OUR Defense can not rank 19th again this season, I think many here would find that unacceptible , we must work harder and do better. Defense and injury are MY biggest concern this team must do better if we hope to sniff a playoff or a bowl. They must sacrifice , if they want to win it all. we do not fight just other teams, we fight crooked officiating, sloppy play, injuries, and teams that have also improved both in small and notable ways. These Detroit Lions must be warriors to win it all and damn it I’m ready to see it !
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If we had a proven coordinator I’d be more comfortable going into the season. Right now there are just too many questions that need answering. I’m not sold on shepherd being able to scheme these guys into success. Not after the way the defense folded in crunch time over and over again last year.
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As long as we’re positive in TO ratio, we get to Top 8 against the run, 15-18 overall and we’ll be in playoffs. Any better, and we’ll have a home game or two.
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Massey computer rankings Adjusts based on opponent and home vs away
2025 was 20th
2024 was 18th
2023 was 28th!
2022 was 29th!
2021 was 30th!
So believe it or not last year was the 2nd best defense under MCDC.
If they can get to just 10-14th best at a minimum. EZ ring
Seems like as good of a spot as any for this stuff.
For my fellow masochists:
2025 Lions Defensive performance vs run gaps -
2025 Lions defensive performance vs. route of targeted WR -
2025 Lions Defensive Performance when in particular coverage shells -
Now I see why the kept insisting on huge loafs at opposite base end. 7YPC? Sheesh.
Yea but they didnt do bleep!
If your “run stopper big left end” isnt stopping a nose bleed. Then why keep them out there?
If Your end LB (Barnes) isnt getting the job done. Why stay in base 4/3?
Running more zone defense would also help this because in man coverage, DBS have their back to the play. Zone they can read the run and come hp.
Thats my concern with this season. More of XO improvement is needed over Jimy and Joes
Well that’s what happens when you bring knives to a gunfight. Btw I forgot to insist it pull the data versus offensive alignments. Will do so soon and then post.
I don’t think it was Barnes. I mean he might have been an overhang defender at times on that side but it’s impossible for me compare from NFLverse data which side he aligned on. It’s data sans charting. I think it’s more that our big and solution wasn’t working a gun to my head I think it’s a byproduct of CB contain being dogshit leading to gadgets. For me it’s the most frustrating aspect of TA’s game. I don’t need you to be a scrape down the line backside hero, kid. Just stand your ground and funnel back inside.
If the gap is LE, that’s Hutch, no? I may not be understanding the chart. 6.8 YPC ranks eight in the league?
If left end means the defense’s LE, then I harken back to the Minnesota 4Q run that went for something like 78 yards to effectively end our season. Sometimes you need a ‘median’ rather than a ‘mean’ …the latter can be highly skewed by outliers.
Surely it’s not just TA, though – he was out for a good portion of the year, especially when the run defense fell off a cliff. And Reed was still injured even after coming back. Without the charting across the whole team, it’s really difficult to pin whose assignments were actually blown. And even then, you’d really have to look at the tape.
Also, the route data seems very incomplete. There’s only about 150 targets in that table, out of 550 total passing plays we faced last year.
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Hard to imagine our Defense sacrificing more than they have the last two seasons.
It looks like our Defense has real potential to be in the top half of the league. That is going to depend on JKerb and Branch to a large degree.
15 or better puts us deep in the playoffs.
Be nice to have a John Fox or Chuck Pagano on the staff. To help Shep with in-game schemes. Someone who has seen it all. Wonder what Schwartz is doing.
Don’t do that to us. Schwartz would be a wet dream.
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In this case no. What I’ve done is taken the defense mirror image of every play. So it’s defensive performance when the offense runs to a certain gap. Again, there is no charting here. The free APIs just give you start of the play tags and the result. So there are gaps of course. OL is toughest. No details on pulling lineman for instance.
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Absolutely. I just have distinct memories of TA doing it often and pissing me off.
Thanks. The other thing that is weird is how 6.8 YPC can rank 8th in the league. Assuming that 8th means 8th lowest. If that’s true, I’m running right every play (on offense).
I assume that is right. I can find out. Just pushed that feature like 12 hours ago as the main thing I’m trying to get to is the opposing heat maps of skill players and the defense they will be playing in an upcoming week. Think fantasy folks will dig that kind of thing.
But with the RPC it’s brings up a big issue with my project? How to handle sample sizes. Bc you give a user the option of getting granular you will run into them all the time. There were likely a few contain monster left end runs that skew the average to the upside. So how actionable is that. Very likely it’s not. But I was the memorize the back of the baseball card kid so I find it fun. That were bad on both ends might be a useful data point though. 
