The Detroit Lions will have to face a defensive conundrum
By Robert Jones
We’ve all been eagerly anticipating that top 10 pick which the Lions would use to bolster the defense and allow Matt Patricia to show the world why he is here; because with a good defensive offseason he has an opportunity to build a stingy, tough defense which can help them claw their way to the top of the NFC North.
For the first time ever.
The problem is that after spending almost all of their resources on offense this past offseason, it looks like they need to do it again.
One of real ironies that the Lions are now facing is that the NFL is definitely trending towards becoming an offense driven league. They continue to tweak the rules to make it very, very difficult to play good old fashion shut down defense, and I’m not talking about the rules that are clearly for player protection.
NFL offenses hold all the aces while the defenses are left with a pair of deuces. The league wants to turn themselves into the NBA of the early 1980’s when outscoring opponents was the way the game was played.
Until Chuck Daly and the Detroit Pistons introduced hard nosed, suffocating defense to the league. Something they were demonized for, while the San Antonio Spurs dynasty simply followed suit and were glamorized for it. But I digress.
The point is this; the Lions are now led by Matt Patricia, a defensive coach, at a time when the emphasis is clearly on offense. So while Patricia’s agenda does include fixing the offense and creating an efficient scoring unit, defense is still where his heart is.
But now defense is basically a dirty word because defensive struggles are not considered exciting or pretty. In other words; football is a business and ratings matter.
Yet the Chicago Bears turnaround has had more to do with their defense than new head coach Matt Nagy’s offense. Not that the Bears haven’t been improved on that side of the ball as well, but the point is clear that Matt Patricia does need to get some premium horses added to his defense to allow the Lions the same type of chance for a turnaround.
The problem is all the problems with the offense.