The reins came off the Lions' pass-rushers last Thursday, and Al-Quadin Muhammad emerged as NFC Defensive Player of the Week.
Muhammad had his first three-sack game since his junior year of high school in the Lions' 44-30 win over the Cowboys. The journeyman who joined Detroit last season leads the team in sacks this year with nine, one-half more than Aidan Hutchinson.
While that's a twist no one saw coming, Muhammad said he's "not surprised" at all by the award he received Wednesday: "Got the opportunity to really get out there and be on the edge and make something happen. ... It’s a good feeling, but to me it’s a testament to the work that I put in."
Muhammad had six sacks in a seven-game stretch earlier this season, at times even getting home from the interior. But his role had started to slip with his production. He got just 11 pass-rushing snaps in the Lions' Thanksgiving loss to the Packers when they could have used more of his speed opposite Hutchinson, and had zero sacks in his prior four games entering last week.
Defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard and the coaching staff corrected that against the Cowboys. Not only did Muhammad get 34 pass-rushing snaps, almost all of which came on the edge, the coaches "took the reins off the D-line this week in an effort to create more," Hutchinson said after the game.
"It’s just getting off the ball. Even when it might be a run, just having more of a pass mentality. Because where teams get us a lot is that block-it-up, (play-action pass), eight-man protection and then he’s sitting back there and he’s hitting us. Getting faster on those transitions has really been an emphasis," said Hutchinson.
Hutchinson was much more noticeable last week after a quiet game against the Packers. He was faster into the backfield. His nine quarterback pressures weren't just a product of the coverage behind him. But Muhammad, a speed rusher by nature, appeared to benefit the most from Detroit's adjustment on the line.
"We want to just pin our ears back and go," he said, "but each week the game plan is different. And he did, he let us loose and he gave us the opportunity to go out there and make something happen. And again, it's all of us rushing together. It’s not just me out there making sacks, so shoutout to the whole D-line."
Hutchinson and Muhammad function well as a duo because they rush in different ways. Muhammad, at 6'3, 250 pounds, describes himself as "more twitchy" than powerful, while Hutchinson is closer to the full package at 6'5, 265 pounds and tends to win with relentlessness as much as quickness.
Asked if the Lions' get-off-and-go approach against Dallas was better suited to his style, Muhammad smiled and said, "Absolutely."
"I played a lot inside early on in this season and made some stuff happen, but I'd rather be on the edge," he said. "But again, whatever the coaches or the team or this organization needs me to do, I’m happy to do."
Prioritizing the pass rush was a philosophical shift for a defense built around stopping the run. The Lions felt comfortable doing it -- last week, anyway -- because of the faith they have in their linebackers to put out any fires up front, Jack Campbell in particular.
"There is no doubt," Dan Campbell said Wednesday, "if you don’t have the backers we have, you can’t do that because you’ll be in trouble. You’ll get gutted for a lot of runs, a lot of yards inside, which we were able to minimize, especially in a light box."
A more aggressive pass-rushing front does change Jack Campbell's job as the man in the middle of Detroit's defense: "It can create a lot of different gaps in the run game," he said, "so just being alert to it. ... They go so fast up the field it creates these gaps, so even if you’re in your gap you gotta make up for it, if that makes sense."
For most of this season, Jack Campbell said he would kill any pass-rushing games and stunts the defensive linemen might have had planned if he caught wind of a run before the snap -- like a tight end attached to the formation or the offense in a heavy pistol or play-action set. He laughed and said, "But they don't like that sh*t. I do that all the time, because I’m more conservative. In any sense of run, I’m killing all the games and I’m making them get in the run fit."
"Now they’re like, 'Nah, you’re done making that decision because I want to rush the passer,'" Campbell said.
He's fine with this, for the record, knowing that "it helps us, obviously, in the pass game." And "now it’s on them," he added. "That’s what I said, 'It’s on you guys. You guys kill it, I don’t care, I’ll play off of you.'"
The Lions need more of the same from Muhammad & Co. against Matthew Stafford and the Rams. No one in the league is better than Stafford when he's given ample time in the pocket. He leads the NFL this season in passer rating (113.4) and passing touchdowns (35), while throwing just four picks.
"He’s a veteran quarterback, he’s smart, he gets the ball out pretty quick and when he’s rolling, he’s rolling," said Muhammad. "So we gotta find a way to disrupt him."
It won't be easy against an offensive line that's allowed the fewest sacks in the NFL and an offense that deploys 13 personnel more frequently than any team in the league. The Rams are heavy, and this is a better unit than the one Detroit faced last week. Stafford hasn't been sacked more than twice in a game since September, and not more than three times all season.
But Muhammad is right: the Lions are in for a long day if they don't get No. 9 off his spot, and ideally to the ground. If that means exposing themselves against the run, so be it. Jack Campbell, Alex Anzalone and Derrick Barnes will try to make up the difference.