I don’t believe that the defense is a strength. Funny thing is: When Bevell arrived…offense wasn’t a strength. A lot will depend on the calls of the DC. Pasq-bologna had a very conservative defense. It really didn’t highlight the strengths of players. With Undlin’s experience in various schemes…perhaps we’ll be more aggressive on third down. But once again: It’s not a strength. Offense is.
Absolutely not. It’s still likely the worst front 7 in the NFL. I’d say it’s like the 25th best defense.
While I like some of the moves we’ve made, the front 7 remains thin and unproven. If everything goes absolutely perfectly we’ll have like the 15th to 10th best defense in the league. But things won’t go perfectly, and we’ll be playing a lot of below average players on many, many snaps.
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Oh Hell Yes!
It’s better but a strength means better than league average.
I don’t think any aspect of this defense will be better than league average.
Hell the Patriots weren’t better than league average on defense most of the time Patricia was the DC.
Doesn’t mean we can’t be a decent team.
I saw a profile that had a pro comp for Julian Okwara to…Austin Bryant. As far as I saw, Austin was at least 20 lbs heavier but I wonder if this has more to do with length. Both guys are long armed, which Okwara uses to his advantage with a mean bull rush. Will do well building up his speed from off the LOS and not with his hand in the dirt.
Bryant projects as a strong side end and Okwara as a stand up rusher, like a Kennard JACK role but more upside in masking the drop back in coverage because he’s that athletic (on tape).
Okwara is A LOT twitchier and more athletic
I hope he can be of service. Not necessarily counting on it. I haven’t seen much of him, but what I have seen of him, he looks like a big, strong, lumbering, slow guy. Not sure what to make of him, just yet, as I am not claiming to be an NFL caliber scout.
Last year’s defense was historically bad, so while I wouldn’t say the Defense is now a strength, I’m fairly sure they’ll be better than they were last year. Even though they lost Slay, they gained in the secondary overall and got more balanced, and that is a good thing. CBs typically need at least a year to acclimate and adjust, but Okudah maybe the exception to that rule cuz he’s such a student of the game. I don’t see him effing up as much as Slay did in his 1st year. And I think Oruwariye will be improved in his 2nd year too.
Collins is an improved at LB, and some say that Jarrad Davis showed a lot of improvement over the last 6 games. Maybe Tavai will too in his 2nd year, and maybe Ragland has a bounce-back year.
The Lions DL sucked last year, guys were hurt and not in NFL shape in some cases. Improving on that aspect of the Defense will not be hard. If they get a pass rush out of Julian Okwara and Austin Bryant, then yeah, this Defense is better, maybe a lot better.
One other thing that the Guys who really wanted an RB in the early rounds of the draft, the Lions Offense could be pretty good this year, staying on the field longer and scoring more points. Which makes life a little easier for the Defense.
With so many questions and variable, not to mention the new DC, who the hell knows what this Defense can or will do this season. I think they’ll be better, maybe much better. And BTW, Quinn may still add a person or 2 somewhere.
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Strength, definitely not. A below average defense would be a great improvement.
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Kansas City went from 31st to 18th and won a SuperBowl.
Just getting to 20ish should make us a .500 team
With a healthy Stafford I think getting to twenty gets us to 9-10 wins. Though I guess the difference between that and .500 is just a couple bounces here and there.
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Defense is about synergy. The pieces can amount to more than the sum of their parts. I think they’ll add a guy or two before “camp” if there is one. But they have the pieces, the question is, how do they come together as a unit. I’m hoping Undlin brings a lot more energy to the table than Paul P.
. I’m not sure what we have on defense. I have said all year I thought a lot of the issues w as injuries to the DL, but honestly I won’t feel confident until games are played, hand can stay healthy and Shelton produces.
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I think this is a bigger deal than a lot of people give credit to.
Subtraction of Slay, Snacks, and Digs, though good players, these guys hurt the team.
If we escape heavy injuries it will be better just due to that. Last year - Slay (hamstring) Diggs (Quad) Snacks (eating himself out of shape and groin), Flowers early injury, Hand out all year, Bryant out most of year Daniels out pretty much all year - and there were more. Even some of the second string guys ended up on IR. There is really no way to evaluate last years defense in terms of capability because we never saw it. Just being healthy will make this unit better. Add in a few nice pickups in FA and draft and I can see the defense making big improvements. Offense will still be better but I think we will be surprised at the overall improvement in defense. Still have our warts but we were barely fielding a college level team last year.
Yes! This holds all the keys to unlocking our potential…availability. And that is for the O and the D and ST. We went out with a purpose in FA to get better ST starters and competition, improving our overall depth at the same time. Guys that burned us in the last 2 years via being vets that were ineffective or injured got replaced.
CJ Anderson got replaced by Swift, Blount by Bo Scar, Riddick and McKissic the WR playing RB by Huntley the RB/KR playing WR. Maybe even Agnew and Ty Johnson will get replaced by him too.
Diggs and Will Harris got replaced by Duron Harmon. Snacks got replaced by Shelton. Daniels and A’Shawn by Nick Williams. I think I’m out of breath…
DBs will definitely be better. A lot is already discussed on that above.
I think the LB is much, much better.
They put themselves in a place to not have to rely on Christian Jones to play 80% of the snaps, which is good. J. Okwara and Collins hopefully add a pass rush from the outside that was inconsistent last year (Kennard started out great, but really seemed to lose a step as the season wore on).
With Shelton, Williams, Penisini and Cornell as a completely new DT rotation, that remains to be seen, but it’s potentially a nice mix of two proven vets and two rookies eager to show they should have been picked earlier (Cornell was once ranked as the No. 1 overall recruit nationally in high school). The return of Hand and a healthy Bryant only add to the D-line.
Health is still a major key, but scheme-specific talent seems much better in this group.
Also no whiny “me-first” guys as distractions. I think you know who I mean there.
Word!
Also, those couple of bounces are the difference between 11-12 wins 
Lest anyone take your hyperbole seriously, here’s the last 10 years Points Against ranking that Patricia was there:
2017 - 5th
2016 - 1st
2015 - 10th
2014 - 8th
2013 - 10th
2012 - 10th
2011 - 15th
2010 - 8th
2009 - 5th
2008 - 8th
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DVOA:
2017- 31st
2016- 16th
2015- 12th
2014- 12th
2013- 20th
2012- 15th
2011- 30th
2010- 21st
2009- 14th
2008- 17th
Without Patricia:
2019: 1st
2018: 16th
Patricia is a fraud and Pats fans were doing cartwheels when he left.
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