In training camp, Roger McCreary rarely got on the field with the first-team offense. Now he almost never comes off.
As the Lions gear up for the final two months of the season with the trade deadline behind them, McCreary has become one of their top two corners.
"I just looked at it as seizing the opportunity that’s presented to me," McCreary said Thursday. "I didn’t expect it right away, but I’m just happy being there in any way for the team, playing nickel and corner, just keep making plays. As long as we winning and I’m out there, I’m happy."
Signed to a cheap, one-year deal this offseason, McCreary was on the roster bubble midway through camp. He was getting second- and third-team reps on defense, and routinely getting beat. He solidified his place on the roster by stepping up in preseason games, but even then he looked more like depth than a starter.
McCreary was bumped into the starting lineup in Week 3, as the Lions shook up their secondary following a terrible start. Over the past five games, he's tied with safety Chuck Clark for the most snaps on defense. McCreary wasn't sure what the season had in store for him, "but I knew in camp that wasn’t going to be the end of the me," he said.
"I knew I just had to keep it rolling and start to understand the organization, understand the defense and once I got to rolling with everything, that’s when I knew was going to meet my potential," he said.
It hasn't always been pretty for McCreary. Take the Cardinals game last month. He tied a franchise record with six pass breakups (one shy of the NFL record) on a day he was targeted a staggering 18 times, but also allowed nine catches, 147 yards and a touchdown. But the numbers don't always tell the full story at a position like corner.
In the Lions' win over the Vikings two weeks ago, for example, McCreary was dinged for five catches on seven targets and a touchdown in coverage, but played a big role in keeping Justin Jefferson in check. The touchdown that Jefferson did catch was a circus grab with McCreary in tight coverage. The Lions -- and McCreary -- can live with that.
Jefferson's nine targets produced just five catches and 33 yards. His longest catch went for nine.
"I feel like a lot of people don’t peep that out and the result of how that game ended and how he didn’t have that many receptions," said McCreary. "He scored a touchdown, yes -- that’s him, he made plays -- but at the end of the day I was on him and he had less than 100 yards, so I feel like that’s something I look to the most, like, the result of the game. He really didn’t have a game."
Detroit's defense has turned a real corner after a horrific first month. After allowing the most points per game (31.8) in the NFL through the first four weeks, they've allowed the second fewest (15.5) since. They've allowed a passer rating of 83.1 over the latter stretch, down from 110.4 over the former. To no surprise, the Lions are 4-0 since their defense got right in Arizona when it felt like Kelvin Sheppard was coaching for his job.
The defensive line has been a force all season, generating consistent pressure rushing four. The question is whether the strides in the secondary are real. The return of Brian Branch has certainly helped. So have some adjustments to the scheme, like reducing confusion in coverage by playing more man and dialing back the blitzes to dedicate more resources to the backend.
CB1 D.J. Reed significantly elevated his game after a brutal start, and his track record suggests that's legit. But he's likely to miss his second straight game Sunday with a hip injury, a troubling thought for a player who was badly hampered by a hamstring last year and has already played through foot and rib injuries this year.
As for McCreary, is he the sort of CB2 that a contender can trust? He's allowed a passer rating in coverage this season of 104.1, on par with his career mark. He's already played about 100 more snaps this year than he did all of last year with the Titans and Rams. The Lions are asking a lot of a player without much of a proven track record in the NFL.
Hence the clamor for the team to upgrade at cornerback at the trade deadline. The Lions acknowledged the need themselves when Dan Campbell said they were "very much in on" star corner Joey Porter Jr. before he was traded from Pittsburgh to Dallas about a month ago. But Brad Holmes stood pat, without a single corner on the move after Porter Jr.
"We hear the noise about we low at corner and guys are down and stuff," said McCreary. "I feel these past games show how much our backend holds up, going against Green Bay and their two explosive guys, Vikings, shut 'em down, and we still had guys banged up. I just feel like that says a lot (about us) and upstairs sees that. So when the trade deadline happens and we didn’t get anybody, that shows how much they really trust us and know that we can go on further with this."
McCreary isn't blind, though. Asked about the team's decision to stick with the corners on hand, he said with a smile, "I know they were probably trying to make moves, the moves just ain’t happen. But I mean, at the end of the day they like what’s here. I feel like that’s good."
The Packers game is indeed one reason to believe. The Lions held the NFL's most explosive passing attack in check in a 20-17 win, Green Bay's only loss in its last six games. Reed and McCreary did an excellent job on the dynamic duo of Christian Watson and Matthew Golden, while reserve corners Ennis Rakestraw, Rock Ya-Sin and Khalil Dorsey all pitched in to help.
Jordan Love and the Packers have gone right back to carving teams up since. They hung 45 on the Patriots in Foxboro last week.
"Before that game (against us) they were good, after the game they've been even better, I feel like a lot of people overlook that," said McCreary. "A lot of people say, like, we need DBs, but they ain’t peep that out, stuff like that. But it’s not all about trying to prove people wrong. It’s about proving the people right, upstairs and the coaches, that they trust us, and we got their back because they always have ours."
The biggest 'change' the Lions have made defensively the past month is getting Branch back on the field. The star safety hasn't missed a beat since returning from a torn Achilles, aside from knocking himself out of the Vikings game with a concussion. No. 32 is another reason to believe in the improving secondary.
"I feel like a lot of offenses have to look at us differently now," said McCreary. "They know we got another piece and they’re like, 'Oh wow, we forgot they had that piece.' He can be in the run fit, can cover crazy for inside, can communicate and just that physicality, that grit -- really the grit -- it’s another playmaker on the backend. I feel like that’s what a lot of teams try to run away from, but they’re running into something else on defense, so it’s good to have BB out there."
The Lions are also hoping to their other star safety back in the next couple weeks, though it remains to be seen if, when, for how long and at what level Kerby Joseph will return from a chronic knee injury. They acquired safety Andre Cisco from Aaron Glenn and the Jets the day before the deadline as insurance.
While Reed, when healthy, plays almost exclusively on the outside, the Lions have been moving McCreary between the perimeter and the slot. He typically bounces inside in nickel packages, with either Rakestraw or Ya-Sin or even Dorsey coming in on the outside.
It felt like Rakestraw, the former second-round pick who's finally healthy, was starting to emerge as CB2 earlier this season, but the Lions are being careful with his deployment, playing him almost exclusively in coverage. They either don't trust his tackling or don't trust his body to hold up (likely the latter) against the run.
The miscommunications and coverage busts in zone over the first month of the season were glaring. Playing more man the past month has served the secondary well, the corners in particular. McCreary, for one, has allowed a passer rating in man coverage this season of 87.9, 110.8 in zone. The Lions have supported him in one-on-one matchups by shading safety help his way, especially against No. 1 receivers, but playing man is "what I’ve been doing since I was at Auburn," McCreary said.
"For a DB, that’s something you gotta know how to do. And I feel like the reason why I came to this team and signed here is because of that, last year they were a sticky man coverage team," he said. "Playing zone is great too and everything, but when it really comes down to corners I feel like (man) is what separates ourselves."
The question still looms: Is this real? Is what we've seen from the secondary in the past four games sustainable? Or merely a product of facing offenses like the Cardinals, Vikings and Dolphins, and quarterbacks like Jacoby Brissett, Kyler Murray and Malik Willis? The answer will come in the weeks ahead against teams like the Patriots and Bears, and will go a long way toward determining the Lions' fate.
For Sheppard, "the biggest thing I see is the level of detail, the level of focus to be where you're supposed to be, one more time. Don't search plays. Let the plays come to you. I know you guys are starting to see a lot more plays being made on the ball. That's guys letting the plays come to them, not trying to jump things and do something out of the realm of comprehension of the scheme."
They stood pat at the deadline, despite a desire to get better. "We love our guys," said Dan Campbell.
"Our (defense) is playing pretty good football right now," he said. "Our DBs are getting after it, man."
If that continues, the Lions will be going places. If it doesn't, and the defenses crashes back to earth, and the Lions hit a wall, they will look back on the deadline with regret.
