Spent a 2nd and 3rd rounder on DL. Brought in free agents like Brockers. And still–this result.
This is a massive issue and why taking a guy like Thibodeaux or Hutchinson high in the 1st is a huge, huge positive.
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30 million in non pass rushing DE spending, though to be fair, Rokwara is hurt bad enough to be out for the year. Flowers is always hurt but never season ending.
Rot in Hell QuinnTricia
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Did anyone really think 2 rookies and 100 yr old Brockers was going to fix our DL?
We need Thibs!
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We have to get a pass rusher ( or two) in the draft.
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Many, MANY people on this board argued this summer that, yes, those picks would absolutely fix the pass rush.
Okwara was coming into his own right before he was injured, and that hurts, but nobody else has stepped up.
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Who?
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We had numerous threads post-draft filled with people who thought this. I’m not taking the time to do research for you.
Every year since Schwartz I have complained about the pass rush in the summer. Every year, I get people on here telling me that some move they made will fix it. I’ve heard the following:
“The new scheme will take care of it!”
“The LBs will now cover that part–everything is fine!”
“The DL coach was the issue. The new guy will have them taking care of everything!”
“The CBs are so good now they’ll cause so many coverage sacks that the DL doesn’t need to be that skilled.”
Then, this year, after I pointed out the draft reports that stated how Onwuzurike and McNeill weren’t known for being huge QB sack/pressure guys, people said it wasn’t an issue, that was college, and they’ll change in the NFL.
We had numerous threads about a rookie DT and a rookie nose tackle fixing our pass rush? I don’t think that’s true.
Losing Romeo hurt. I also think we should start letting Julian pin his ears back full time.
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I searched “McNeill rush” and found a 52 post thread…
and most of the discussion from the “optimists” was hoping for the defense to improve to #20-25 this year… and possibly have a pass rush after 1 more offseason.
My stance all along is that I wanted McNeill to lose some of the weight he carried in 2020. I hoped they would ask him to get down to 305-310 so he could be more disruptive. He was quicker as a sophomore and had 5.5 sacks. Last year he had 1 sack, but they did change their scheme to a 3-3-5 and he played zero tech.
Levi also looks a little heavier now than he did at UW… and maybe even heavier than he did in Steelers preseason game. I hope they didn’t ask him to gain weight.
The pass rush is a major need. I’ve been impressed by how well the secondary has played without a pass rush. Losing Romeo was a huge loss, if he comes back strong and we add Thibs, this defense could take a major jump. I would like to see Julian play more, at this point just take Flowers off the field on third down, he offers nothing as a pass rusher.
On the rookie DT’s Alim and Levi, they are rookies in the nfl, i’ve seen some glimpses from both of them, but lots of inconsistency so far. Very rarely do DT’s excel in their rookie years. I still think both are going to develop into solid players.
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Are you at all familiar with the Lions’ fanbase? It happens every single year!
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I searched “pass rush” and “sacks” posts that occured after the draft and found almost nothing positive about the Lions pass rush outlook.
Most of the posts were closer to this gem by @Weaselpuppy 
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What you talkin bout Willis? We ain’t got no pass rush !
No but Holmes did , Lols Yikes
Lol nobody that will admit that’s forsure, Lions Fans have short memories. Almost everyone loved the Marnelli hire , then Quinn and Patricia. But not many admit to that either now that they failed. It’s the MO of this place, like Burger King have your way.
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That’s human nature though. People want to believe the new guy or regime is better than the previous one. People do this in many aspects of life. New girlfriend is better than the last one. New job is better than the last. New boss is better, etc. It leads to being let down a lot. But, the opposite is to be a jaded and defeated person. Both options have their pros and cons.
When Rod Marinelli had the Lions 6-2 and in 1st place in his 2nd season, everyone on this board was going wild with excitement. Little did we know, we were about to go 1-7 down the stretch and end up 7-9. That’s the painful experience of a Lions fan, lol.