Lions Aaron Glenn will try to overcome weakness with strength

The problem Aaron Glenn has to tackle

In a short period of time, Brad Holmes had made several roster changes and has seemingly created a solid foundation to build upon. Both the offensive and defensive lines have gotten a little injection of some youth. In the process, both seem to have become the strength of this franchise.

That’s never a bad place to start or to have as a strength. The game of football for all the high-flying offensive pyrotechnics we keep seeing proliferated around the league, is still a game of physicality. A game of force.

Running backs need a hole to run through. Quarterbacks need time to throw passes. Meanwhile, defenses need to shut down the line of scrimmage and put constant pressure on opposing passers in order to get stops.

Great line play is more of a necessity than a luxury. Because teams that are really good in the trenches tend to do well if they have any talent to surround that line play.

Today, new Lions’ defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn is charged with turning around the abysmal defense the Motor City faithful have had to watch for the past three years. Instead of Patricia’s passive bend but don’t break system, it will be an aggressive, attack, attack, attack defense that Glenn will be leading.

The additional depth that Brad Holmes was able to acquire will give the defensive line more opportunities to create plays. And the better the front seven play, the better a young secondary will play.

There is one problem, however, that Glenn has to tackle; the linebacking corps.

We all have concerns about the secondary because of youth and depth. Yet if we are being honest, linebacker is probably the biggest weakness on the defense. In the case of the secondary, they should still at least field a decent starting unit. Can the linebackers do the same?

So the heat is on Glenn to get the front seven to play at a high level despite the fact that the linebackers are key components to stopping the run, especially in a 3-4 defense like Glenn wants to run.

The question of how Glenn can accomplish this has already been answered, but since everyone keeps asking how the Lions can overcome their lack of talent at linebacker, I assume no one has paid attention to Glenn’s answer of using a team strength to overcome the weakness.