Saw this Mina Kimes post and it really jumped out at me. We ran a damn base 4-3 most of this season meanwhile the best defense in the NFL never even bothers to put three linebackers on the field to stop CMC. While the lions are giving up 200 yards rushing a game the end of the season in a 4-3 with the front seven healthy and a defense built around run stopping.
The scheme is the problem, not the players or the injuries. The Lions have to change their fundamental approach and philosophy on defense or Spielman needs to clean house.
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Be careful. If you try to tell the truth on here, the Shep defenders will come for you despite having no evidence in their favor that he is a competent schemer or game planner.
The Lions were in the top 5 in run defense through the first half of the year
I feel like with all the injuries in the backend they were kinda forced to run base.
There’s not a single DC in the league that wants a LB to have to cover a RB or modern TE.
There’s lions were forced to do that every game on top of not having nickel/dime speed on the edge to contain.
Injuries suck but it is what it is.
I’ve been saying this for a long time now. We have talent on the defense and they still don’t know how to use it. The system is archaic. Way too much straight up man coverage.
The Lions defense is predicated on competent safety play and they didn’t get that from the guys pulled off the street to start for us. That’s where the 200 yards a game rushing come from. Safeties that take high-school angles to their run responsibility = 65 yard rushing TDs.
Does that mean scrap the defense and start over? Of course not. It means next year, have 5 or 6 safeties who can step in and start and at least be in the right place at the right time. Don’t all need to be Branch level. Just, like, basic competence.
They have an extremely fast defense with size.
When we had healthy CBs I feel like we played a ton of nickel with TA, DJ Reed and Amik. Last year was the same except with CD3 in place of Reed. This year we had to choose between walking out practice squad guys to run a nickel or run a 4-3 with Jack, Anzalone and Barnes.
No. We had an opportunity after Glenn and we doubled down. Look at all the teams running successful modern defenses and they’re on the complete opposite end of the spectrum as we are.
Super man heavy – look where these teams are right now.
Browns, us, Broncos (best of the bunch), Steelers, Jets.
If you flip it to most zone heavy teams, look who it is.
Panthers, Chargers, Rams, Seahawks, Packers/Jags.
I would much, much, MUCH rather be in the group with the zone heavy teams (many of which don’t have our defensive personnel). Our group reeks of old school football and it’s just not successful against modern offenses. Broncos have incredible trenches on both sides and Pat Surtain so they make it work. Chargers don’t have an OL this year and are safely in the playoffs. Packers are limping in because they shut us down. Seahawks have won games off the backs of their defense.
What they need to learn is to hire one of the top defensive minds in football. That’s what SF and Seattle did. Lions had the chance to court Saleh after he got canned by the Jets. They have a big opportunity this offseason to reset if they want to compete.
Seahawks played more base defensive alignment than anybody the first half of the season. Emmanwori’s development allows them to technically be in nickel and dime packages while essentialy employing another LB.
We should add another solid safety and let Branch cook from the nickel.
I’m willing to trust the staff, but I guess my main concern is that I just don’t understand the relationship on defense between player acquisition and the overall defensive scheme.
The defensive scheme runs a ton of base as well as a nose tackle on run downs. It also often includes a SAM and 4 tech. It is literally predefined to stop the run just based on scheme alone.
IMO, that should mean that your personnel should be primed to rush the passer. If your scheme is already set for stopping the run…let it. Having all personnel and scheme setup for the run just seems like overkill IMO. either have run stuffing DEs and DTs with a more pass rush oriented scheme, or vice versa, but I have a hard time understanding the overall philosophy of being so keyed in on the run.
Our defense is so predictable and outdated
Seattle plays defense the same way I play on ncaa 26 lol
Nope. Coaching staff has been very arrogant this year and look where that’s gotten them. Trying the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is nothing short of insanity. Can’t make a bad scheme work
So maybe we draft Caleb downs and transition branch back to nickel. Get a stronger secondary and start moving out of heavy base. With anzalone moving on it makes sense to shift this year.
We’d need a legitimate defensive mind to do that. Best I can do is Kelvin Sheppard or another positional coach to run the league’s worst defensive scheme. This is on DC.
The problem is that Aaron Glenn wasn’t a good DC and would get torched by opponents prior to all the injuries. Injuries or not, good DCs find ways to minimize the losses yet we can’t. And the truth is that DC should have been let go two years prior to leaving, yet stayed because he was DC’s buddy.
And when we had a chance to bring in a veteran DC who could change up Dan’s archaic ways of looking at the D, they went out and grabbed a solid hire in Dennis Allen…oh wait, that was Ben Johnson. DC doubled down and promoted Glenn’s protégée who hardly has any experience under his belt as an NFL coordinator.
And I don’t see DC changing up Shep considering he let Glenn stay on well past his expiration date. And like Shep said, don’t expect to see much change with the D next year…meaning wearing down our players and running with YMCA-talent by week 8.
It’s absolutely an injuries issue. You either have the personnel to play these schemes or you don’t.
The Seahawks are only able to do this because they have Nick Emmanwori. They have an alien-level athlete that is as big as most linebackers but can run and cover like a DB. They’re essentially playing a heavy Nickel system, but the Nickel is the Terminator. It allows them to have enough physicality to play the run and drop 2 safeties deep and help guys like Spoon and Woolen (who are already pretty good). In essence, they tell teams to line up in 12 and run, because they don’t think they can be bullied.
Recall that Seattle’s defense was middle of the road last year and we lit them up on MNF. Why? Emmanwori was still in college.
The Lions play a similar game but it’s the inverse. We have Anzalone, Brian Branch, and Kerby Joseph. Allowing us to stop the run with more dudes, but maintaining enough coverage chops to play the pass. Why? Because BB and Anzo can matchup on slot WRs, Running backs, and TEs, and Kerby is an all pro ball hawk. In essence, we tell teams to line up in 11 and pass because we think our guys can cover 1 on 1. And to be fair, when healthy, the Lions DO cover well 1 on 1. Anzo and BB, in particular, are EXCELLENT in coverage by most/all advanced metrics.
But it’s all about personnel. In 2023, the Lions played in Nickel more often. Why? Because Brian Branch legit was playing at a DROY level as a rookie and he was a plus run defender. Kerby and CJGJ/Tracy Walker/Iffy could just drop into deep halves. It wasnt nearly as base heavy because Jack Campbell was still figuring stuff out. It was similar to what Seattle does now.
But the theory of all of these defenses is the same: Use your best 7 to make an offense 1 dimensional. Seattle bets that you can’t run on their Nickel, knowing that you’re less likely to pass successfully. Detroit bets that you can’t throw on our base, knowing that you’re less likely to run successfully.
Neither of these theories are more modern than the other. The difference is that our best cover guys all went down, and thus the theory of the defense collapsed. You no longer can stop the pass with 7 in the box. Your Cover 1 safety no longer has the range. And your dbs can’t stay sticky because they’re practice squad guys off the street.
If Seattle lost Nick Emmanwori, or Byron Murphy, or other dudes along their front, the same thing would happen to them. They wouldn’t be able to matchup as a base nickel team because they wouldn’t have the size/physicality to stop the run with 7. Meaning they’d have to bring in another LB who almost certainly would not be able to cover guys like Kittle, or bring a safety down into the box.
If you want us to change, then take solace in the fact that Anzalone is probably going to walk in FA, BB has an achilles injury, and Kerby has a chronic knee. We literally can’t run the defense without those dudes. I would be EXTREMELY surprised if the defense doesn’t change materially in some way next year.
This is really a great lesson, but maybe not why you think. The Seahawks can do this bc of their great safety. He’s basically like Brian branch and iffy had all their good aspects put together. If your team has a player like that, then sure, they can play him every snap, and he can be the wonderful LB/Safety player that he is.
But if you are the Lions, your best bet may be playing BB and your 3 LBs, and those guys can do all the things you need.
If BB can return from his injury, and the Lions can find a player to replicate the coverage that Alex Anzalone provides, then they are effectively accomplishing what this modern NFL defense needs.
I do not know if they are in a position to do that going into 2026.
I do not know if acquiring a big safety type who can play like Seattle’s is going to be possible, whether the Lions get an all-pro BB and Alex back or not.
I like Mina Kimes, and agree with her, this is the future of good NFL defenses.
But acquiring the pieces to make it work is very different than understanding that it’s important.
For example, every NFL team understands they need a FG kicker who can kick long and accurate. Their inability to find a player that can do that is not necessarily a sign that the team’s administration has not learned that it is important.
Hot take I think Malcom Rodriguez will comfortably take over Anzalones role
Is this that insightful when CMC is a very receiving RB? Is another corner going to stop DJ Reed from getting burned over and over?
The Seahawks have athletic freaks in their secondary that are much stronger than our guys. Witgerspoon vs TA in run defense. Nick Emmanwori vs backup safeties. They have an over-sized speedy slot as well from a few drafts ago.
Our secondary was not our strength this season once the injuries piled up. Pretending we could run out more practixe squad guys and perform better is presumptuous.
We might without Anzalone
We might but won’t
Am I crazy.. I thought our base was nickel a few years ago? When did we change that? Or was that in the Fatty P era, but that base was “multiple” iirc.
Low key reading these comments got me really in my feelings about Brian Branch. Such a special player. Heal up, brother!
No of course they won’t. This is the worst defensive coaching staff in the nfl.