Carmen Vitali
NFC North Reporter
This season, just before the Detroit Lions’ annual Thanksgiving matchup against the Buffalo Bills, the coaching staff made an important roster change that went largely unheard, especially at the national level.
Groundbreaking, right?
“[Lions linebackers coach Kelvin Sheppard] “Houston, we’ve got a problem,” Houston told reporters. Wasup? And he said, “Get ready this week. Get ready to fire Josh Allen.”
And he did. His sixth-round pick from Jackson State reached his second Allen on Thanksgiving, instantly validating the coach’s decision. Detroit recorded a total of three sacks against the Bills in that game, with Benito his Jones adding one more.
They played two against Jacksonville the following week, including one by Houston. Then, in Sunday’s game against Minnesota, the Vikings had chances to win over his NFC North, but the Lions denied them, leaving quarterback Kirk behind his four sacks on his Cousins. resulted in a 34–23 defeat for Houston also got in on the action, making him the third Lions rookie in franchise history to record 3 of his sacks in 3 games, and he recorded 14 sacks in each of his 3 games, his first in the NFL history. became the second player. So. Houston also set a club record for the most sacks in his career in three games, four in total.
Rookie Aidan Hutchinson, who has seven sacks this season, was also in on Cousins’ four-sack performance. He became the first player in team history to have seven sacks, two interceptions and a fumble recovery in a season.
Here are two rookies leading the way to a Lions Pass Rush that has been strong in the past few games. Correlation doesn’t always mean causation, but Detroit has nearly doubled his sack-per-game rate since Houston entered the lineup. In his first ten games of the season, he averaged just 1.7 sacks per game. The average for the last three years is three.
The Lions have won five of their last six games, with their only loss being the aforementioned Thanksgiving game against Buffalo. They are his 6-7th place, which places him second in the NFC North. If you’re leaning into postseason terminology, you’re firmly on the hunt.
“You have to try different things and see what works,” quarterback Jared Goff said. I think something changed in the week,” he said, throwing for 330 yards on 37 pass attempts and three touchdowns. “You can feel it. It’s not. I said this after the game. Let the work speak for itself and the results speak for themselves.”
Detroit’s difference is defensively. The offense was busy averaging 35 points per game to start the season, but the defense he was giving up 35.1. This is no exaggeration. These are the actual stats for his four games over the course of the year. However, they have recently received contributions across the defense, using not just rookies, but players of all levels of defense and all levels of experience to reach opposing quarterbacks. Defensively, his tackle Isaiah Baggs had a sack against Minnesota, along with cornerback Jerry Jacobs.
“They’re the glue guys,” Campbell said of Bugs in particular. You can’t win, you need some numbers, you certainly need them, you can give them juice from the top and all of them as well.”
Over the last 6 games, the defense has allowed an average of 20.3 points per game. Meanwhile, the offense is averaging 29.3 points per game. Justin Jefferson broke the Vikings’ record for yards with 213 receptions on Sunday, but it wasn’t enough for Minnesota. Simple mathematics shows that if he scores 9 more points than he concedes, he wins a lot of games.
Detroit’s pass rush was certainly the difference with the Vikings, with Minnesota holding 40% on three downs and 2-4 in the red zone. They were 1-2 in a goal-to-go situation thanks to a huge push up front by the Lions who formed a brick wall. Minnesota returned Dalvin Cook to the goal line and was driven into a recovered fumble by Detroit. The Vikings got the ball back to start the third quarter, stopping what appeared to be a clear touchdown just before halftime.
Instead, Minnesota failed to score a point and punted the first possession of the second half.
The Vikings will have to wait another week if they want to lock NFC North.
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Carmen Vitali covers NFC North for FOX Sports. Carmen previously played for Draft Network and Tampa Bay He was with the Buccaneers. She spent her six her seasons with the Bucks, and in 2020 the title of Super Bowl her champion (and boat her parade participant) was added to her resume. You can follow Carmen on her Twitter. @CarmieV.
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