Tag: Aaron Glenn

Lions pass defense has dramatically improved over the last 3 weeks

The Lions QB Rating allowed has jumped from 32nd in Weeks 1-2 to 11th in Weeks 3-5

Looking for a silver lining in the winless clouds hanging over the Detroit Lions? Take a look at the young secondary and the steps the pass defense has taken over the last three games.

Despite losing top CB Jeff Okudah in Week 1 and his replacement, Ifeatu Melifownu in Week 2, the Lions pass defense has performed much better in Weeks 3-5 than it did in the opening two games. Some of that credit must go to youngsters like Jerry Jacobs, AJ Parker and Bobby Price, who have made some plays while taking their lumps as they learn how to play in the NFL on the fly.

The Lions still sit 30th overall for the season in QB Rating allowed to opposing passers. The 110.9 cumulative rating is ahead of only the Colts (124.9) and Jaguars (115.5) through five games. But Detroit’s awful ranking is weighted heavily by the dreadful first two weeks.

Over the last three weeks, the Lions have allowed a QB Rating of 87.0 to the Ravens, Bears and Vikings. That’s the 11th-best QB Rating allowed in that timeframe and well below the league average of 99.7 in those three weeks.

Detroit’s patchwork set of young cornerbacks has allowed just two touchdown passes in those three games, all losses. They held MVP candidate Lamar Jackson to just 16-of-31 passing, for 287 yards, one TD and one INT in Week 3. Chicago’s Justin Fields completed 11-for-17 but also threw an interception against no TDs, while Kirk Cousins threw for 275 yards, one TD and one INT. That’s not bad defense against a guy who had a QB Rating over 112 and a 9/1 TD/INT ratio entering the Week 5 game.

A good pass rush has helped. The Lions are sixth overall on the season in sack percentage and seventh in the last three weeks. Inserting speedier Jalen Reeves-Maybin into the lineup at LB has worked well, and safety Tracy Walker’s strong performance in coverage certainly helps too.

They will be challenged by Joe Burrow and the visiting Cincinnati Bengals in Week 6. Burrow is fifth in yards per pass (8.8) and seventh in QB Rating (106.4) through five games and has the NFL’s leader in receiving touchdowns in dynamic rookie WR Ja’Marr Chase.

If the Lions can get through this one without losing ground in their improvement, it’s a testimony to coordinator Aaron Glenn, DBs coach Aubrey Pleasant and the players themselves for quickly turning around their fortunes,

All stats are from Team Rankings. 

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Marshon Lattimore’s 6 passes defensed vs. Washington tied NFL-most since 2017

A small crowd of 23 NFL players have recorded 6 or more passes defensed in a single game. Marshon Lattimore joined his former coach Aaron Glenn among them:

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There’s a good chance Marshon Latttimore just played his best game in the NFL. The New Orleans Saints’ best cornerback looked the part against Washington, repeatedly battling at the catch point and racking up pass deflections. And he did it against a top-10 receiver in Terry McLaurin, who coincidentally played against him in practice every day at Ohio State back in the day. McLaurin’s 46 receiving yards were his ninth-fewest since entering the NFL in 2019.

By the end of the game Lattimore totaled six passes defensed, per ESPN Stats and Info. That’s impressive no matter how you slice it but let’s dig a little deeper. Last year he had 11 passes defensed in 14 games. He’s already up to 9 in four games (having missed Week 2 after hand surgery).

Illustrated another way, Pro Football Reference-Stathead found this was just the second time a player broke up six passes since Lattimore entered the NFL. Kyle Fuller last did it with the Chicago Bears on Christmas Eve 2017. They’re tied with 21 other players for the third-most passes defensed in a single game since the stat was first tracked in 1999 (two others have since recorded seven).

Funnily enough, one of those other players to accomplish this was Aaron Glenn — when he played for the expansion-team Houston Texans in 2002, defeating the Dallas Cowboys in the franchise’s very first game. Glenn helped scout and develop Lattimore when the Saints drafted him in 2017 and left for a promotion with the Detroit Lions earlier this year. So while Lattimore clearly has prodigious talents, it’s probably a safe bet that Glenn had a lot to teach him. Let’s see Lattimore continue to put those skills to good use.

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Detroit Lions are seeing early dividends from improved pass rush

The Detroit Lions are seeing a vast improvement in pass-rushing production to start the season. Can they continue against the Bears?

The Detroit Lions may still be winless heading into Week 4 against the Chicago Bears, but it is easy to see some improvements from last year. One big improvement is the pass rush. It was easy to notice in the matchup against the Ravens, where the Lions defense could keep Baltimore off balance throughout the game and picked up four sacks in the process.

While Matt Patricia was riding the ship, he valued the art of containment with big men swallowing gaps over athleticism needed to create pressure, and it bit them royally. If the Lions could not generate any noise of pressure from the four men on the line, the quarterback could binge watch his favorite show while sipping on some coffee and still have time to find an open receiver. It was extremely frustrating to watch weekly and one of the areas that led to his demise.

Last year, the Lions had 24 total sacks, ranking near the bottom of the league. Even worse was the 112.4 passer rating the defense allowed which was good for dead last in the league. So, in a nutshell, the opposing offense could dictate what they wanted to do, and the Lions had no idea to slow it down.

With the Brad Holmes/Dan Campbell regime in place, the Lions placed a premium on athleticism. You can point to any number of the moves made in the draft and free agency that proves that notion. From the re-signing of 2020 sack leader Romeo Okwara, drafting of Levi Onwuzurike and Alim McNeill, and the low-cost acquisition of Charles Harris, all helped. You can point at any of these moves and see what they are trying to build on defense, and through three weeks of the young 2021 season, it has been paying dividends.

So far, the Lions have recorded eight sacks, with Harris leading the charge with two. Harris might’ve had his best game last week, but you can see what he can bring to the table. Do you know how long it took the Lions to get to eight sacks in 2020? Week 7 against the Atlanta Falcons.

Also, PFF is noticing the improved Lions pass rush as well. Currently, they sit seventh overall in pass rushing in the league, and if you dig deeper into the players, you can see why.

Now Julian Okwara has only been brought on a situational front, with only 14 snaps so far. Still, the Lions currently have three players, the Okwara brothers and Harris, in the top 20 in pass rush PFF grading amongst edge rushers, most in the league. With the players up front playing at a high level, the Lions are also seeing pass-rushing production from linebackers Jalen Reeves-Maybin and Alex Anzalone. Also, with Jamie Collins not getting in the way anymore, they should see a boost in production.

Also, with PFF’s pass rushing productivity, the Lions have four players in the top 25, with Austin Bryant included. Julian Okwara and Bryant are seeing limited snaps, but it’s showing they make most of the small snaps they have received. Both of them of dealt with injuries and the coaching staff has shown they would rather get the player healthy instead of rushing them on the field. As long as both of them can stay healthy, they can give a nice dose of youth and athleticism on defense.

The season is young and anything can happen, but you have to be pleased with the improvements made to the pass rush. Between defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, linebacker coaches Mark DeLeone and Kelvin Sheppard, and defensive line coach Todd Wash has made tremendous strides in pulling the potential out of these players.

The Bears suffered a punch to the gut when their swiss cheese offensive line and lack of gameplan from their coaches, saw their rookie quarterback Justin Fields abused by the Cleveland Browns with nine sacks. Now the Lions don’t have the players on the defensive line like the Browns, but after seeing what they could do against the Ravens, you have to think they can pull out a few stops against the Bears.

Glenn has shown he can dial up a strong defensive game, especially when other NFL coaches calling you on how he did it against Lamar Jackson and the Ravens. You better believe he has a plan lined up against whoever the Bears put behind center in hopes of notching that elusive first win of the season against one of their division rivals.

Lions DC Aaron Glenn says he had multiple coaches call him about how to defend Ravens’ offense

Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said he received calls from NFL coaches asking how to defend the Ravens’ offense

The Baltimore Ravens defeated the Detroit Lions by the final score of 19-17 in Week 3 of the 2021 season. It was a hard-fought game by both teams, however it was somewhat of an underwhelming overall performance by Baltimore, as the Ravens were heavy favorites coming into the contest.

Detroit did a good job of keying in on the run and limiting some of Baltimore’s opportunities on offense. Part of that has to do with Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, who said that he received calls from multiple coaches asking how to stop the Ravens’ offense and praising his defensive game plan in Week 3.

All things considered, Detroit did an overall solid job of stopping the Baltimore offense, holding them to just 17 points. However, the Ravens also contributed to stopping their offense, as drops, penalties, and more prevented them from putting the Lions away early. If Baltimore hadn’t made so many mistakes early in the game on the offensive side of the ball, Glenn might not have gotten so many calls.

Even with a few slip ups, the Ravens still averaged 5.3 yards per carry and 7.7 yards per pass, mustering 387 total yards of offense. Quarterback Lamar Jackson also had one of his best days throwing the football, which could have been even better had it not been for a few drops.

Glenn and the Detroit defense did a good job of not letting Baltimore score a lot of points and limiting their effectiveness, especially as the game wore on. However, there’s more to the game of football than meets the eye, especially when looking at the box score stats, and the Ravens could have scored 30+ points in this game had it not been for a few miscues.

Lions vs. Ravens film study: 4 things I learned from the rewatch of the Week 3 game

Here are the top takeaways from the film review of the Lions loss to the Ravens in Week 3.

Going back for another helping of the Detroit Lions’ soul-crushing loss in Week 3 to the Baltimore Ravens

Thanks to the magic of the internet, I was able to rewatch the full Lions-Ravens game in Week 3 including the all-22 coach’s tape. It provided a fresh and broader perspective on just how the two teams reach the 19-17 final score.

Here are the top takeaways from the film review of the Lions loss to the Ravens in Week 3. This is meant to be a companion piece to the initial takeaways from the real-time first watch of the game on Sunday.

5 things to watch for in the Lions Monday Night Football game vs. the Packers

Here are five things our Jeff Risdon will be watching closely for the Lions in Monday night’s matchup in Green Bay.

The anxious waiting is almost over, Lions fans. Playing on Monday Night Football is always fun, but the lead-up to the game creates an extra day of restless anticipation and mind-racing speculation about what might happen when the Lions travel to Lambeau Field to face the Green Bay Packers in the Week 2 nightcap.

Expecting the Lions to pull off the unlikely upset is great to dream about, but the Packers are favored by almost two touchdowns for good reason. But there are still compelling reasons to pay close attention to the Lions even if the game goes the way the sportsbooks think it does.

Here are five things I’ll be watching closely for the Lions in Monday night’s matchup in Green Bay.

Aaron Glenn demands ‘we have to talk about’ the plays Jeff Okudah has made and not just the one he didn’t

Aaron Glenn demands ‘we have to talk about’ all the plays Jeff Okudah has made and not just the one he didn’t against the Steelers

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Jeff Okudah was on the wrong end of a highlight-reel big play in Saturday night’s preseason loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Okudah got caught out of phase in outside technique against speedy Steelers wideout Diontae Johnson, and Johnson made him pay.

Ben Roethlisberger’s deep pass hung up in the air a long time, but Okudah couldn’t recover fast enough to make a play. The long completion on the post route set up Pittsburgh’s first touchdown of the night.

It was a prominent bad moment for the second-year cornerback, an ugly rep in an otherwise impressive summer for Okudah. His defensive coordinator, Aaron Glenn, made sure that the media and fans don’t lose perspective of how well Okudah has progressed in his second offseason.

“This is the NFL,” Glenn admonished. “He’s going to give up a play.”

Glenn continued in a tone that suggests he was almost taking offense to the notion that Okudah’s skills are being called into doubt.

“He’s a good player. He’s been practicing hard. (On the play) his eyes were bad and he gave up a play. There’s been a lot of plays he has made. At some point we have to talk about those plays he has made instead of the one he didn’t make.”

To watch for yourself and catch Glenn’s tone, his press conference begins at the 5:59 mark on the team’s YouTube video channel of the postgame pressers here:

That is a coach standing up for a player who has had a very impressive offseason. That is a coach who played the position for a long time in the NFL and understands that perfection is impossible, no matter how badly certain fans might be deluded into demanding it. That is a coach focusing on the positives but not ignoring the negatives either.

Instead of slamming a promising young player that the team desperately needs to achieve his full potential, Glenn saw a teaching moment from a bad play. He’s not going to bury Okudah for getting beaten on a play — oh by the way a play that Will Harris as his safety help also botched badly.

Glenn understands that Okudah is a player who struggled with confidence in his rookie season. The Okudah we’ve seen all summer in Allen Park is one brimming with newfound confidence, now that he’s healthy and more experienced. Glenn refuses to let one bad play overshadow all the progress and shatter Okudah’s confidence. That’s good coaching; it won’t work for every player, but Glenn knows that’s how he needs to handle the talented young Okudah.

Lions coordinator Aaron Glenn hypes up undrafted rookie LB Tavante Beckett

Beckett played very well in the preseason loss to the Steelers and earned some first-team reps at LB on Tuesday

Lions fans who put the wretched first half of Saturday night’s preseason game in Pittsburgh behind them and intently watched the second half probably know Tavante Beckett’s name. The speedy undrafted rookie linebacker was all over the Heinz Field turf, showing range, closing burst and positional awareness.

No. 59 only made one tackle, but the UDFA from Marshall was always around the ball or where he needed to be in coverage. That stood out after the first half of doom and LB gloom. It also stood out to Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, who hyped up the speedy, undersized backer after Tuesday’s practice session.

“It’s hard not to notice him,” Glenn stated. “Fast, quick, aggressive. The plays that he came in the (Steelers preseason) game and made, man, he showed out.”

Paired with Glenn’s earlier statement (regarding fellow UDFA A.J. Parker) that “you can’t be afraid of young players”, it seems like Beckett might have better chances to stick around Detroit than originally expected. At 5-foot-10 and 215 pounds, Beckett is smaller than some NFL safeties, but he’s proven he knows how to use his size, or lack thereof, as an asset. He’s difficult to block and accelerates laterally a lot quicker than most LBs can in coverage.

Beckett earned a handful of first-team defensive reps in Tuesday’s practice. He figures to play significant snaps in Friday night’s preseason finale, too.

The reality is that Beckett is playing more for a practice squad spot in 2021, but if Friday night’s game plays out similar to how the Steelers game flowed, Beckett will have a chance for something bigger and better than that as a rookie. With top coverage backer Shaun Dion Hamilton lost for the season already, there’s a role for Beckett to seize.

Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn: ‘I’m excited about the guys we have’ at off-ball LB

Glenn singled out Anthony Pittman and Shaun Dion Hamilton in his post-practice press conference

New Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn has a lot of work to do in reforming one of the NFL’s worst defenses from a year ago. Glenn is working with a lot of players who just didn’t click in 2020 under Matt Patricia in his passive read-and-react scheme. Many Lions fans took great umbrage with the linebacking play, and it was largely deserved. But Glenn sees a lot of potential at the off-ball backer role through the first week of training camp.

When asked about the inside linebackers, Glenn did not hold back.

“I’ll tell you this, I’m excited about the guys we have,” Glenn said. He then talked up Anthony Pittman, who has consistently shown ability and speed in coverage throughout the summer.

“One guy that really stands out is Pittman. He’s making plays on the ball. He’s running to the ball. You see the physical nature of him. There’s a lot of things about that player that I like,” Glenn said.

Glenn then discussed the crowded field at off-ball linebacker, also mentioning Shaun Dion Hamilton for his strong play since joining the Lions this offseason.

“There’s a lot of competition at that spot,” Glenn continued. “A lot of times you find players, especially at that spot — (they) might not be household names, but you give those guys a shot, let them compete and we’ll see what shakes out.”

Pittman and Hamilton have been performing well in reps, but they’re both chasing after veteran Jamie Collins. Now wearing No. 8, Collins has been quite impressive in camp, too. Newcomer Alex Anzalone gets more of the first-team reps with Collins than anyone else. Holdover Jahlani Tavai is also in the mix and has remade his body in hopes of revitalizing his career, but he appears behind both Hamilton and Pittman based on both performance in camp and from Glenn’s words on Tuesday.

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Lions camp battle preview: Sorting out the crowd at LB

Lions camp battle preview: Sorting out the crowd of off-ball linebackers and how they fit in Aaron Glenn’s defense

The linebacker position is changing in Detroit. That should be music to the ears of Lions fans frustrated with the old, failed Matt Patricia scheme that deployed more off-ball LBs more often than any other team.

The new Lions defense under coordinator Aaron Glenn streamlines the LBs. Gone are the four read-and-react backers. Now the Lions will roll with a base defense of two off-ball, or inside if you prefer, linebackers and two rush/EDGE (or outside) LBs.

Sorting out the two off-ball LB spots seems fairly clear-cut on the surface, but this is also one area where training camp is going to play a critical role in figuring out the Detroit depth chart.

Jamie Collins will be one of the starters. Detroit’s best backer and leading tackler (101) a year ago, he has Pro Bowl-level experience playing this exact role in his early New England days. It’s not 2015 anymore and Collins has lost a little of his tremendous burst, but he’s got a high football IQ and tremendous power at the end of his impressive 1-2 step closing speed. His ability to rush the passer from all over the formation, something the Patricia defense stubbornly refused to utilize, can be a major asset.

Projecting the Lions defensive scheme now that Aaron Glenn is officially the DC

Collins is also the most proven LB in coverage, though that regressed in his first year in Detroit from his Patriots and Browns days. Because he’s also a threat as a pass rusher, expect to see newcomer Alex Anzalone get more work as the primary “coverage” backer.

Anzalone comes from New Orleans with Glenn and head coach Dan Campbell. He understands the role and has proven himself reliably unspectacular in coverage throughout his career. He’s better against receiving-oriented TEs than he is running backs. Anzalone isn’t a thumper vs. the run in the box either, and that leaves the door open for reps from competitors.

Foremost among those will be rookie Derrick Barnes. Detroit traded up in the draft to land the versatile Barnes out of Purdue. With a physical profile similar to Collins and his experience as both a rush LB and off-ball backer, Barnes will see significant action. Will he come along quick enough to take over the starting role from Anzalone? That is one of the camp battles to watch. The Barnes who lit up the practices in Mobile at the Senior Bowl is a full-time NFL player, but that wasn’t quite the NFL and he must prove it carries over.

After the top trio, the depth still has to determine itself. Jahlani Tavai, Jalen Reeves-Maybin, Shaun Dion Hamilton and Anthony Pittman are fighting for the remaining one or two spots.

Tavai has remade his body this offseason, shedding the excessive bulk that Patricia demanded in hopes of salvaging his Lions career. He’s much less limited as an athlete now, that was plainly obvious in minicamp and OTAs. But he’s still not a dynamic athlete and needs to prove he can avoid blocks and react fast enough in zone coverage to ensure a roster spot.

Reeves-Maybin is smaller (6-0/233) but fleet afoot, and that gives him a chance to see the field more under Glenn than he did in the Patricia years. His special teams experience gives the fifth-year vet a better chance to stick, but that might not be enough if someone else proves more valuable on defense.

The most likely player to bump out Tavai or Reeves-Maybin appears to be Hamilton, who was plainly the team’s top coverage LB in the June activities. He thrived as a sub-package cover backer in Washington in 2019 but bombed in that capacity in 2020. The Hamilton we watched in Allen Park in minicamp absolutely makes the team, but the dynamics change in camp and preseason when actual tackling enters the equation.

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Pittman enters his third season in Detroit having played in exactly one game. He’s been a fixture on the practice squad. He’s got fresh competition to move both up and down. Undrafted rookie Tavante Beckett, who is more of a big safety than a traditional LB, had some strong reps in minicamp and could take that role from Pittman. Another UDFA, Robert McCray, also figures into the mix.

Considering both Collins and Barnes have the ability to play the OLB role in this defense, and the depth there is thinner, the chances the team keeps five off-ball LBs on the active roster and another one or two on the practice squad seems perfectly reasonable. Figuring out who gets those spots is what camp and preseason will determine.

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