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No NFL team has had a more dramatic turnaround in recent seasons than the Detroit Lions, who open up the 2024 season Sunday night against the Los Angeles Rams. After years in the wilderness, three-plus decades without a playoff win, 11 head coaches and countless quarterbacks, the Lions last season went 12-5, won the NFC North and made it all the way to the conference championship game before bowing out against the San Francisco 49ers.
For the most part, Detroit’s rapid ascent has happened on the strength of Dan Campbell’s combination of personality and coaching acumen, and a well-constructed, ruthlessly efficient offense. Detroit last season finished third in the NFL in yards and fifth in points, fourth in both yards per play and points per drive, and fifth in TruMedia’s expected points added (EPA) per play.
The defense, though, has been lagging a bit behind. While the offense has shot up the ranks over the last several years, the same improvement hasn’t yet shown up on the opposite side of the ball. At least, not to nearly the same extent.
Yards2243293219Points2555312823Yds/Play2054293227Pts/Drive2244313126EPA/Play2235313124
During the early part of last season, it looked like perhaps the Lions had figured something out.
Through the Week 8 bye, Detroit’s opponents averaged the seventh-fewest yards per game and 12th-fewest points per game, and the Lions were tied for ninth in the NFL in EPA/play on defense. They had the NFL’s third-best defense on third downs, allowing only a 32.6% conversion rate. They forced negative plays (those that gained zero yards or lost yardage) at the seventh-highest rate in the league. They got pressure on opposing quarterbacks on 41.6% of dropbacks, fourth-most often in the NFL. They held opponents to an explosive-run rate of just 3%, the best mark in the league.
And then the bottom fell out from under them. From Week 9 on, Detroit ranked 27th in yards…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/why-lions-super-bowl-aspirations-are-dependent-on-suspect-defense-taking-a-big-step-forward-in-2024/
Author : Jared Dubin
Publish date : 2024-09-06 14:51:49
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