How was your off time? Good to see you back.
I don’t know that I would say Hutch had no impact? Actually, I would find that impossible to say, but, I’m pretty sure I know what you’re getting at.
What I could say is that very few others had a complimentary impact, which, limited Hutch because the opposition could double and triple team him. They won’t be able to do that this season.
No, Hutch won’t be limited by a lack of “help”.
He’s been eating his banana’s. Monkey never cramp.
Nice to meet you all again.
I will be closely watching Hutchinsons ramp routes, not expecting any comments like last year giants offensive lineman
I thought you did a great job explaining why you came to this conclusion. And I’m with you on the DL being a big strength. I like our DL a lot. I’m mostly with you on LB situation - Barnes is the wild card for me. But I like the depth overalll.
Secondary is where we differ. You are far more bullish than me with this group on the whole. Maybe BB or Kerby (even one would be great) come back even at 80% of their prime and then I’m way more excited. Until that happens I think we’re going to let opposing QBs carve us up more than you’re planning for, and it’s going to hurt our defensive ranking as a whole.
Just dont give QBs 4+ seconds to throw and the DBs will look better.
Lions were almost dead last in time to throw last year. Any DB will get burned by any QB. Just throw on the NYG, PIT and MIN games from last year and see my point.
Sorry but that’s not even remotely close to what happened. Let’s look at the actual stats and facts.
Through the first half of the season, ESPN had Detroit’s defense at….
8th in EPA/play
9th in points per drive
1.93 points allowed per drive
59% defensive success rate
All are top 10 defensive numbers.
We can attribute that early success to having a healthy defensive backfield that allowed Detroit to play man coverage, challenge receivers at the line, move between single high and split safety looks, and his ability to use stack and blitz formations with his LBers.
By week 7 Kelvin had these players out.
D.J. Reed — IR, hamstring
T Arnold — out shoulder
A Maddox — out hamstring
K Joseph — out knee
Brian Branch — out
Alim McNeill — out
Zach Cunningham — out
That’s down 3 probowl level players.
The Lions four starting DB’s missed 31 starts combined last year. And that’s before counting Ennis Rakestraw, Dan Jackson, Khalil Dorsey, Avonte Maddox, Thomas Harper, etc.
ESPN also reported that Detroit had the second most injury games missed in the entire NFL with 267 by Week 16, with the injuries disproportionately concentrated in the secondary.
By week 7 the secondary was decimated and Sheppard was starting guys off the street. He had lost every able body he had that allowed him to run a sub package. Forcing him to run 3 LBers (base defense) for the rest of the season. He could have stayed aggressive with those LBers and allowed that secondary to get touched but he didn’t. He adjusted and asked his LBers to play off ball, hold a zone and help the secondary. This hurt our run defense but stopped our secondary from bleeding off big plays. Which kept us in games.
So I ask you….. knowing that you had lost all four of your starting DB’s and several of your depth guys. Forcing you to start players you had just signed off the street. What would you do differently?
I personally think he did a hell of a job for what he had to work with.
If you want to judge him fairly then do so in the first half of the season when he had most of his starters. When his defense was playing at a top 10 level.
Hutchinson is 1 year older this year , let’s not forget the simple math🤕
I delayed my arrival to not trim anyone from our 53 man roster
I knew you were Goff!
You look at all the sacks Hutch had last year and then look at all the times he missed by a half second. In those instances, the QB usually would take off up the gut cuz guys were out of position by that point. I expect that to change this time around. No more retreads like Davenport clogging things; just young guys with quickness and speed ready to get after him. Hutch will benefit in a big way.
Yes I had the same observation
But again 2nd half of the schedule.
You had Mohamad. mac, Reeder/ Williams, Hutch, AA, Barnes and Campbell. All fully or mostly healthy
And during that time. Detroit defense.
Bottom 5 in time to throw
Bottom 5 in average distance of pass rusher to qb.
Those have 0 baring on DBs. And our run defense was trash. “But asside from a few big rushes” yea still giving up 4 YPC+ bottom 5 in NFL.
That screams scheme more than players.
Scheme changed to accommodate the loss of the starting secondary. Having the linebackers play back to help with coverage, you sacrifice their ability to support the run. Keep them in close, and you get burned by the pass. It’s not like the front seven is disconnected from the back four.
Starting DL was also compromised. Mac was not “healthy” – recovering from his ACL, missed training camp, and obviously not himself. No one across from Hutch to set an edge. Levi out for the year, Davenport was a non-factor (and not on a roster this year, IIRC). Wingo recovering from injury. Neither aging Reader nor rookie Williams, being run-stuffing nose tackles, could be counted on to pressure the QB, especially with Mac nowhere near 100%.
It’s very interesting how much the personnel for the DL has changed, and, based on the preseason, how much the DL scheme has changed. This gives me hope that both the front office and the DC are willing and capable of adapting.
Shep is not alone they promoted JIM O’NEAL to assistant HEAD COACH and paid him lot of money to turn down coordinator job, same goes for Petzing he has Kafka and Montgomery
Yes, the linebackers playing further back to help the DBS could be a factor.
But again that comes down to coaching. You have to be able to adjust. Like they didn’t even try to play aggressive like why allow your team to be terrible at covering and pass rushing.
You can’t just stay in the same formations in the same scheme and expect a different result. Last two games of the season they did play more aggressive. And what do you know it was their best two defensive performances all season.
Yep, took a while for the rookie DC to adapt to the catastrophic injury toll.
But he did adapt, after the other things he tried didn’t work (like those terrible 3-3 looks). BTW, McNeill was a non-factor in both of those games; he never got right last year.
The defensive schemes we’ve seen this preseason have also been quite aggressive, and represent a different philosophy (not constantly trotting out a nose tackle, lots of stunts from dynamic, athletic players, more zone, more coverage disguise). We’ve also got someone who can set an edge opposite Hutch, someone who can give Hutch more breathers, a much healthier McNeill who seems to have returned to form. Which again indicates both the FO and the DC have made adaptive changes.
Yes. Thats my hope too. That he did learn by years end and had a full offseason to plan and understand the team better.
Mac was also a non factor because Shep had him playing back and not aggressive. (his words not mine) Mac is ELITE at being aggressive you have to scheme around that. Regardless of injuries . By going away from that your only hurting the team.
I think well know pretty fast if this staff learned and adapted
Are you noticing push from Hutchinson’s in key Downs and reaching on time