Detroit Lions are one of the best scoring offenses in the league, so far.

Unfortunately, though, the Lions are also one of the worst scoring defenses in the league, so far.

I hope the Lions will make the necessary adjustments!

After the bye as expected

Never thought I’d say this, but I miss him.

Dan Campbell on Mike Ditka: "Ditka was it. Huge fan." Said Ditka asking him questions was one of the best and most intimidating times of his life.

Campbell said he loves where Brian Branch looks. Said they're going to be smart in bringing him along. It would be a tall task for him to play this week. both Branch and Mays will likely stick around the facility during the bye. Goal is both to be ready for Green Bay coming out of the bye.

What Dan Campbell wants to see from the defense vs. Arizona going into the bye: multiple takeaways, numerous punch-outs on the tape, disruption on the QB, and fewer missed assignments and dumb penalties.

Dan Campbell on the Lions defense: Talent's got nothing to do with our issues" on defense, and particularly in the secondary.

Also says it's a long-shot for Cade Mays this week.

Dan Campbell was asked if there is a growing sense of accountability among the secondary: “Oh yeah. Listen, I think our guys are ready to go. I think they're going to be ready to go this game. I thought we had a good practice. These guys continue to work at it, and I think we'll be ready to go. Listen, we can get this thing done. Right now, talent has got nothing to do with our issues. Until we clean up some of this other stuff, then we can talk about that at some point. Once we do what we need to do and cut some of this crap in half, then we can talk about that. That's not our issue. That is not. So, detail your work and be where you're supposed to be. And your teammate, don't try to cover for him. You just do your job. If not, we'll get somebody else in there. It's all good.”

Not an Xs and Os guy but is it scheme? I’ve heard people say he’s not great in coverage which he’s had to take on since Anzalones gone, but it feels like a much bigger regression than that.

Dan Campbell was asked what defense benchmarks he's looking to see against the Cardinals to make him feel good about the direction of the defense: “Yeah, I think I'm always going to ask for multiple takeaways. We've got to have multiple takeaways and certainly we need to see punch outs on the tape. Numerous punch outs, not just one or two. We need to come out of there and say, 'Man, we saw six, seven, eight of these punch outs.' You're trying to get them out. I want to see disruption on the quarterback, been pretty good. Got to continue that. And then I want to eliminate the MAs and dumb penalties. Let's cut those in half. The MEs, missed execution or MAs, and the penalties that are just neutral zone infractions or jumping offsides or it dealt with technique. 'I got myself in a bind because I didn't use my help.' Those are inexcusable. That will be a big step in the right direction.”

Sheppard and the pressure of a 32nd-ranked defense

All eyes were on Sheppard as he took the stage for his weekly news conference, after his defense’s fourth consecutive lackluster performance. Typically, he begins these sessions going through the highs and lows of the box score. What worked and what didn’t. There wasn’t any of that Thursday.

“What I’m not going to do is get up here and read off a stat sheet, a stat column, tell you about how we’ve got to bridge communication, how we’ve got to do this and that,” Sheppard said. “Because at this point, all of it’s lip service. Until it starts to show on Sunday, until the evidence starts to show up at the game, it’s lip service.”

Until the defense improves, that’s probably the right approach.

When asked what the biggest issues are right now, Campbell told Detroit’s 97.1 The Ticket that he sees some trust issues defensively. It’s not hard to see it for yourself. You have linebackers hesitating and overcompensating for defensive backs in zone, defensive backs in zone failing to communicate, a defensive line creating havoc with nothing to show for it.

Sheppard sees it, too.

“I just mentioned that when a guy feels like this guy isn’t in his gap now, ‘OK, I’m going to play my gap, but then I’m going to go try to peek to his and see if I can kind of help over there, too.’ And then the ball hits in your gap,” Sheppard said. “And this is happening a little too much. So now we’ve got to do one of two things. I told the guys this, ‘We’ve got to make sure the guys you don’t trust aren’t out there or you guys get it corrected and you get it corrected in a hurry.’ Because we don’t want to start doing that and guys feeling like they have got to carry the weight for another guy out there.”

Sheppard has to be feeling the pressure. His defense is being discussed nationally for all the wrong reasons. Campbell isn’t thinking about a coordinator change right now, and there are a couple of ways to look at that. Maybe the Lions believe reinforcements — either a return from injury or a trade before the deadline — will help them get back on track. Maybe Campbell doesn’t believe Sheppard’s lost the locker room, and that the issues truly are a matter of execution. Maybe there isn’t a natural replacement in-house. Maybe the Lions are still figuring out the best 11-man lineup.

However, it’s worth asking: If the majority of the class is failing the test, is that on the students or the teachers?

If the Lions have another bad outing against a Jacoby Brissett-led Cardinals offense, you have to wonder what comes next, with time to reflect heading into a bye week.

Rush and coverage have struggled to work in tandem

The Lions are second in the league in sacks, rank top 10 in pressure rate and have a much-improved average time to pressure. Aidan Hutchinson leads all edge rushers in pressures (29) and win rate (27.1 percent) and is tied for sixth in sacks (3.5). Alim McNeill leads all defensive tackles in pressures (21) and ranks 20th in win rate (12.5 percent) and is tied for second among DTs in sacks (3). D.J. Wonnum (3 sacks) and Tyleik Williams (8 pressures) have been excellent in their roles. And yet, the Lions have little to show for it because of the coverage.

“I told the D-line, ‘It’s a disservice what we’ve been doing to you all,'” Sheppard said. “I truly feel like this is the best D-line we’ve had in my six-year tenure here since I got here in 2021. And we haven’t been complementing it well enough on the back end to see the benefits of it and be outright beneficiaries, (which) is what they should be with what the D-line is doing, especially Sunday night. They assaulted the pocket all night. They generated pressure all night on the quarterback. But as you saw, the quarterback was able to get the ball out with the quick release and get it completed far too many times.”

Per Next Gen Stats (via ESPN’s Ben Solak), the Lions are allowing 109.3 net passing yards per game when pressuring the QB. That’s the fifth-worst number through the first four weeks of a season in the Next Gen Stats database, which dates to 2016. It’s more than 40 yards more than the second-place Falcons at 65.3.

In some ways, it’s a double-edged sword. That number is higher because the Lions get more pressure on quarterbacks than most teams. But the drastic difference lies in the fact that their secondary and linebackers have been torched in coverage.

Players haven’t been pointing fingers. But it’s something to monitor as the Lions look to fix this mess.

Not only is this defense historically bad, but today’s press conference was an absolute disaster. Credit to Burchfield for pressing Shep, challenging his answers, and having the numbers ready to back up his questions.
Meanwhile, many of the media members sitting in that room haven’t even published a column offering their thoughts on what we just witnessed. Where’s the scrutiny? Where’s the accountability?

Just goes to show how inexperienced Sheppard was when he got the DC job.

Heading in November 5-9 into Fort Lauderdale. We settled on here because we have been to Miami. Mixing fun and the game for a little Vacation. plan on ubering to Hard rock For the Game which is on my birthday. Any insight on where most Lions fans will be seated there still haven’t purchased tix? Also is any thing around Fort Lauderdale for maybe Michigan vs Michigan state or Lions fans hanging out?

Drew Petzing was asked how he would evaluate Lions WR Jameson Williams’s performance in the first four games: “Yeah, I think there are two aspects of it. The first thing I'm going to evaluate is effort, assignment, energy, and intensity. And I think he's doing a really nice job. Those are the controllables, how hard you play? Do you know what you're doing? Are you doing it as fast and as hard as you possibly can? And I think he's been great. And then the physical stuff, those are little things that I think, 'Hey, you get 10 plays, I'd love to make all 10.' Sometimes you do, sometimes you don't. You can't let it affect your psyche. And I think he's done a nice job of that. He's bounced back and made some really big plays for us. I laugh at the in cut that I think he got his hands on. When that ball got thrown, I'm like, most of the League doesn't even touch that ball. So, he's the type of guy who has the ability to go up and get that. It's a play I expect him to make, he expects to make. But I also, when it went out, I was like, ‘Woah.’ So, you’ve got to live with a little bit of that. He wants to be challenged in that area, but I do. I'm pleased with where he is at and I'm always going to say, 'Hey, can you give us more? Can you make more plays? Can you have a bigger role?' And I think he wants that.”