Rodgers is 4-2.
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4 seasons vs 7 games. The guyruns the exact same defensive scheme. Watch how fast this flips when the defense has a bad game.
He does not.
Look at what Glenn did vs Jackson
Look at what Shepard did vs Jackson.
Lots of similarities but more than a few nuances as well.
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Hey Shep is playing a lot of Man to man so it must be the sameā¦/s (lots of sarcasm)
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AG was a live by the sword, die by the sword guy and ran man coverage no matter what. If itās working? Man. Even if it was being exploited, it was man. The Lions very rarely ran any sort of zone, and as we all know, in man coverage the QB is unaccounted for. This is why scrambling QBās just destroyed us time and time again.
For Sheppard, I see him mixing a lot more zone in. This has tremendous advantages. First off, teams arenāt sure what to prepare for. Yes, the Lions still primarily run man. However, you never know when zone is coming out, when the man is coming out, what coverage is being used and who is pressuring or spying. Sheppard is mixing in tons more wrinkles, which is how theyāve managed to confuse Lamar and now Baker. Both of those guys were noticeably pissed off because they couldnāt figure out where to go with the ball, and from being chased by a relentless pass rush that came from everywhere. I had hoped the Lions would use the same defense for the Chiefs game, but I think a combination of factors caused them to go conservative. First, our two best safeties were both playing hurt so they were constantly in and out. Second, Hallet and Maulet were both guys who came in midweek and barely had time to get up to speed. I think Sheppard tried to keep it simple with conservative zone coverage and it bit them. For Tampa, Sheppard had another full 8 days to get the team ready and Alim coming back to help on the pass rush. Sheppard basically said screw it, if we die, we will die fighting, not waiting.
I think Sheppard does have an advantage because he has Alim, Hutch and Barnes back. Those guys are our top 3 rushers, and this is the first time theyāve played together since week 3 last year. The first three weeks of the year, our defense did play very well. However, what Iāve seen from Sheppard is a willingness to mix things up. The Lions did not run any sort of spy coverage before. The Lions bringing in Malik Cunningham to help the defense prepare for scrambling QBās has been massive. My Chiefs buddy said the Lions are covering scrambling QBās better than they ever have before. Just as a fair comparison, the Lions did have Alim, Hutch and Barnes in 2023, albeit a younger overall defense, but we never saw them getting used in this manner. For much of 2023, our defense had real struggles. It wasnāt until Iffy broke out as a blitzer that the defense really started playing well and gave us the late season surge.
Sheppardās adaptability to me is what truly separates him from Glennās defense. Iām damn glad we have him, and I canāt wait to see how this defense plays for the rest of the year.
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Alot said with not too many words. Excellent take.
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This
Wrinkles in this case refers to the ability to confuse the offense, change up our calls, and not be stubborn. Our defense looks to be better coached currently. Weāll see how the rest of the season shakes out.
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All I care about is out is that we win our next gameā¦. Meaning we need some level of quality defenseā¦
That is all; thank you and I love you all!!
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Itās still early, but Iāve been very impressed with Shep in a way that I was always a bit worried about AG.
I liked AG. He certainly had limited talent in the first couple of years. And then last year he had to deal with a terrible glut of injuries when he had more talent. But he was a bit one dimensional as a defensive strategist. I always thought that the consensus was heād be a better HC than DC (thatās now looking a bit suspect). Players seemed to like him and play for him. He certainly put together some good defensive displays - but I never really felt that he out strategised the opponents so much as threw the kitchen sink at them. He lacked guile.
Itās certainly debatable whether Shep has had better personnel than AG had for the first 5 games or so last year. Branch has been more of a hot head this year. Kerby has been playing on one leg. Hutch has been coming back from a big injury (although heās been excellent, you could argue he was marginally better last year). Theyāve lost their corners. āThey havenāt had McNeil at all this year until the last game. I actually think having Derrick Barnes has been a big advantage for Shep as a swiss army knife who keeps QBs guessing. But Iām not convinced that AG could have had the linebackers playing in quite so devious, canny and coordinated way as Shep has managed. Overall Iāve just felt that Shepās defense has been much more multiple. Under AG - they never really figured out how to deal with scrambling QBs. They were repeatedly torched by Justin Fields! Already Shep has already bottled up Lamar and Baker.
Iām no expert, but my sense is that so far Shep has just been much better at keeping QBs guessing. Thereās been numerous times where excellent and experienced QBs have looked truly confused and lost against Shepās defense. And I donāt recall that ever really happening with AG.
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Do you guys even watch football?
This isnāt true at all. The first few seasons which includes Okudah and especially with Cam Sutton AG had to play a lot of zone. He never had the players to play 100% the scheme he wanted. This was well known. Do you know when he finally had the defense to play his scheme? The year they drafted Arnold. That was when EVERYONE was like he finally has his players to play his scheme and haters were saying its time for him to prove it. And he did! Even after losing Hutch.
- Points allowed per game: 7th (20.1)
- Rush yards allowed per game: 5th (98.4)
- Third-down conversion percentage allowed: 1st (32.4%)
- Fewest passing TDs allowed: tied for 2nd (18)
- Turnover differential: 7th
- Defensive DVOA/rank in all phases: top-5 unit
This is completely made up. Shepp played a lot of zone against the Cheifs because of injuries and lack of talent. Sound familiar? He said he regretted it and wanted to go back to who they were. Which was the right call. Good for him
Shepp plays AGās scheme and philosphy. Not sometimes. Not mixing. All the time. And thats the defense i love. And heās doing a great job.
4 seasons vs 7 games. I hope Shepp continues to be great, but you all need to stop with the AG hate and lies.
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Because of his lack of personnel, AG used to play zone and he slowly get torn apart by opposing offenses. Then when his defense couldnāt generate a pass rush, he blitzed more and got burned because he didnāt have the personnel to play man.
AG was doing the best he could with the crap he was given. Something confirmed by BH in an interview after drafting Rakestraw. Then when we finally got the personnel to run a decent defense, we were decimated by injury.
People are correct to identify the poor defense, but you are incorrect in not identifying it was a lack of talent, not AG.
Sheppard only coached under one DC and that was AG. This defense is what Shep learned from AG. Sure heās going to do some things differently, but the bulk is what he learned from AG.
Shep doesnāt strike me as a guy that would throw someone under the bus like that, especially someone like AG, who did so much for him. Do you have a link?
Here is the excerpt from the article
Itās easy to suggest the defensive attrition caught up with the Lions, but it was more than that. The Commnaders had an answer key. Not in a literal sense, but they schemed incredibly well, aided in part by insight provided by first-year assistant coach David Blough, who had served as a backup quarterback for the Lions multiple years, including the previous season.
How do we know this? Because it was relayed to Sheppard.
āI know David Blough, I know some other people over there,ā Sheppard said. āThey told us they knew what we were doing. They knew exactly where we were going to be, what we were doing when this guy was at this split.ā
Here is the link
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I really donāt get this take and it is actually disingenuous to Shep. AG was a DC for only 3 years, itās not like he had some wealth of knowledge being passed down to Shep. Both played and each have their own take given AG played corner and Shep played LB.
Did Shep learn some things from Glenn, sure he did. But to suggest this defense this year and what Shep has done the first 7 games ALL came from AG just isnāt accurate IMO.
I am positive Shep has some different takes on how to run the defense and that is supported already by the players feedback we have heard.
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AG learned head coaching from Rod Marinelli.
Good info. Yea, interesting that AG, with the injuries, was able to confuse many/some of the other offenses, but not Washington. I remember when Blough was here, hearing that Blough was a future coach. Maybe Blough just had the inside info against AG, as he ran many of the scout teams against AG in practice. I do wonder how limited we were after we lost Amik to a broken arm. He was definitely slotted to play 100% of the snaps in the playoffs and only played 2.
Itās definitely not disingenuous, itās just the way it is. AG was a DB coach and learned from Dennis Allen. Shep was a LB coach and learned from AG. During AGās tenure here, he was really trying to run a Dennis Allen defense with his spin on it, but the first several years, we lacked significant talent and last year we had significant injuries. AG coached 5 years as a DB coach under Allen/Payton and had 3yrs as DC, he did have a wealth of knowledge to pass on to Shep. Itās also been talked about many times of how they were grooming Shep to be AGās replacement, Iām sure Shep helped AG with many of the game plans/strategies. Even in the article you quoted from Rodgers, it says:
Sheppard knew he wasnāt promoted to overhaul Detroitās scheme. Theyād gone through enough changes trying to match the system to personnel during his first couple of seasons with the team, and there was undeniable value in continuity. Still, he couldnāt in good conscious run things back with just minimal tweaks and expect different results.
Itās AGās defense (or a Dennis Allen defense if you prefer), with Shepās spin on it. There is nothing disrespectable about that. I personally have the utmost respect for Shep.
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No. We just post on a Detroit Lions message board hoping that some other Dudes will post pictures of their feet.
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Nah, AG took his defense with him to NY where the Jets have gotten significantly worse on defense (cue the excuses). Separately tho, I think you guys are diminishing how much influence Spags has had on Shep. Both have been vocal about it. And Shep has also been vocal about Dan Campbell shaping his views in Miami too.
Also using this same criteria - John Morton is really just running Ben Johnsonās offense right now. But using that criteria Ben Johnson was just running Dan Campbellās offense. But one could argue that Dan Campbell is just running Sean Paytonās offense.
How about instead of that rabbit hole we just let each person be their own coach and give them credit for what they do when they are in charge. I also think Colton Pouncey summed things up very well:
Sheppard isnāt a carbon copy of Glenn. Glenn was a man-cover corner and coached man coverage like it. His final season in Detroit yielded his best results, but it can be argued that his approach didnāt always match Detroitās roster. When he departed from what he knew, it often seemed reluctant. His scheme was very much personnel-dependent, and when that personnel wasnāt available, the Lions struggled when Glenn forced the issue.
Sheppard approaches the sport with a linebackerās perspective ā a position tasked with overseeing all levels. Heās played for coaches who have run every system and every coverage scheme you could imagine. Heās a student of the game because he had to be to make it in this league. And while the Detroit Lions defense he takes over isnāt expected to overhaul its principles, Sheppardās fingerprints are going to be all over this unit
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OK, will admit that might have been too strong a word
But saying Shep only learned from AG is kind of narrow. Shep as a LB had many DCās over his different stints with 5 different teams. More specifically with Spags in NY.
I am sure Shep learned some stuff from AG, AG did have alot of knowledge but as I have posted before he seemed set in his ways and came across as arrogant IMO about making adjustments to what he wanted to do. That is even showing up in NY right now IMHO.
I just like what I have seen from Shep so far these first 7 games, agree same base defense that AG played but we have seen some adjustments to the blitzes, disguising with pre-snap alignments, and from the players mouths he is letting the LBās have some more freedom on calling pre-snap adjustments.
AG got us to a certain point, I think Shep takes this defense to a new level
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I think Shepās defense is a little bit less predictable. You knew what you were getting from AG and teams were able to take advantage of that a bit more.
Shep gets full credit, but AG taught Shep what he knows. Sure heās got other influences, such as Spags and other coordinators that he worked for. But for three years, Shep spent 60hrs plus a week learning AGās defense and he talks on the phone with Spags once in a while for what 15 minutes, an hour, maybe and itās probably not all football??. He learned from AG. Whenever analysts talk about a coach, they rightfully talk about their coaching tree, as thatās where they learn. Shep learned under AG. Shep is using the players that BH brought in to fit AGās defense. Heās not going to run a defense that doesnāt fit the players. Shep is running AGās defense with his own spin on it.
Thatās what they are running, they ditched Lynnās offense after 2021 and ran what they know. Morton helped Campbell and BJ install the offense system they are using (Morton and Campbell are both part of Paytonās coaching tree). In 2022, Morton was Sr Offensive assistant, thatās why it was a smooth transition back to Morton.
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