For the last six quarters of football, the Detroit Lions' defense has been awful. To be fair the Buffalo Bills and Josh Allen can make a lot of defenses look bad, but Kelvin Sheppard's unit made it a lot easier on them too.
Some extra time between games before taking on the New York Jets in Week 3 stood to be helpful, in terms of schematic adjustments. There's nothing Sheppard can do about who he has (or doesn't have) available to him in the secondary, but he can try something different to see if something, anything, works.
Sheppard spoke the media on Thursday. Reporters tabbed his opening statement at seven minutes long, taking up a big chunk his alloted time as it were, and Will Burchfield of 97.1 The Ticket had the word count at 1,500.
As some people immediately noted, it was a Matt Patricia-esque soliloquy.
Seven minutes and 1,500 words of Kelvin Sheppard explaining "the single-hand demise to this defense right now." In a word: explosives. Players and coaches had an air-it-out session Monday. pic.twitter.com/DEm9JXkBCw
— Will Burchfield (@burchie_kid) September 24, 2026
Kelvin Sheppard use a lot of time (and a ton of words) to basically say nothing
Sheppard seemingly referenced his comments from late last season regarding the struggles of the Lions' run defense, when he said how good it was other than some longer runs that were being allowed. It all counts, and things weren't that great even with those explosive, or explosive-ish, runs taken out.
"You might know before, guys, I stood up here and I said, 'All right, we played three quarters good, but in the fourth quarter, you take that play out.' Well, we're no longer doing that this year because taking those plays out is the exact plays that's been the demise to our defense."
Sheppard said he and his staff counted up 23 explosive plays allowed by the Lions' defense over the first two games, which feels like a lot and an underestimation all at once. He added how "75 percent of it" has been "self-induced." He also noted how, however obvously, there's a gap between what's going on during the week of preparation and what takes place on game day.
What about the identity of the Lions' defense? Sheppard finished his seven-minute message with something about that,
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"We said the identity of this defense this year, guys -- I'm going to be loud and clear about this, was we are going to stop the run, and we will create takeaways."
The Lions enter Week 3 28th in the league against the run, while allowing an equally dismal 4.8 yards per carry. Week 2 struggles to contain Allen as a runner tilt those numbers some, but running back James Cook also had 135 yards. And all three of their takeaways thus far came in Week 1, with Saints quarterback Tyler Shough throwing them two pretty easy interceptions.
So those two "identities" took a big hit in Week 2, and if the Saints could've stuck with the run more in Week 1 they might've found better success.
Sheppard is rightfully taking a lot of heat for how his unit has looked through the better part of two games. None of his opening words to the media heading into Week 3 did anything to turn down the temperature, and it can argued he made it worse if the Lions' defense follows with a dud at home on Sunday.
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