Detroit Lions Week 4 report card: Offensive outburst cannot mask defensive woes

Coaching Staff: 1/5 stars

The criticism being directed at Aaron Glenn is growing louder by the week. On Sunday his defense had by far its worst defensive performance since he was named defensive coordinator. Again, against a bottom-five offense. There have been a few concerning trends so far, and all of them reared their ugly heads on Sunday.

The first is the number of explosive plays being given up. Considering the league-wide shift to more two-high shells to prevent big plays, the Lions have not leaned into that in the way other teams have. As a result, a lot more shot plays have been available for opposing offenses, and a lot of them have been hit. From this game, there were the aforementioned Penny runs, but Metcalf and Tyler Lockett both also found success deep downfield. Lockett should have had multiple explosive receptions in this game, but one of them was overthrown by Geno Smith after Lockett had beaten Oruwariye downfield.

The second is the red zone defense. Against one of the worst red zone offenses in the league, Detroit had absolutely zero answers. Seattle just kept marching down the field and they wouldn’t stop in the red zone, aside from one instance where they had to settle for a field goal. The Lions have not been able to stop the run effectively, which has left them vulnerable to play-action plays, which Seattle also ran very effectively on Sunday.

Third, and perhaps most importantly, the third down defense. A lot of the Lions’ issues with explosive plays come back to third down as well, for two reasons. The first relates back to the run defense, as failing to stop the run has resulted in a lot more short-yardage situations on third down. The second has a lot more to do with Glenn’s play-calling.

Glenn likes to blitz, that’s no secret. Any time there is a third-and-medium/long, he stacks the line of scrimmage and sends an assortment of players at the quarterback. Now Glenn can design effective blitzes, so that’s not the issue here. The issue comes down to predictability. If teams know you are going to blitz, they will have checks in place to counter it. Seattle figured out how to solve the third-down packages Detroit would send, so the book is now out for the whole league to see.

This is not a call for Glenn to be fired. All of these issues have solutions, and as Dan Campbell said after the game Detroit will need to do some introspection to find those answers. The honeymoon phase is now squarely in the rearview mirror when it comes to Glenn. For as much as his young defense still has to learn, he is also still very new to being a defensive coordinator. But the results need to at least trend better soon.

Play of the game: T.J. Hockenson’s 81-yard reception 

Detroit had just given up a touchdown which pushed Seattle’s lead up to 38-23. On the first play of the following drive, the Lions took a holding penalty. Things were looking bleak, and the Lions needed something to go their way. Enter T.J. Hockenson, with the longest reception of his career.

One of the biggest criticisms of Hockenson in his career has been his tendency to just kind of fall down after every catch. In this game and on this play he showed a glimmer of hope, and it resulted in a massive gain that set up a touchdown.

Final thoughts

If you needed any more proof of how bizarre the 2022 Detroit Lions have been thus far, here are a few more stats.

It really has been a super odd start to the year, perhaps the Lions are due for some positive regression. Though, there are a number of self-inflicted wounds which need to be worked through first before focusing on that.

With the first four weeks of the season in the books, the door will be open for players on injured reserve to return to action. If any of Josh Paschal, Levi Onwuzurike or Romeo Okwara can return to the lineup soon, it would be a massive boost for a unit that needs help.