 quarterback hits on 50 drop backs nearly 25% the pass rush was better the run defense was better overall by every single metric the Detroit Lions are a better defense and they played arguably one of their if not worst matchups for the entire season in week one they walked away with a victory and I think that they should held their heads high and I think Lions fan should have a lot of confidence in this defense as we move forward to the 2024 season but with all of that being said that is I have for you guys today let me know down in the comments below of course what you thought about the defense's performance what things you were excited about what things that you are worried about what things concern you going forward and let me know how you think and what your expectations are about this defense after the first game as we move forward what are your expectations how do you feel about that first week and do you think that the Lions defense is better than they were a season ago or do you think there is definitely still some room for improvement be curious do you guys have to say with all of that being said that's all I got for you guys right now let me know down in the comments below of course your opinions and if while you are down there hit the Bell notification and the Subscribe button if you enjoy the content the Subscribe button of course helps the channel out a ton and if you like the video it tells YouTube that hey you like the content and it helps the channel out a ton so if you could hit those buttons that'd be fantastic but with that being said thank you so much for watching and until next time and as always go lions a