Aaron Glenn wasn't in the mood for moral victories after the Lions' crushing loss to the Ravens last week.
"The only thing I was thinking about was we had a chance to win and we end up losing," Glenn said Thursday.
But it felt pretty good for Detroit's defensive coordinator when a number of fellow coaches reached out to commend him on slowing down the Ravens -- and to ask him how he did it.
"I started getting calls from a number of people around the league just talking about, ‘Man, how do we defend these guys?’ and how good of a job we did," Glenn said.
After struggling to start the season, Detroit's defense found its footing in Week 3. The Lions held the Ravens to 116 rushing yards and 19 total points -- three of which came on the longest field goal in NFL history -- the third lowest outputs for Baltimore over the past three seasons. They also blew the play that mattered most, fourth and 19 with the game on the line, but this marked a significant step forward for a defense that ... might not be terrible?
"Man, I’m not into moral victories and I wasn’t even thinking on the level of, ‘These coaches are giving me kudos because of the way we defended them,'" said Glenn. "The only thing that I was thinking about was, ‘We had a chance to win and we didn’t win the game.’ But I’m appreciative of all of the calls. That does give me, our players, our coaches, confidence that we can go in there and put a game plan in that’s going to give us a chance to win.”
So, did Glenn share that plan with inquiring minds?
“No," he said with a laugh. "No. Man, this game's too hard. But I was very appreciative of the phone calls.”
The biggest difference for Detroit in Week 3 was up front. The defensive line sealed holes against the run and generated pretty consistent pressure on Lamar Jackson, especially in the second half. Jackson took four sacks, the second most of his career, and completed just 51 percent of his passes. The Ravens went 1-10 on third down. Yes, the Lions were bailed out by receiver Marquise Brown, who dropped three potential touchdowns. But you earn your luck, right?
"I understand that we have some holes, and we will get better at those. But man, the way those guys played, the way they fought, their physicality, you talk about a coaching staff ready to get back to work. We were ready to get back to work," said Glenn. "Man, I promise you this: there are positives coming out of each of these games that we play. And that’s what gets us excited to coach these players.”
It's a good thing Glenn drew praise from his peers. Because he caught flak from just about everyone else for his decision to rush three on the Ravens' fourth-and-19 conversion when Jackson had an eternity to throw and eventually found Sammy Watkins on a busted coverage for a 36-yard gain. In hindsight, Glenn said he would make the exact same call.
"Honestly, I wouldn’t take that call back for the simple fact that you look at the odds of actually converting the fourth-and-19, especially when you go across the league and look at what a lot of teams play," he said. "I know that any time you make a call, there’s always going to be criticism. And I’m willing to take any criticism there is. But I trust myself, I trust our staff and I trust our plan.
"The decision to make that call again, I would not take it back one bit. He made a hell of a throw. We’ve got to continue to execute and we will do that as a team. There’s nothing in me, in my soul, that says I will call something different.”