From the initial eye-test, it certainly seemed like the Detroit Lions didn’t generate enough pressure on Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love on Thanksgiving. Per NFL Pro, Love had an average of 3.09 seconds to throw—the third-most time he’s had all season. Love used that time to dice up the Lions’ defense for completions on 18-of-30 passes, 234 passing yards, and four touchdowns.
But after digesting the film, Lions coach Dan Campbell downplayed their pass rushing issues on the day, noting that when taking into account how fast Green Bay got the ball out, he counted just three realistic opportunities for the Lions to generate pressure where they failed to do so.
“When you go through it and you look at them—and what I do is, I count it up, basically how long does it take for this ball to get off? What is the depth of the pocket? Is this a three-stop (drop), five-step, play-action? Is it deeper than that? Longer than that? And, really, there was about three plays in there where we got time to get there and we’re not getting there. Everything else was ball out or we got disruption and the balls out and they’re making a play,” Campbell said.
The Lions did not record a sack against the Packers, and they were credited with just two quarterback hits. PFF did credit the Lions with 17 pressures on the day. In the past three games, Detroit has logged just two total sacks.
And while Campbell certainly downplayed the loud criticisms of the pass rush, he did admit they do need to be better.
“On those three plays, we’ve gotta be better. We’ve got to find a way to get there,” Campbell said. “The guys who have a one-on-one have to show up and have to become disruptive faster than we were the other night on those because it will make a difference.”
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