The Lions' Week 1 loss to the Eagles offered a preview of the first half of the season: Philadelphia rushed for 200-plus yards and four touchdowns. Not long ago, the Lions couldn't stop the run. Now they can't stop swallowing it.
"To me, it's reps and understanding exactly what we’re trying to accomplish," defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said Wednesday. "Man, the more reps the interior guys get at it, the more they get a chance to practice it. And the more they understand it allows for these things to happen. So I expect this to continue."
The Lions will keep winning if it does. After yielding 160.9 rushing yards per game and 5.3 yards per carry through their first nine games, they're down to 84.6 per game and 3.7 per carry over their last five.
And during their seven-game surge that started with a win over the Packers in Week 9, the Lions have smothered the likes of Aaron Jones, Saquon Barkley, Travis Etienne and Dalvin Cook. Those four rushed for 124 yards on 52 carries against Detroit, just 2.4 yards per attempt. They've averaged 4.9 yards per attempt this season against everyone else.
"We want to see how tough guys are, not how fast they are," said Glenn. "And when I say that, I mean I don’t want to get guys on the perimeter of our defense. I want to keep them right in the teeth of our defense where we’ve got our big guys, and our guys are doing a good job of that.”
Defensive tackles Alim McNeill and Isaiah Buggs have been roadblocks up front. Dan Campbell can't stop singing their praises for holding it down in the trenches. McNeill specifically shouted out Buggs after Detroit's win over the Vikings for being "the centerpiece" of the defense and "eating up two blocks every play." During this resurgence, the Lions have also formed an identity, as Glenn said last week, of "being tough, being violent and hunting the ball."
Violence often shows up in tackling, where Detroit has been much improved from a year ago. Campbell said this week it's been an area of focus all season. He poured his heart out to his players after a padded practice in training camp explaining why they were doing live tackling drills so early in the year. "I swear to god, I'm not a lunatic," he said. "I swear to you. I don't want to put anyone in jeopardy, but we have to do it, man."
The Lions had the worst tackling grade (per Pro Football Focus) and the most missed tackles (per Pro Football Reference) in the NFL last season. This season, they have the 11th best tackling grade and the third fewest missed tackles.
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"Guys understand exactly who we are as a defense, the culture of our team and what we’re trying to accomplish," Glenn said. "I think it’s two things that are really missing in football for the most part. You can have these defensive gurus and offensive gurus, man, but culture and identity means a lot. If you can bring that to the table and guys understand that, it’s going to create a winning environment. I truly believe that.
"I think that’s one thing we have done, that’s the reason for our improvement. We understand our culture and our identity. And man, there’s no faking any of that with our guys.”
Not to dredge up the past, but the Lions thought they had a defensive guru in their former head coach. But the culture under Matt Patricia was rotten. The team's identity was blowing double-digit leads. Or was it playing defense with 10 men? Patricia was faking it from the moment he arrived.
The culture under Campbell and his staff of former players is one of belief. The team's identity is playing fearless football every week. On defense, that's led to a group of players operating as one, believing in who they are and what they can be.