Dan Campbell tried to spotlight a defensive bright spot after the Detroit Lions’ loss to the Buffalo Bills, but one beat writer wasn’t buying the framing.
On Monday, Campbell pointed to a stat he believed showed his defense was creating tough situations for opponents. “I'm like, 'Look man, we're number one right now, our defense is, in 2nd-and-7-plus.
Nobody's played second longer than we have.’ We're putting them in tough positions right now.
That's the whole point of why we do what we do, but we're losing them because we still, they're converting 66 percent of the time."
Detroit Football Network beat writer Justin Rogers pushed back, calling that use of the number disingenuous because the Lions’ defense has also had trouble getting off the field on third down, which has led to more defensive snaps than other teams are dealing with.
“Unfortunately, using a volume metric to make a point is disingenuous in this situation. First of all, because of their inability to get off the field consistently, Detroit has played more defensive snaps through two games than any team,” Rogers writes.
“Logically, that means they’ve worked more first downs. And on those first downs, they’ve given up a gain resulting in a first down 22 times, or 29.3% of the snaps.
That’s the second-worst rate in the league.”
The Lions are forcing opponents into 2nd-and-7 or worse 46.7% of the time, which ranks 11th. That number, Rogers argued, does not match the way Campbell presented it.
It also wasn’t just Campbell selling that message. Sheppard and the roster had been repeating that same point to reporters throughout the week.
Even with that talking point, the reality remains that Sheppard’s defense has to get much better on first and second down.
The numbers paint a rough picture: 31st in yards per game allowed, 31st in points per game allowed, 31st in defensive passing yards allowed, 28th in defensive rushing yards allowed, 32nd in first downs allowed with 63, 32nd in fourth-down defense, and 30th in third-down defense.
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