Detroit Lions Rush Defense Ranks 30th in NFL

Read more on the Detroit Lions struggles stopping opponents from rushing the football

The Detroit Lions rush defense is allowing an average of 170.3 rushing yards per game, which ranks 30th in the NFL. 

Against the Saints, Detroit struggled mightily to fill gaps and the defensive line was man-handled by the opposing offensive line throughout all four quarters. 

New Orleans was able to control time of possession and eventually wore out a tired defense that spent a significant amount out on the football field. 

© Kirthmon F. Dozier via Imagn Content Services, LLC

According to the Lions team website, "Detroit's allowed 19 rushing plays to gain at least 10-plus yards, which is tied for second most in the NFL. Opponents are gaining better than four yards per carry on first down over half of the time (53.9 percent)."

During his Monday media session, Lions head coach Matt Patricia was asked what needs to change in order to stop the opponents rushing attack. 

“I think obviously the consistency would be the No. 1 thing for us from that standpoint because I think that to your point, there are those plays that you see on tape that are not good," Patricia said. "Those things are happening where we get knocked off the ball, or our pad level is too high or hand placement (is) not good enough -- those are all the things we have to improve on to make it consistent from that standpoint."

Patricia added, "Certainly when we get into those games, just do a great job of playing every single play and right from the start of the game at a high level in the run game to make sure that doesn’t get going in a bad direction. It takes too long to settle down and get it stopped. So certainly coaching and playing, it’s all got to be better and just more consistent from that standpoint all the way across the board.”

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