Where do you start with the Lions' defense? Their struggles stopping the run? Their struggles rushing the passer? Their struggles forcing turnovers? Through four games, Detroit is last in rushing defense, tied for last in sacks and tied for third to last in takeaways.
Let's ask FOX play-by-play man Brock Huard, who was on the call for the Lions' Week 2 game against the Packers and who will be back on the call for their game Sunday against the Jaguars.
"Tell me who their most violent hitter is," Huard said Friday in an interview with the Stoney and Jansen Show. "Tell me five hard hits this year. Tell me who is just playing with their hair on fire and after the game you’re like, 'My god, can you believe the punishment they doled out on A, B, C or D.'"
Whereas teams like the Steelers and the Titans leave a literal mark on their opponents, the Lions hardly say hello.
"I’ll just try to take a big-picture snapshot," Huard went on. "Ultimately it’s like, who’s punishing people? Who’s hitting someone? Who’s knocking the snot out of someone? Who’s creating any fear? Who’s coming off the ball?
"When you play mobile quarterbacks (like the Lions have), it can take some of your stinger away. I think that is very true and very valid. But my gosh, you’ve hit the quarterback 16 freaking times in four games! There were games I played in college I got hit 16 times in one game. 16 QB hits through four games. To me, that jumps out. Trey (Flowers) hit the quarterback 21 times a year ago with seven sacks, he’s got two hits on the QB through four games. That’s just frankly not good enough."
Flowers would be the first to admit it. He'd also point out, as he did last week, that the Lions have to start stopping the run to give their pass rush a chance. A defense allowing more than five yards per carry will rarely be in position to get after the quarterback.
And that's really where Detroit's problems begin. In Huard's view, Matt Patricia and the Lions have been "doing way too much with different personnel groups" against the run.
"If you do not stop the run and you put small bodies around the line of scrimmage that get blown off the ball, it is debilitating," Huard said. "There’s nothing more fun in football (for an offense) than coming out of a huddle and you look at that front and you’re like, 'Yeah, you got no shot.'
"I think when Danny Shelton’s in there he stops the run, but he’s been mixed in there with a couple undersized guys and they’re moving Da'Shawn Hand around and (Romeo) Okwara around, playing them in the inside 3-technique. Just line up, get your big bodies out there, play violent off the snap and give yourself a chance to stop the run. I think they’ve been way, way, way too cute in some of their scheme against the run."
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Last year the Lions gave up the most passing yards in the league. This year they're allowing the most rushing yards. It's no coincidence that their best performance of the season in this department -- limiting the Cardinals to 109 yards on the ground in Week 3 -- resulted in their only win. But they relapsed a week later against Alvin Kamara and the Saints.
"When you watched the cutback lanes, my gosh, I have not seen cutback lanes bigger in college football," said Huard. "There were times where there’s literally not a Detroit Lion in the picture when Kamara cuts back. There’s no containment. Nobody’s squeezing.
"Again, I’ll just use the word violent. And on Sunday that’s what I would like to see out of this defense. They’ve got some prideful guys, but certainly to stop the run you’ve gotta want to hit, you’ve gotta want to be violent -- and I’ve gotta see much more of that want-to out of this group defensively."