Thought this deserved it’s own thread. We are getting torched by tight ends. It’s pretty clear teams don’t think we have anyone who can cover tight ends and they are being targeted at alarming rates.
In 3 games, I count tight ends with roughly 350 yards receiving and 6 TD’s vs Shep’s Defense.
We don’t have any linebackers that can cover and being down to 4th and 5th string safeties, I’m not really sure what the fix even is.
This has been true for as long as I’ve been a Lions fan. Some things never change.
Just a question, how would the team address fixing it?
Dude those that make a living catching the ball love playing this Lions defense.
As someone noted. The Lions have a room full of down hill run stopping LBs. No one is great in pass coverage or rushing the passer. But they love tackling the RB for a 4 yard gain…honestly I love this new Safety Izien. At least he seems to know how to jump the gap on run plays and tackle for a loss. Going to be a very long season watching the old “no lead is big enough with this defense theme this season”
Some safeties and linebackers that can cover would help. Lol
Maybe we try and bring Anzalone back? His base salary would be very cheap for 2026 and the Bucs are 0-3. He has struggled to date with the Bucs.
Tampa may jump at a 6th round pick in 2028 for him.
I was hoping for some complex answer lol
Every skill position that can catch a pass is killing us lol
I read this too fast and thought you said we were getting touched by tight ends.
Are we still in the Caldwell era?
You just had to say it
Can’t wait to see the Panthers win on a center-eligible play
Need mor of our DT’s rolling back into pass coverage, that’ll surely work next time!
Thought Branch matched up well when he played up near the line. Could be missing him there?
That would be sweet especially if Baker is out and there season is a wash
ESPN’s Adam Schefter shared that Todd Bowles believes Mayfield’s thumb injury is going to force him to miss the next three weeks, leaving Tampa Bay to rely on undrafted free agent quarterback Jalen Daniels as their starter.
0 and 6 would surely make them sellers at the deadline.
The problem is, Anzalone is getting killed in coverage this year too. And he wasn’t that great for us last year. I’m afraid father time has come for him.
I’m holding out hope for Rolder, but this was one of the main reasons I wanted us to keep Erick Hunter. He was the ONE guy with the skill set for pass coverage. But he didn’t play the run well enough, so we lost him.
When I saw the headline my first thought was YES, we need to replace Brock Wright.
I think a ton of the issues on defense are on scheme, but this is one area where I’ll concede it’s injury / talent gap.
I think the design is that Rolder and Branch are intended to be the first lines of defense for those matchups, with extra safeties as the backup. We don’t have any of those things right now.
Both him and AQM went to TB
23 tackles 1 sack combined
Barnes alone 22 tackles and 2 sacks