Tag: Benito Jones

Lions keys to victory against the Packers in Week 4

Execute these concepts from Lions Wire’s Andrew Harbaugh and Detroit should come home with a W

Not often do the Detroit Lions play in high-stakes games to start the season, but that is exactly where they find themselves on Thursday. They head to Lambeau Field to battle Jordan Love as he looks to carve out his career as a Packer with the NFC North lead up for grabs between the two teams.

The Lions have a chance to end September with a 3-1 record if they can get a win in familiar territory to them from the end of last year. They dashed away the Packers playoff hopes with a win to end the regular season and ended the Aaron Rodgers era on a sour note.

Now the Packers will be looking for revenge while the Lions focus on going 1-0 on another week. Here are the keys to the Lions ending September on a run.

Detroit Lions film breakdown on revamped defensive blitzes and pressures

The Lions defense thrived by being more creative and aggressive in Week 3, and Russell Brown breaks it all down

After the Detroit Lions lost to the Seattle Seahawks in Week 2, it felt like something had to change on the defensive side of the football for Detroit. There were times when the defense showed promise, but when they needed to make a play, nobody stepped up.

When watching the game back against the Seahawks, there were a lot of instances of the defensive line playing conservative. Everyone stayed home, and the only real threat to the quarterback was defensive end Aidan Hutchinson.

Even though the pressure rates as whole indicated a different story, much of it left the Lions in the middle of the road and 80% of their pressures were from a 4-man rush. Meanwhile, much of their success was only coming from Hutchinson. After all, he led the NFL in total pressures after two weeks with 13 of them, per PFF.

Last week, I mentioned the Lions had to change their philosophy on defense. They needed to bring more five and six-man pressures. They had to mix and match linebackers to get after the quarterback. Fortunately, that’s what they did against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 3. Let’s jump into some of the best pressures from the Lions defense this past weekend.

One of the key things to pay attention when watching the Lions against the Falcons is how they played with more of a 4-3 look on a defense. There were times that they’d bring a linebacker to rush the passer opposite of Hutchinson and to replace that linebacker in the box, they’d bring down a safety to fill that void.

However, there were times like the play above where there was a more traditional 4-3 defensive front from the Lions. Prior to the snap, the quarterback motions the full back from the slot to the backfield and in the process, Brian Branch (Lions DB 32) motions down into the box to match it.

Once the ball is snapped, you’ll see a much better interior rush from the Lions. Players such as Alim McNeill (DT 54) and Benito Jones (DT 94) were much more consistent. They didn’t stay home and instead, they got after it with active feet and active hands. That’s what you’ll see above from Benito Jones aligned in a one-technique.

In the A-gap, Jones (DT 94) recognizes the reach block from the center and while he fights pressure with pressure to stop the potential run, he counters back inside and splits both offensive linemen with an effective swim move. He penetrates the backfield and brings down the quarterback for his first sack of the season. This play happened early in the game and helped set the tone for the rest of the defensive line.

Moving to another sack from the Lions defense, it’s terrific coverage from the Lions defense. The Falcons have two routes being ran down the field and it’s all covered with three defenders deep on Cover 3. Meanwhile, the inside linebackers get depth with their mid-hook drop.

Against the fullback, you can see Charles Harris (EDGE 53) work his hands with a chop down, and he follows it up by ripping up to the sky. Once he gets depth, he flattens to the quarterback and brings him down for his first sack of the season.

While I’d like to see a more explosive first step from Harris, we can appreciate his patience off the snap and ability to switch gears once he sees the potential pass.

The next play I want to focus on didn’t lead to a sack but it led to a pressure and bad throw from the quarterback. The Lions come out in a 3-man front with both defensive ends out wide in a 7-technique. In the middle of the Lions defense is the nose tackle and middle linebacker. Over the right guard, you’ll see Derrick Barnes rush toward the guard before looping inside.

This allows the middle linebacker to run free up the middle and right toward the quarterback. This leads to a five-man pressure and the quarterback throwing off his back foot. It results in a bad throw that the receiver can’t adjust to the ball. In addition to this, Cam Sutton (CB 1) is in great position and used the sideline to his advantage while covering the receiver.

Lastly, I want to give credit where it’s due. Aidan Hutchinson has been working his tail off this season and with just about every single pass rush, he was inches away from bringing Patrick Mahomes or Geno Smith down.

Not this time.

He successfully brought Ridder down for one of his two sacks on the afternoon against the Falcons. On the play above, Jack Campbell (LB 46) is brought in to rush the passer from the left end position. Playing opposite from Cambell is Hutchinson, who executes a beautiful spin move to get into the pocket and bring the quarterback down.

Last week, the Lions limited the Falcons to 44 rushing yards and only 183 total yards of offense. There are seven total sacks from six different players. They played fast and they played violently. One of the forgotten stats was that Jack Campbell rushed the quarterback on 17 defensive snaps on Sunday, per PFF.

That’s a smart game plan from defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn. He brought different packages and had an entire defensive unit step up in a big way. Now the Lions turn their attention to Green Bay for their first division game of the season. Can the Lions win again in Lambeau? With a defensive effort like the one we just saw, anything is possible.

The Lions defensive line needs more than just Aidan Hutchinson

Hutchinson has played very well but he’s too often the only DL doing anything well

There can be a lot of overreactions to an NFL team after two or three weeks, but I can assure you, this isn’t one of them. When watching the Detroit Lions defense trot onto the field, I can’t help but notice that their front four is limited outside of Aidan Hutchinson.

Through two games this season, the Lions talented pass-rusher Aidan Hutchinson has a league-leading 13 total pressures (per PFF: three hits and 10 hurries). Those numbers are great, but the lack of sack production is concerning — but not as concerning as the lack of pressure being generated from the rest of the defenders on the defensive line.

From what I can tell on tape, much of the problem for the Detroit Lions defense is how stagnant the interior defensive line plays. Their 41% pressure rating (per The 33rd Team) is 4th best in the NFL, but it’s only generated one sack.

While that pressure rating is great, the Lions are sending 4-man pressures 80% of the time, and that’s the 5th-most in the NFL. As the season progresses, teams will transition to a quick passing attack like the Seahawks did and it will lead to more struggles for the defense.

According to Pro Football Reference, the Lions have 23 total pressures this season. Defensive linemen such as Benito Jones and John Cominsky have both played over 55% of the snaps this season. Only Cominsky has generated a pressure. Just one single pressure. Defensive lineman Alim McNeil has played 71% of the team’s snaps this season and he hasn’t generated one pressure either.

Not having more blitzes or a better pass rush from the interior defensive line is what is really hurting this defense. The Lions have a potential premier pass rusher in Aidan Hutchinson getting chipped from tight ends or double-teamed from tackles and guards on just about every single pass rush.

What makes all of this more surprising is the personnel statistics that have been charted on the Lions’ defense so far this season. According to personnel statistics (powered by SIS) from the 33rd Team, the Lions run zone coverage 64% of the time and man coverage 21% of the time.

Whether it be aligned in Cover 1 (man coverage) or Cover 3 (zone coverage), it’s not getting the job done for the Lions defense. So my question to Aaron Glenn is why aren’t you blitzing more? Blitzing more would indicate more 5 or 6-man pressures. Maybe, just maybe, that’ll generate the sack production that this defense desperately needs.

With injuries to Josh Paschal and James Houston, the Lions are going to have to get creative with their defensive personnel. I say that because I don’t see this team going out and signing a free agent defensive lineman to help generate more pressure. Instead, they’ll handle it within the organization but they’re going to have to figure it out quickly.

Maybe we’ll see players such as Brodric Martin and Isaiah Buggs provide a spark for the interior once they hit the field. But we don’t know when that will be. One can only hope that they’ll make a decision made on how to generate more pressure. If not, things could get uglier for this defense sooner rather than later.

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Isaiah Buggs benched for the Lions opener, downplays his social media controversy

Nose tackle Isaiah Buggs says he’s benched for the Lions opener, and also downplays his weekend social media controversy

Lions nose tackle Isaiah Buggs was the focus of attention on Monday. As is often the case when a nose tackle is prominent, it’s not a positive for the big man.

Buggs acknowledged that he’s been benched by head coach Dan Campbell for the Week 1 opener in Kansas City. It has nothing to do with the injury that he suffered in the preseason finale against the Giants, which he labeled as simply “just got shook up.” And it also is unrelated to the illness that kept him out of Saturday’s practice session, when he was the only Lions player not a participant in the period open to the media.

“I’m going to be straightforward with it, because they were straightforward with me with that,” Buggs declared. “And as of right now, I will not be playing.”

He added,

“I didn’t know that. It was a surprise to me, actually. That’s why I say — you don’t always know everything.”

Considered a locker room pillar and fresh off receiving a nice two-year contract earlier this offseason, it’s an unusual decision. Buggs is the projected starter at DT along with Alim McNeill.

“You thinking they’re all in with you, and then, ‘Boom.’ With a snap of your finger, it’s like that. Like I said, I’ve always been a team player, I’ve always been a role player. Whatever they have for me, that’s what I’m going to do.”

The Lions have Benito Jones and third-round rookie Brodric Martin to play the nose in Buggs’ place. Levi Onwuzurike can also fill in at DT alongside McNeill, who can play any spot on the interior.

Buggs also downplayed the ambiguously ominous social media posts that sent Lions fans agog over the weekend.

“It’s nothing to address, to be honest,” Buggs said. “It’s nothing to address. Like I say, things change, relationships change. There’s nothing to address, honestly,” Buggs said. “I’m just saying in life, period. It’s nothing dealing with football. It’s nothing dealing with here (the Lions). I’m just saying, so I don’t want anybody to take that context and run with it. But at the same time, relationships do change. That’s all I’m going to say, it’s nothing else to say about that.”

Three running backs the Detroit Lions could sign after cut day

Three running backs the Detroit Lions could sign after cut day from Lions Wire’s Russell Brown

One of the more surprising developments from the Detroit Lions roster after cut-day in the NFL is how lopsided their roster is. There’s a plethora of names on the defense but the offense doesn’t have enough players for a second team.

Something to note for Lions fans is that it’s not uncommon for a team to do this. Most of the time, it’s because an organization has their eyes on one or two offensive players that could contribute. For Detroit, that could be the case.

When you look at how their defensive line depth chart takes shape, they could still look to move a player or two and that would open up those roster spots on offense. On the defensive line, they could still be looking to trade either one of the Okwara brothers or they could look to move a player such as Benito Jones. Having seven edge rushers and five defensive tackles is surprising for an offense that could use another playmaker out of the backfield or at wide receiver.

After the Lions announced their 53-man roster, it was surprising to see that they only had two running backs (David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs) and a fullback (Jason Cabinda) listed on the depth chart. Last year, the Lions had four running backs on the roster and that didn’t include Cabinda.

However, two of the running backs on last years roster (Craig Reynolds and Jermar Jefferson) could make it to the practice squad and if they move a defensive player, one of them could make it back to the roster.

That said, could the Lions look to add one of the running backs that were cut this week as teams across the NFL trimmed their roster from 90 players to 53 players?

That’s what I envision the Detroit Lions doing. Now the question is who could they be prepared to add at the running back position? Here’s three running back the Lions could consider adding for their 53-man roster:

Zonovan “Bam” Knight

This will be a player that will be at the top of the list for plenty of teams in the NFL. That’s why it was surprising to see the New York Jets move on from Knight without trading him but maybe their asking price was too high. Either way, the Lions could very well be interested in the talented back who went undrafted out of N.C. State in the 2022 NFL Draft.

Last season as a rookie, Knight ran for 300 yards with a touchdown and he added 13 receptions for 100 yards. At 5’10” and 209 pounds, he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.53 seconds and he had a 3-cone drill time of 6.95 seconds at the NFL Scouting Combine.

The Lions are familiar with Knight as they limited him to only 23 yards on 13 carries last season during their week 15 battle. Prior to that game, Knight had averaged 77 rushing yards per game for the Jets. Regardless of his stat line versus the Lions, Knight showed his ability to be an effective pass-catcher while being able to run efficiently in a zone running scheme.

The most impressive stat for Knight is that he forced a broken tackle on 34% of his rushes last year and that was number one in the NFL. During training camp, reports came out of New York that Knight excels running behind a fullback and that he looked “like the best running back in camp.”

For Detroit, this would be a home run addition for what they do offensively and how it feels like they need to add a player to their backfield.

Tyler Badie

Badie is another one-year running back from the 2022 NFL Draft that has some potential. Now that’s simply based on the type of player he was for Missouri. One concern with Badie is that he’s searching for his third team in his second year and he’s only gotten one reception for 24 yards in his career.

The hope for a team like Detroit is that they’ve shown that they can tap into a player and pull some good from them. They’ve found ways to create competition and make the players on the roster better. Maybe they can tap into his 4.45 speed and find ways to get him the football. In his four years at Missouri, he averaged 5.3 yards per carry and he had 126 receptions.

We’ll see if the Lions spin the tires on this one but adding another player to their backfield seems likely. If they miss out on Knight and potentially other running backs, they could turn towards a player such as Badie.

John Kelly

On and off the Cleveland Browns practice squad the last two years, it’s hard to pinpoint what type of player John Kelly can be. One positive when looking at him is that Brad Holmes was with the Rams when Kelly got drafted in the 6th Round of the 2018 NFL Draft.

For Kelly, he’s been a part of some rosters that already have established running backs. With the Rams, he was behind Todd Gurley and Malcolm Brown. With the Browns, he was behind Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. Coming to Detroit to back up David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs is probably less than ideal for a player that’s searching for an opportunity.

However, Detroit presents an opportunity for a third running back. Especially if that running back comes in and works hard. While Kelly isn’t a speedster with his 40-yard dash time of 4.62 seconds, he was a physical runner in college at Tennessee. He shook off tacklers on just about every run, and he showed good lateral ability when cutting in the open field.

While signing John Kelly might not be splashy, it could still be a good move for both parties. After all, Kelly is an Oak Park, Michigan native who could look for one last hurrah in his hometown.

 

5 biggest surprises for the Lions 53-man initial roster

The Detroit Lions have released their initial 53-man roster and here are 5 of the biggest surprises stemming from the reveal.

The Detroit Lions have finally released their initial 53-man roster. There had been weeks of speculation on which players would make the cut and which ones would not. During the preseason games, many players put in impressive performances, especially given that the Lions rested their starters. This allowed the management to take a closer look at the players and determine who would be the best fit for the team.

Upon reviewing the final roster, there were a few surprises that caught my attention. Here are the five decisions that were the most unexpected to me with the initial roster release.

10 Lions to watch closely in the preseason opener vs. the Giants

It’s going to be a big night for several Lions, including these 10 Detroit players

The Detroit Lions host the New York Giants in the 2023 preseason opener for both teams. After two days of joint practices in Allen Park, the teams take their action to Ford Field for the kickoff of exhibition season.

Lions head coach Dan Campbell refused to indicate if the regular, established starters would play. Even if they do, it’s almost certainly on a very limited basis; the preseason isn’t about the starters.

It’s about the reserves and the position battles and the rookies getting their first taste of NFL action. Here are 10 Lions who wear at least one of those hats who will be important players to focus upon against the Giants.

Lions bring back DT Benito Jones

The Detroit Lions bring back DT Benito Jones as an exclusive rights free agent

In a bit of a procedural move on the day before the 2023 NFL draft, the Detroit Lions officially brought back reserve defensive tackle Benito Jones.

The Lions re-signed Jones as an exclusive rights free agent, or ERFA. Jones joined Detroit after the final roster cutdowns upon being waived by the Miami Dolphins. The 25-year-old nose tackle played in 311 defensive snaps with the Lions, logging 1.5 sacks and 16 total tackles.

As an ERFA, Jones will earn the NFL minimum contract for his experience level. He will become a restricted free agent after the 2023 season.

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The Lions bring back 5 exclusive rights free agents including TE Brock Wright

The Lions bring back 5 exclusive rights free agents including TE Brock Wright

The Detroit Lions announced they have made the required contract tender offers to five exclusive rights free agents, including starting TE Brock Wright.

The quintet includes Wright, fellow TE Shane Zylstra, long snapper Scott Daly, DT Benito Jones and LB Anthony Pittman.

The move is more procedural than anything. Exclusive rights free agents, or ERFAs, are a cut-and-dry situation. If the team wants to keep them, they offer a 1-year deal worth the league minimum. If no such tender offer is made, the player becomes an unrestricted free agent.

The Lions had two other ERFAs, OG Tommy Kraemer and RB Craig Reynolds. Detroit re-signed Reynolds separately, which leaves Kraemer, who missed the 2022 season with a back injury.

One potential free agent for every position on the Lions offense

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Lions PFF Grades: Young core graded high in victory over Packers

The Detroit Lions relied on their young core to bring them home against the Green Bay Packers and PFF grades reflect the strong performances

Individuals are always looking for immediate success and instant gratification, so patience surrounding the Detroit Lions rebuild has come with some frustration and turmoil, considering how the last few weeks have gone. However, even though it was only one win, this one seemed different when the Lions defeated their division rival, the Green Bay Packers, to a tune of 15-9 with the help of one of their defensive performances in some time.

The most fulfilling part of the whole endeavor was seeing the young guns blooming right in front of our eyes. With how the team is built, the Lions have to rely on a slew of young players, and, at times, they make questionable mistakes, but with the right guidance and coaching, they perform admirably, and that was what was shown against the Packers. If they continue their trajectory, the sky is the limit for the Lions young core.

As such, this week’s PFF grades have many of their young players sitting right on top, assuring that what we saw was not just a mirage.