Detroit Lions defensive line must step up due to injuries

With Mike Daniels and Da’Shawn Hand recovering from injuries, other defensive linemen need to elevate their play for the Detroit Lions.

Much to the surprise of many NFL experts, the Detroit Lions remain undefeated (2-0-1) following 27-24 road victory over the Philadelphia Eagles. While an efficient offense and the first kickoff return touchdown of the NFL season helped the Lions to victory, perhaps the most crucial key to the win was the fact that the defense came through in the clutch when the team needed them to.

Despite not having Darius Slay towards the end of the game, a deep secondary core prevented the Eagles from making a game-winning drive, with Mike Ford, Justin Coleman, and Rashaan Melvin each making big plays in the fourth quarter.

There have been even more injuries to the defensive line in this game. Second-year defensive end Da’Shawn Hand was downgraded to out on Friday, and veteran interior linemen Mike Daniels left midway through the game with an apparent foot injury.

Even though the unit was far from full strength for Sunday’s game, they stepped up in more ways than one. Damon Harrison and Trey Flowers each earned a sack, while Flowers led the team with eight tackles.

Perhaps the most important play of the game was the fourth-down stop that the Lions got late in the fourth quarter. While only rushing three players at quarterback Carson Wentz, he was forced to scramble before being brought down by the ankle for Kevin Strong’s sole tackle of the day.

The unit was able to make its presence felt for the first time all season, as a couple of sacks as well as a couple passes batted down by Harrison and Strong gave the Eagles fits all day.

While the Lions usually only rushed three or four guys on key third and fourth downs, those few guys brought enough pressure to allow the corners time to cover the Eagles’ receivers.

This progress is encouraging to see after the unit was deemed as just okay in the first few weeks. Both the Arizona Cardinals and the Los Angeles Chargers played backups at one of the tackle spots, and the Lions defensive line was unable to capitalize.

With as pricey as this unit is, they need to produce pressure and make the pocket collapse to allow the depleted secondary more time to cover the speedy receivers running complicated routes.

Flowers contributes to a good chunk of that price, as with his five-year, $90 million deal, he has the sixth-highest annual average salary for a defensive player in NFL history. Even though Flowers was able to fill up the stat sheet on Sunday, he was able to impact last Sunday’s win versus the Chargers without racking up tackles, as Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press explained.

"Though he hasn’t done much statistically, Flowers has lived up to his reputation as a high-energy player. He’s relentless pursuing plays, and on his third-down hurry, he knocked right tackle Sam Tevi off balance with good hand technique, then worked back inside to take Rivers to the ground as a Chargers receiver ran open across the middle of the field."

That relentless pursuit needs to be contagious with this defensive line unit. They may be without Hand and Daniels for the next few weeks, forcing the other players around them to step up.

Strong, Romeo Okwara and A’Shawn Robinson need to have a productive few weeks in the absence of the players mentioned above. But if the unit’s performance against Philadelphia isn’t a fluke, they should be just fine over the next few weeks.