ALLEN PARK -- The Detroit Lions are struggling to get after the quarterback, not posting a sack or creating much pressure through their previous two games.
The Lions are winning only 33% of their pass rushes, the second-worst mark in the NFL per ESPN. They have 14 team sacks on the season, only one more than the league’s individual sack leader in Myles Garrett. Detroit doesn’t have a sack across its previous two games, with only 17 pressures generated during that span. Colts edge defender Kwity Pate and Raiders edge defender Maxx Crosby each have 16 pressures through their last two games, for an idea of how it’s been going lately.
Charles Harris, who leads the team with four sacks, hasn’t gotten to the quarterback since Week 5 in Minnesota. Julian Okwara and Austin Bryant have two apiece, while Trey Flowers is next in line with 1.5, followed by four others with one, then Nick Williams with credit for 0.5 sacks.
Pro Football Reference has the Lions ranking in the middle of the pack, with a 25.7% blitz rate on quarterback dropbacks. That represents a slight increase on last year’s numbers and a more noticeable one from 2019′s figures. With all that said, the Lions are in a three-way tie with the Kansas City Chiefs and Atlanta Falcons for producing the least sacks in the league to this point.
Detroit’s defense is struggling to get teams off the field on third down (42.3%), ranking 23rd in that department, not to mention last in fourth-down (80%) and red-zone opponent conversion rate (77.8%). Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn credited opponents for making life hard on his group, pointing to the max protection they’re facing on third down and inside the 20-yard line. For those wondering, the Browns lead the league while winning 70% of their pass-blocking snaps despite allowing the most sacks in the league to this point.
“We just have to figure out some ways to be able to overcome some of the max protection, and then some of these guys are checking the ball down trying to get run and catch situations on us,” Glenn said. “So, that’s what’s been happening lately is teams are now actually just getting the ball downfield. They are throwing it short and allowing guys to try to run and catch. So, we just have to be really, really smart in that area, not trying to run our guys into a brick wall on some of these pressures, but be able to understand how we have to double guys in situations like that because when you just keep guys in, in the backend that creates more doubles because you have less receivers going out.
“We just have to do a better job in that situation and also just be relentless. There are times when you have three-man rushes and guys are relentless and they still get to the quarterback. We’ve just got to keep preaching to our guys, ‘Listen, even though that they’re maxing us up, you’ve just go to keep fighting and keep being relentless trying to get to the quarterback.’”
Flowers has missed consecutive practices this week while dealing with a knee injury. The veteran left last week’s game with the issue, returning down the stretch, earning the “Terminator” nickname from his teammates.
If Flowers cannot go, that should open the door for Okwara and Bryant to see reps with Harris on the edge. Bryant was a full participant in Thursday’s practice after being limited to open the week.
“Oh, yeah. I mean I been ready. I’m begging for more reps,” Okwara said. “It don’t really matter, the guys in this room, calling Trey the terminator. I think Brock got him that name after he came back into the game. I think just being able to learn from Trey even when he’s on the sidelines, still asking questions, stuff like that. I sit right next to him in the meeting room, so just be able to just learn from a vet that’s been there, done that. Just keep learning from him. I’m ready for whatever workload we got. I think they got a lot of confidence in the players or whatever plays, whatever they got to put on their plate, so I’m ready for it. I’m a young guy. I’m ready to show whatever I can do and get on the field as much as I can.”
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