The Detroit Lions have been awful defending the run in 2019. But on Sunday they suddenly got better and had their best game of the year defending the run.
The Detroit Lions have been bad on defense this year. They’ve struggled to stop both the run and pass just about every game this year. But on Sunday, against the New York Giants, the defense finally found success in one aspect of their job.
Prior to Sunday, the Lions’ defense had allowed their opposition to gain over 100 yards on the ground in every game of the season. The Lions, before Sunday, were the 5th worst team in the NFL at defending against the run.
The Lions were giving up an average of 139.2 yards per game, 4.9 yards per carry, and seven rushing touchdowns in six games.
This Sunday, out of nowhere however, the Lions were able to hold the Giants to less than 100 yards on the ground. The Giants don’t have a bad offensive line, as it consists of Pro Football Focus’ 12th ranked guard in the NFL in Kevin Zeitler and top 35 players at their positions in center Jon Halapio, guard Will Hernandez, and tackle Nate Solder. And of course, there’s also stud, elite running back Saquon Barkley running the ball for the Giants.
This sudden change in fortune for the Lions defense is interesting. What changed from the previous six games to this one?
It could have been just a matter of execution on the defense or maybe the Giants offensive line was having a bad day. But I have a hunch that it largely comes down to one player for the Lions.
Defensive lineman Da’Shawn Hand, the second year pro out of Alabama, was a big part of what was a dominant run defense the second half of last year for the Lions. Hand brings versatility to the Lions as he can play in any position up front along the defensive line. That versatility gives head coach Matt Patricia the ability to move his pieces around and match up the defense with the offense the best way he sees fit.
The Lions held the elite do-it-all Barkley to just 64 yards on 19 carries, limiting him to less than four yards per carry with a long run of just 13. As a whole, the Giants team was able to muster only 80 total yards on the ground on 24 carries, which put them at a clip of a measly 3.3 yards per carry.
The only difference on the field this week in personnel was the addition of Hand. In his first game back, Hand made his presence felt causing disruption throughout the day in both the passing game and the rushing game.
Hand had four tackles on the day, one of which was for a loss. He was also able to pressure the quarterback and get his hand up to deflect and defend a pass on one play.
Hand was disruptive and a play-maker in his first game back and if he can keep it up and stay healthy then he will provide a large boost to the Lions defense. I think that Hand is the key piece to the run defense and will get the answer definitively soon enough.
The Lions face a string of good runners over the rest of this season and the defense will be tested. If Hand is as important as I suspect he is, having him in the line up for the rest of the season will be important and crucial in their ability to stop the run.
Hand may very well be the key piece to this Lions team being able to defend the run, but only time will tell whether or not that’s correct. For my money, I’m betting that Hand will have a big impact and turn around at least this one part of the Lions’ defense.