Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00I don't know, I have PTSD sometimes still,
00:02maybe from a couple years ago
00:03that every time we were man coverage,
00:05somebody would be wide open by like 10 yards.
00:07So now I look up and I'm like, okay, it's man coverage.
00:09Like, you know, let's just stay close.
00:11But no, that's what Aaron Glenn wants to do.
00:14Dan Campbell told me after the game,
00:15they wanna be a man-to-man team.
00:18You got a new secondary, right?
00:20These guys haven't played a ton together yet
00:23and some young players in there as well.
00:24So I think that they probably needed to see it
00:27throughout the first couple of games,
00:29but yesterday was, I mean, it was really,
00:33you're up two scores and you're looking and you're saying,
00:35okay, how are they gonna adjust?
00:36Are they gonna play more?
00:37You know, bend, don't break, zone coverage,
00:39keep everything in front of them.
00:40And they just kept running tight man-to-man coverage
00:43and it was outstanding.
00:45I mean, it was really good.
00:46And you had times before Branch went out
00:48where they were doing a good job mixing up,
00:50hey, he's gonna drop underneath
00:52or he's gonna be over the top.
00:53Kirby's dropping a little outside leverage,
00:56inside leverage, you know?
00:57So they were able to play with those guys
00:59and put them in different positions
01:00to really confuse Kyler Murray.
01:01I mean, it got to a point where he was just heaving up,
01:04you know, 50-50 balls there at the end of the game.
01:06And at interception, you know, I think it was just,
01:08hey, we're just gonna try to take a shot.
01:10And Kyler Murray, that's the first time
01:13he's really looked like that this year.
01:14I mean, you watch those first two games against Buffalo
01:17and last week against the Rams, man,
01:19he looked like one of the top quarterbacks in the league.
01:22Those looks weren't available on Xbox.
01:23No, well, that's a good point.
01:27Well, maybe he put down the Xbox controller,
01:29but maybe he picked it up last week.
01:31No, I think the coverage was just,
01:32it was super sticky, the guys were physical,
01:35and the refs let him play a little bit.
01:37There were probably a couple more where, you know,
01:38they were giving both guys the benefit of the doubt,
01:40but that's the defense they want to play.
01:43When you look at what they've been able to do
01:46in man coverage, how much better is that man coverage
01:50when your quarterback doesn't have a long time to throw?
01:54I mean, that's part of it as well.
01:55No, that's, yeah, that was just popped
01:57in the back of my mind in the pass rush.
01:59You know, I think that has probably changed
02:03what Aaron Glenn wants to do schematically as well.
02:05It's been three games in a row, and, you know, I know.
02:08He doesn't have to bring an extra rush
02:09or to get pressure.
02:10Right, you can send four-man rush,
02:12and even when you do send six-man rush,
02:13you trust your guys are holding up
02:15because they're holding up against four-man rush.
02:17But yeah, that's been, I think that's changed as well.
02:19I think we saw week one,
02:20it was kind of a lot of soft zone coverage,
02:22and hey, we like our pass rush, but we got to see it,
02:25and then you go out, you know,
02:2620-some pressures against Stafford
02:28and the five sacks last week.
02:30I think that's Aaron Glenn saying,
02:31you know what, I believe in this pass rush.
02:33We're going up against another, you know, backup tackle,
02:37you know, so we trust that Aiden Hutchinson's
02:38going to be able to be a game wrecker again,
02:40which he had a lot of really nice rushes yesterday,
02:43but again, the ball was coming out pretty quick.
02:45But yeah, I think a big part of that, too,
02:47is we're probably not going to have to cover
02:49longer than three seconds, right?
02:52So we can play a little bit tighter
02:54to the line of scrimmage.
02:55We can take chances, maybe jumping some routes
02:57and getting our hands on the ball,
02:59and maybe creating some of those, you know,
03:02tip balls and interceptions.
03:04And change that to the first drive.
03:06I mean, the first drive,
03:07Kyler Murray was buying a lot of time,
03:09and they were running a lot of play action
03:11and a lot of seven-man protection,
03:12so the pass rush wasn't great.
03:13Even the touchdown, I think, Kyler Murray threw was,
03:16you know, he was kind of drifting,
03:17drifting, drifting back there forever.
03:19But the way that you were able to stop the run,
03:21the way you were able to get up two scores,
03:24that's going to be the design for this defense
03:27to have a lot of success.
03:28Just release the pass rushers,
03:29let your secondaries play tight man-to-man coverage,
03:33and try to get a takeaway,
03:34which turned out to be a huge play in that game.
03:36And there's also one less guy in the routes,
03:39because you're taking a tight end,
03:41a wide receiver, or a running back,
03:43to chip or to block Aiden Hutchinson
03:46along with that tackle,
03:47so you don't have as many guys
03:49that you have to cover down the field.
03:50Yeah, no, that's a good point.
03:51I think the pass rush is legit,
03:52and, you know, Aiden Hutchinson certainly,
03:56I mean, it's three straight weeks
03:58where you're not playing any all-pro tackles,
04:00but you know what, that's what you're supposed to do.
04:02I mean, if you're a game record,
04:03you're a dominant player,
04:04you're supposed to dominate against backups.
04:06So he's doing what he's supposed to do.
04:08And Seattle coming in next week,
04:10I didn't get a chance to watch their game yesterday,
04:12but, you know, that's an O-line
04:15that kind of gave them a little bit of trouble last year.
04:18I think if they allow Seattle to run the ball
04:21and getting those bootlegs and the play actions
04:23that has been killing the Lions the last couple years,
04:25then, you know, you're gonna have some trouble.
04:27But if you continue to stop the run
04:29and then just release these guys a third down
04:31and late in the game, if you're up two scores, man,
04:33like they're gonna win a lot of games like that.