The Lions are successfully getting after the quarterback. They're 10th in the NFL in pressure rate and third in hurry rate. Getting to the quarterback has been a different story. They're in the bottom third of the league in sacks, coming off their third goose egg of the season in their 41-38 win over the Chargers.
"We just gotta win a couple more one-on-ones in the rush and in the coverage," Dan Campbell said Tuesday on 97.1 The Ticket. "You do that and it feels totally different in a game like that."
Could James Houston help? Houston terrorized quarterbacks last season with eight sacks in seven games, but has been out since fracturing his ankle in Week 2 this season. While the Lions are hopeful he'll return at some point this year, Houston isn't all that close to getting back on the field.
"It’s tough to say," Campbell said. "We’d be shooting for December, but he’s still got a ways to go. And that’s probably more late December if it’s going to happen, so we don’t know. You just don’t know how anybody’s going to come back from injury.
"I do think this is one you can come back from pretty quickly once it’s healed, but he still has to get out there, he’s gotta practice, get his feet under him, get the mental side of it, so I don’t know. Until he’s out there, it’s hard to say what he’s going to look like."
The first-place Lions declined to add any defensive help at the trade deadline last month, a decision that was magnified by their performance against Justin Herbert and the Chargers. After free agent and former All-Pro defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul signed Monday with the Saints, who are first in the NFC South, Campbell was asked if GM Brad Holmes has his eye on any potential additions via free agency or the waiver wire.
"Brad’s always looking at guys like that," he said. "If he thinks they can bring something to us, he’s looking. We’re constantly looking to see if there’s anybody that brings something different to us that helps improve us or gives us another option to help us, in any phase of the game."
Former Pro Bowl defensive ends Melvin Ingram, Robert Quinn and Carlos Dunlap are among the free agents who could help Detroit's pass rush. But the Lions, whose defense still ranks ninth in the NFL, are likely inclined to count on internal improvement and the eventual returns of players like Houston and Josh Paschal (knee).