Lions Defense Will Provide Stiff Test for Vikings, Teddy Bridgewater

For years when you talked defense in the NFC North, you talked Chicago Bears first and everyone else second. But the worm has turned and now a different team owns the crown.

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Today, the Detroit Lions sport the best defense in the division. And it’s not really close.

The Lions are so good, you could even make an argument for them having the best defense in the entire NFL.

Five weeks in, the Lions are leading the league in D according to Football Outsiders’ DAVE rankings (which combines the familiar FO DVOA rankings with preseason projections to get a more accurate early season picture).

For those who need a thorough explanation of DVOA, click here.

For those who are satisfied with a quick-and-dirty explanation, DVOA is just a way of taking a whole bunch of stats and adjusting them for various factors like stadium, quality of opponent, weather etc., thereby putting the stats into a more meaningful context.

When you get done crunching the numbers, the Lions come out on top of DAVE, ahead of the Seahawks, Bills, Broncos and Giants.

The next-best NFC North team is the Packers at #11, followed by the Bears at #13 and the Vikings at a distant #28.

The Lions turn out to be equally strong against both the run and pass, ranking second in both areas.

Detroit’s signature defensive effort of the year so far came against the Packers when they were able to hold Aaron Rodgers and that offense to just seven points. Rodgers threw for just 162 yards in that game and Eddie Lacy ran for only 36 yards on 11 carries.

Even taking into account the likelihood that the Packers were just off their game that week, you have to tip your cap to Detroit. If you can hold Green Bay to 7 points and 223 total yards, you’re playing good defense.

Detroit has had some good players in recent years but has never been able to put it all together and become a truly fearsome defensive unit (despite having supposed defensive genius Jim Schwartz as their head coach until last year). What’s changed from past years to this?

It’s simple. The Lions have always been strong in the front seven, but they have always been equally terrible in the secondary. This year, Detroit has found players who can get it done on the back end.

The big revelation thus far has been Darius Slay. The cornerback struggled in his rookie season but is coming on strong as a second-year player. Slay has won praise from DC Teryl Austin for his improved preparation (via detroitlions.com):

"“I think what it does as a young guy, is that you start getting into position more, understanding more and he can start playing faster,” Austin said.“You see improvements, you see the recognition going on and the, ‘okay if I get this split there is a chance at that,’” Austin said."

On the other end of the age spectrum from Slay is 34-year-old veteran Rashean Mathis. He’s been the other key to the Lions’ improvement in the secondary.

Austin praised Mathis as well (via dailytribune.com):

"“I think with age comes wisdom,’’ defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said. “(Mathis) keeps himself in great physical shape, so sometimes when you’re his age and you understand the game really well, you don’t have to be as fast. Young guys sometimes have to be that fast because they don’t quite know what they’re doing all the time and have to catch up. He doesn’t play catch up very much.”"

Finally, the Lions have the secondary to go with their disruptive defensive line and solid linebackers. Now they’re playing great pass defense to go with their strong run defense.

The Vikings will face a stiff test as they try to diagnose this D and move the ball. A key factor will be Teddy Bridgewater’s ability to stand up in the face of the rush. Equally important will be the Vikings’ ability to get a running game going so the Lions can’t just pin their ears back and come after Bridgewater.

Norv Turner has also promised to get Cordarrelle Patterson more involved. If things go as they’ve gone in recent weeks, we’ll likely see more Jarius Wright and Greg Jennings than Patterson. More production is also needed out of the tight end position (whether that comes from Chase Ford or Rhett Ellison or whoever).

On paper, it looks like a very tough week ahead for the Vikings. But if we’ve learned anything this year, it’s that what you see on paper isn’t always what you end up seeing on the field.

Unless you’re talking about Christian Ponder.

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