The Lions defense runs Cover-1 more than any other team and it’s working well for coordinator Aaron Glenn and his secondary
One of the biggest reasons for the 8-1 start by the Detroit Lions has been the improved play of the secondary. The pass coverage by the revamped cornerback room has been a significant upgrade from years past, thanks to an overhaul with new personnel.
Finding a coverage scheme that fits the personnel is a critical part of the coaching from defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn. Getting players who can fit what scheme Glenn wants to run is part of that, and that’s exactly what the Lions did in bringing in Carlton Davis, Amik Robertson and Terrion Arnold as the top three CBs.
All are at their best in man coverage, which is Glenn’s preferred coverage scheme. It’s where Glenn was at his best as a Pro Bowl cornerback in his playing days, after all. With corners who thrive in man, Glenn is deploying man coverage at a very high rate relative to his NFL peers.
The Lions run some form of man coverage on 43 percent of opposing pass plays, according to data from Fantasy Points and social media’s Football Insights. No team uses more base man coverage than the Lions through the first 10 weeks.
There is one specific coverage scheme where the Lions really lean heavily: Cover-1. That’s man coverage from the cornerbacks with one safety (Kerby Joseph) roaming over the top and another safety (Brian Branch) buzzing more shallow, and LBs (typically Alex Anzalone but also Jack Campbell) running with underneath routes.
The Lions use this base cover scheme 38 percent of the time, the highest usage of Cover-1 in the league. Only the Browns, at 35 percent, are even close to using Glenn’s preferred Cover-1 as much.
Going heavy on Cover-1 plays to the best advantage of the man skills of the cornerbacks and the ball-hawking athleticism of the safeties. Last year’s Lions secondary couldn’t begin to effectively run Cover-1, but Glenn and the Lions found a great balance between personnel and coverage scheme this year.
Lions cornerbacks among the best in single coverage in 2024 and we’ve got the data to prove it
Last season, one of the Achilles heels for the Lions was at the cornerback position. They clearly knew it; hence them drafting two corners to start the draft (Terrion Arnold, Ennis Rakestraw) and signing Carlton Davis in free agency. So far, that investment has paid off.
Arnold and Davis, in particular, are currently two of the better cornerbacks when it comes to playing in single coverage this season, according to a chart from Jrfortgang (@throwthedamball on Twitter). Both are playing single coverage at more than a 60% rate (the graph used a minimum of 100 coverage snaps) and both are above average (around -0.33) in terms of their separation grade, which used a scale from -2 to +2.
Davis is second on the team with eight passes defended while Arnold is fourth with five. Both are also among the top five on the team in tackles – Davis has 43, Arnold has 32.
Neither cornerback may be elite right now, but it’s much better play than what they got last season and it’s just one reason why the Lions are 7-1 and in the driver’s seat for home-field advantage in the NFC playoffs.
The Detroit Lions pass coverage tops the NFL in forcing tight-window throws by opposing QBs
Pass coverage has been a bugaboo for the Detroit Lions for several years. Zone, man, hybrid–it didn’t matter. The Lions secondary and linebackers were rotten in coverage.
The organization made a focused effort to fix that last offseason, and through six weeks it’s paying off very well. The overhauled cornerback room–with the top four CBs all newcomers in 2024–is spearheading the tightest coverage in the NFL in terms of forcing tight-window throws.
Judah Fortgang of PFF calculated the percentage of tight-window throws forced by each defense. The Lions came out on top at 27.9 percent, well above the 2nd-ranked Ravens at 22.9.
Some of that is a function of a heavy pressure rate; receivers get more time to gain separation when the quarterback has more time to throw. However, new outside CBs Terrion Arnold and Carlton Davis both fare quite well in the single coverage metric breakdown, too.
In this graphic, the higher to the upper right, the better. And that’s where Arnold and Davis reside, with slot Amik Robertson not far below them.
How often CBs have played in single coverage and their separation prevented on those plays pic.twitter.com/fugwiELBWf
The result is a Lions defense that ranks 8th in points per game allowed, up from 23rd in 2023, and produced seven INTs in five games after picking off just 16 in 17 games a year ago.
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.
The Lions need some type of speed off the edge to help compliment Aidan Hutchinson. Guy is working his ass off but there's zero threat around him on this 4-man rush.
If they can't find someone, they're going to need to find a way to start blitzing linebackers more frequently. pic.twitter.com/R4SiitABPx
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.
Man coverage can’t stop the best wide receiver in football
Every so often, there is a generational talent that comes along at the wide receiver position. From Jerry Rice to Megatron, there are numerous examples of just that. The Minnesota Vikings have been lucky enough to have two of them.
Randy Moss was a player that I credit for kickstarting the passing renaissance in the NFL and Justin Jefferson is emerging as that next talent in the NFL.
He leads the NFL in both receptions (123) and receiving yards (1,756) and per Next Gen Stats, Jefferson has the most yards against man coverage.
Receiving Yards vs Man/Man
Justin Jefferson 710 AJ Brown 588 DeVonta Sith 487 Amari Cooper 480 Stefan Diggs 440 Ja'Marr Chase 405 Garrett Wilson 405 CeeDee Lamb 401
It’s really impressive the success that Jefferson has had in man coverage this season, especially with the issues that the Vikings offensive line has had this season and how often Jefferson sees double teams.
Needless to say, this is another stat that shows Jefferson is the best receiver in the National Football League.
When the Minnesota Vikings brought in defensive coordinator Ed Donatell, they knew exactly what they were getting: a Vic Fangio-inspired defense that played mostly cover 2, quarters and variants utilizing both coverages. So far this season, Donatell has lived up to that and ranks among the bottom the National Football League in running man coverage.
#Vikings secondary/coverage tendencies are interesting… Zone coverage, free access, and open WRs all over this defense. Allowing a ton of yards and explosive pass plays
This isn’t much of a surprise considering what style of defense he wants to run, but is it a mistake considering how the season has transpired?
The Vikings have been decimated at the cornerback position over the last few weeks, including Thanksgiving night against the New England Patriots where they were missing Cameron Dantzler, Akayleb Evans and Andrew Booth Jr.
Due to missing so many cornerbacks, you can make the argument that the Vikings should try to generate some excess pressure on quarterback Mac Jones and play man coverage.
They didn’t do that and instead played the same style of defense. Per Sports Info Solutions, the Vikings only had five plays where they played some form of man coverage and brought five or more rushers on only seven snaps.
There are two schools of thought when trying to hide your secondary. You can play zone or bring heavy pressure which can limit the amount of time that your corners are asked to cover the receivers.
The Vikings have been playing almost exclusively man coverage without putting extra pressure on the quarterback and it hasn’t been working. The Vikings are at the bottom in total defense (31st) and defensive DVOA (23rd) and we have seen very little willingness to make adjustments.
This has been a big criticism of mine for the entire season. Patrick Peterson, who is PFF’s 5th-ranked cornerback this season, thrives in press coverage and Akayleb Evans does a good job mirroring in man coverage. It might be time to change things up to make things easier for the Vikings offense.
We know it won’t, as we have 11 games worth of data and the Vikings still rank at the bottom. Times are changing, but Donatell is currently refusing.
The Cowboys played a lot of man coverage against the Buccaneers, and the results were unpleasant for America’s Team.
Starting last season, when Mark Schofield and I started doing the Touchdown Wire weekly matchup podcast, we created the “Don’t play man if you can’t play man” award, which went to the defense that played a ton of man coverage, and were generally hapless whenever it did. Usually, the weekly award was split between the Lions and the Titans, and for good reason.
In 2020, per Sports Info Solutions, when they played Cover-0, Cover-1, or 2-Man, the Lions allowed 138 receptions on 233 attempts for 1,953 yards, 22 touchdowns, four interceptions, and an opponent QBR of 110.4. The Titans were even worse in touchdown-to-interception ratio, allowing 135 completions in man coverage on 228 attempts for 1,589 yards, 22 touchdowns, one interception, and an opponent QBR of 110.8. The Texans, Eagles, and Panthers actually allowed higher opponent QBR in man coverage, and perhaps the Texans should have made the list more often — they allowed 20 touchdowns and had no picks in man coverage. So, they ran it on 179 opponent passing attempts anyway, which puts them firmly in the “Don’t play man if you can’t play man” Hall of Fame for 2020.
It’s early yet in the 2021 season, but our “Don’t play man if you can’t play man” winner for Week 1 is the Dallas Cowboys, who allowed Tom Brady to complete four of five passes against man coverage for 96 yards, two touchdowns, and an opponent QBR of 123.1 in a 31-29 loss to the defending champs. This season, we’ll detail these man-based debacles on the site, as well.
One touchdown against man was from Brady to Rob Gronkowski, which seems ill-advised, as Gronk ripped man coverage to bits last season — 22 catches on 37 targets for 302 yards, 189 air yards, and five touchdowns. The other touchdown was from Brady to Antonio Brown. Also Not Good, as Brown caught 15 passes on 22 targets against man coverage last season for 240 yards, 164 air yards, and four touchdowns. Brady also feasted on man coverage in 2020; only Aaron Rodgers (37) had more touchdown passes against it than Brady’s 25.
So, here came the Cowboys and new defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, who apparently didn’t get the memo. The first time man coverage beat the ‘Boys for a score came with 9:48 left in the first half, and this was Brady’s two-yard touchdown pass to Gronk. Now, defensive metrics with man coverage can be a bit skewed because teams tend to play more man in red zone situations, but still… this was not a great look. Gronk doesn’t need any help bodying a defender out of the picture, guys. This is just a quick block-and-release with Brady running boot (!!!), Gronk adjusting as he does, and it’s wide open in what’s supposed to be a compressed space.
Brady’s second touchdown to Gronk was just as bad for Dallas’ man principles — the 47-yard touchdown from Brady to Antonio Brown with 2:38 left in the first half. This is 2-Man, and while the safeties do a decent job of gaining depth as they’re supposed to at first (Matt Bowen has a great primer on 2-Man, which you can read here), leaving Brown one-on-one with cornerback Anthony Brown was less than optimal. The focus was on Chris Godwin’s route to that side.
As bad as Dallas’ defense was last season, and it was pretty bad, it wasn’t a total disaster in man coverage, where the Cowboys gave up just 10 touchdowns of the 34 they allowed overall. This was not a great start in that department for the new regime.
Why do the Lions keep playing so much man coverage when they’re so bad at it? Matt Patricia should have answers by now.
Last season, the two teams that played the most man coverage were the Detroit Lions and the New England Patriots. Each team put man concepts on the field on 54% of their defensive snaps, per Sports Info Solutions. Not a surprise in that Lions head coach Matt Patricia used to be Bill Belichick’s defensive coordinator, and Patricia has several former Patriots (Trey Flowers, Jamie Collins, Danny Shelton) playing on his defense.
However, the results of man coverage for the two teams could not possibly have been more different last season. In 2019, when playing Cover-0, Cover-1, or 2-Man coverage, not to mention combo man/zone schemes, the Patriots allowed 10 touchdowns, picked off 18 passes, gave up a completion rate of 49.8%, and allowed an opponent QBR of 54.06.
When the Lions were playing those same coverages, they gave up 23 touchdowns, intercepted just four passes, allowed a completion rate of 55.9%, and opposing quarterbacks had a 98.7 QBR when “challenged” with Patricia’s man concepts.
(Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
This continued in Detroit’s Week 1 loss to the Bears, in which Patricia’s bunch put up a 23-6 third-quarter lead before allowing Mitchell Trubisky (?!?!?) to throw three fourth-quarter touchdown passes in a 27-23 Chicago win. As Chris Burke of The Athletic pointed out, Trubisky was able to make things happen as he hadn’t before after cornerback Desmond Trufant was injured. But with Trufant out, the Lions also gave Trubisky an increasing amount of man coverage… and boy, was that a bad idea. In the fourth quarter against man and combo coverage, Trubisky completed seven of seven passes for 84 yards and all three of his touchdown passes. Cornerback Tony McRae was debited with two of those touchdowns, and safety Tracy Walker had the third.
Now if you know you’re facing a team playing man coverage, and they’re really bad at it, you can throw all your man-beaters at that defense with impunity. As Bears head coach and offensive shot-caller Matt Nagy did on this one-yard touchdown pass to receiver Javon Wims. All Trubisky needed was the man indicator of the defender following his motion receiver, and he knew the crossing concept to the left side of the end zone would be easy money.
And on this 27-yard game-winner to Anthony Miller, the Bears ran a stop route to the outside, and a slot fade to the end zone. Stop/fade is an easy man-beater, and the Lions took the cheese as they tend to do.
So… why are the Lions so bad at man coverage, and why do they insist on doing it more than any other team? Personnel is a big part of it. If your secondary personnel isn’t matched to your schematic concepts, you’re going to get eaten alive — even if the opposing quarterback is Mitchell Trubisky. Before the 2019 season, the Lions signed former Seahawks slot defender Justin Coleman to a four-year, $36 million contract, making Coleman the highest-paid slot defender in NFL history. But Coleman had excelled in Seattle’s zone-based defense, and he wasn’t used to playing man as much as the Lions asked him to. The numbers played out as you might predict: Coleman allowed five touchdowns to just one interception in man and combo coverage last season,
Meanwhile, back to the Patriots. Last May, when I put together a list of the 11 best man coverage cornerbacks, New England’s J.C. Jackson was first. New England’s Jason McCourty was second. New England’s Stephon Gilmore was third. As you would expect, there were no Lions to be seen. Bill Belichick is the modern-day master of aligning personnel to scheme, so it should come as no surprise that when he corralled a group of players whose attributes made them naturals for man coverage, he would install more of it.
Patricia, on the other hand, seems to have made the worst mistake a game-planner can possibly make: He’s subscribed to the idea that no matter what kinds of players he has on his roster, he’s going to run what he runs, and to heck with reality.
Though first-round cornerback Jeff Okudah looks like a man coverage natural, Okudah hasn’t hit the field yet — he was inactive for the Bears game. The Lions had better find a way to get Okudah on the field sooner than later, because their ongoing man coverage disasters are killing this defense, and it’s clear that their head coach isn’t going to do an about-face, no matter how bad it gets.
Seattle Seahawks defensive backs Quinton Dunbar and Tre Flowers have landed on Touchdown Wire’s list of top NFL cornerbacks in man coverage.
Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar recently took a look around the league at the best NFL cornerbacks in man coverage and two Seattle Seahawks have landed on the list – Quinton Dunbar and Tre Flowers. Here’s what Farrar has to say about each player.
“It’s unknown what will happen to Dunbar as a result of his legal issues at this time, but when the Seahawks traded a 2020 fifth-round pick to the Redskins for his services in March, it sure looked like a great deal,” Farrar writes. “Last season, Dunbar allowed the ninth-best opposing quarterback rating in the NFL at 56.9, and that excellence worked in his ability to play man coverage, as well. In those instances (the Redskins played man coverage on 34% of their snaps), Dunbar allowed 14 catches on 29 targets for 222 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions, and an opponent QBR of 46.1 — eighth-best in the league. If Dunbar is able to play in the 2020 season, the Seahawks might want to consider playing man coverage at a higher rate than their 19% last season (31st in the NFL), because they have two starting cornerbacks on this list.”
As for Flowers, here’s a look at how he stacks up.
“And then, there’s Tre Flowers, selected in the fifth round of the 2018 draft out of Oklahoma State,” Farrar starts. “While he’s still getting the hang of a lot of the things (quick routes and quick receivers) that tend to bedevil cornerbacks of his size (6’3″, 203 pounds), Flowers has proven to be an outstanding man cornerback in that he uses his big body to landmark receivers and take them through the route. Last season in man coverage, Flowers allowed 14 catches on 25 targets for 138 yards, no touchdowns, one interception, and an opposing QBR of 38.4. Only the three cornerbacks who finished above him on this list allowed lower QBR totals. As we said in the Quinton Dunbar section, it might be time for the Seahawks to play more man coverage.”
