The standard is high for Alim McNeill, and "personally, no, I don’t think I’ve played up to that standard yet," he said. "Will I work my way there? Yeah. It’s a week to week, day to day thing, working toward it, but no, I don’t feel like I have."
Time is running out for him to get there this season. In eight games since returning from the torn ACL he suffered last December, McNeill hasn't been the same force on the Lions' defensive line. He hasn't lifted the unit the way many expected him to. It's a funny thing: his first game back from the injury was probably his best. In most of the rest, one of the top defensive tackles in the NFL has looked like just another body in the trenches.
In the Lions' loss to the Rams last Sunday in which they allowed a season-high 519 yards, McNeill played 56 defensive snaps and did not show up in the box score: no tackles, no quarterback hits, not so much as a quarterback pressure. He was hardly alone in another feeble performance by Detroit's defense, but the lack of impact was especially jarring for a player of his stature. The $97 million extension he signed last season makes McNeill the fourth highest-paid defensive tackle in the NFL.
McNeill's knee is fine. He said Wednesday that he's "found my footing" physically, "there's just things I gotta see a little bit quicker, faster. Nothing lingering from the knee, though." It's the mental side of the game where it appears that McNeill isn't all the way back.
"I know Mac feels like he could play better," Dan Campbell said this week, "and we know there’s more in there. There’s a lot of things that go into it, but sometimes you process things a little bit too much instead of cutting it loose. You’re thinking about the look, what is the formation, all these things, but I know he believes he can play better and we all do. Mac is going to go back to work and he’ll be alright."
McNeill acknowledged the same thing. Too often, he said, he's been thinking like a linebacker while playing defensive tackle. In his effort to "process a lot more to try to make more plays, in the end sometimes I’m seeing a little too much instead of what I need to see and I start thinking about something I don’t need to think about during the play that kind of hinders me."
"I know what my job is on every play, so doing my job is the bare minimum," said McNeill. "But being able to do something else after that is what I’m trying to do and sometimes as an interior D-lineman you don’t even need to see all that stuff. Just gotta keep it simple: play my block, destroy my block, and just do what I do."
That's what McNeill did in his season debut. In his first game in 10 months, he was all but unstoppable as a pass-rusher in the Lions' 24-9 win over the Bucs. He gave the guards and centers across from him hell. He said he got stronger during rehab, and the tape backed it up. McNeill was similarly disruptive in the Lions' Thanksgiving loss to the Packers.
He produced 12 quarterback pressures in those two games, per PFF. He has 11 in his other six games combined. The difference?
"I would say I let it loose in both of those games," said McNeill. "I wasn’t really worried about too much. I feel like when we play against offenses that are a little more complex, I would say, sometimes that’s when I’m trying to do a little bit too much and then I end up not doing anything. Those two games, I let it loose.
"That’s what I'm going to do: just cut it loose. Stop trying to see everything, stop trying to be a linebacker and a defensive tackle. You don’t really want that. There’s not too many defensive tackles that worry about the stuff I’m trying to see, formations and stuff like that."
When McNeill established himself as one of the top pass-rushing defensive tackles in the NFL the past two seasons, just once in 29 full games, playoffs included, was he held without a quarterback pressure, per PFF. It's happened twice in eight games this season. He was also stout over that stretch against the run. Kelvin Sheppard and the Lions briefly experimented with McNeill on the edge last month as a way to get their best defensive linemen on the field at the same time, but have moved him back to his full-time job on the interior.
McNeill was moved out of the way frequently against the Rams. He might have deserved credit for one QB pressure when he ripped past the center and forced Stafford off his spot and into the arms of nose tackle Roy Lopez for a sack, but that was one of the only reps McNeill won on a day the Lions surrendered 41 points. He faced a lot of double teams, which is nothing all that new. He also failed to take advantage of his 1-on-1's.
With the Lions desperate for a quick stop on the Rams' final drive to give their offense a shot, they allowed running back Kyren Williams to go six yards up the gut on consecutive runs to all but seal their fate. The entire front seven was guilty of getting blown back. The second snap was indicative of the day for Detroit: McNeill got pushed aside by guard Steve Avila, while to his left DJ Reader looped around the center to nowhere, Marcus Davenport was erased by a double team and Derrick Barnes was driven back by a tight end.
The Rams finished with 159 rushing yards and 5.5 yards per carry, both season-worsts for the Lions' defense. Sheppard's unit, which looked like a strength just a month ago, has allowed an average of 34 points and 453 yards in the last four games. It's giving up explosive plays like they're going out of style. Even with a couple crippling injuries in the backend, this is a healthy defense in the front seven that should be much stiffer at the point of attack.
The Lions face three must-win games starting Sunday against the Steelers. For the defense, running the table starts with stopping the run, and harassing the quarterback to protect a vulnerable secondary. It demands Detroit's top players rising to the challenge, on both sides of the ball. It requires the Lions' best defensive tackle being, well, their best defensive tackle. It involves Alim McNeill being the wrecking ball that he's been in the past.
"Just keep it simple," he said. "Play D-line. Destroy blocks."