It’s not as if he’d say anything else, but Aaron Glenn has full belief he can fix the Detroit Lions defense.
Allowing 41 points and 555 yards to a Seattle Seahawks’ offense led by Geno Smith, when they had scored 47 points over their first three games, has to be rock bottom, right? The Detroit Lions, and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, certainly hope so.
Head coach Dan Campbell, however obviously, has remained committed to Glenn as the guy to set thing straight for the Lions’ defense moving forward. As much as Glenn has work to do as play caller, his unit definitely as a talent/depth deficiency.
Glenn had his typical session with the media on Thursday. His sentiment was obvious, but also clear.
Aaron Glenn has full belief he can fix the Lions defense
Glenn likes to open his weekly press conference with positives from the previous game. There simply weren’t any from the game against Seattle, other than an opportunity to move forward.
"There are no positives, really, with the way that we played. The only positive I will say is we got a chance to practice yesterday which was really, really good and we get a chance to play this week.”"
As a former player, Glenn understands the pressure that’s on him and that it’s to be dealt with and embraced. He talked about his playing career as a cornerback, a position where there’s a thin line between success and failure and scrutiny is easy.
"I feel pressure just by being a coach,” he said. “That comes with the job. … Even though me and Dan (Campbell) are friends, this is a job and I look at it like that. I have to perform just like everybody else has to perform, he has to perform, the players have to perform. When things are not going well, you have to answer to that, and I’m not blind to that fact.”"
Glenn talked about the 2021 Kansas City Chiefs as a reason to believe the Lions’ defense can turn things around. The Chiefs allowed 32.6 points per game over their first five games last season. From there, they allowed 16.8 points per game on the way to the AFC West title and the AFC Championship Game.
It’s safe to say this year’s Lions don’t quite have the personnel the 2021 Chiefs did on the defensive side. But Glenn has belief things will turn around, and he will do all he can to instill that in the players-who by all accounts are bought into him. All in all, with Sunday’s game against the Patriots as an opportunity to get on a better track before a challenging post-bye week stretch, things can’t really get any worse.