Detroit Lions defense stifles opposing teams strengths
The Detroit Lions defense plays a great game against the leagues’ top offense and stifled the top-tier Kansas City Chiefs big-play offense.
Just reading this Detroit Lions headline, doesn’t it sound like we’re talking about the New England Patriots? The Pats have long been known to remove the strength of an opposing team’s offense. Now, like it or not, the comparison to New England continues. But in a good way.
Against the Kansas City Chiefs, the Leos stifled MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes … relatively speaking. Mahomes dropped 315 passing yards, but zero touchdowns. That’s the first time in 14 games that Mahomes hasn’t thrown two touchdown passes in a single game.
The quick-strike, big-play offense of the Chiefs was limited in that regard. By a Lions defense that was missing star cornerback Darius Slay due to injury. And, while Detroit didn’t make the stop they needed on the final drive, this team is proving their defense is for real.
Again, this was one of the – if not the – best offenses in the NFL. The Lions ‘limited’ this offense to three rushing touchdowns and two field goals for 27 points. No, the defense wasn’t on the field when the Chiefs returned a fumble for a touchdown, so I’m not putting that seven-point blemish on them.
Let’s throw out another statistic for Mahomes. He completed just 24 of 42 attempts for 57.1 percent. That’s 10 percent lower than his average of 67.9 percent for 2019 and nine percent lower than his career average of 66.3 percent. No other team has come close to knocking him off his game this year.
For those that didn’t watch the game or missed it while watching, Mahomes looked uncomfortable at times. He was missing throws that we’ve seen him complete all season. While defenders were close and coverage was tight, he simply overthrew his receivers multiple times on Sunday. The Lions defense was making their presence known and throwing him off.
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Whatever head coach Matt Patricia is doing with this Detroit Lions defense is working. Maybe players are buying in. Maybe the scheme and game planning is better. Maybe it’s just dumb luck. But whatever it is, it has this team a 2-1-1 and holding their heads high. They compete with whoever is in front of them, taking away their strength and giving this team a chance to win every week.