Detroit Lions film review: Thoughts on the defensive performance against Green Bay
Allen Park — Before tackling this week’s film review, I asked what you wanted to read about. Many of the answers were on the Detroit Lions’ defensive performance in Thursday’s loss to the Green Bay Packers.
Instead of picking one area, we’re going to break down all of it, from the run defense to the pass rush to the coverage breakdowns. As always, after going through the details, there will be some concluding thoughts at the end of the post.
Run defense
The Packers ran the ball 30 times, including some gadgets for their receivers and a pair of scrambles and three kneeldowns for quarterback Jordan Love.
Lead back Josh Jacobs and primary backup Emanuel Wilson combined for 97 yards on 21 carries, a healthy 4.6-yard average with a long of 29, provided by Jacobs on a third-and-short.
Green Bay handed it to the backs five times during their game-opening possession, including two successful short-yardage conversions, one for Jacobs and one for Wilson. On both, they ran duo concepts, controlling the line of scrimmage with their double teams.
Jacobs’ long run came late in the first quarter after his 8-yard reception set up third-and-2. After the back shifted from Love’s right to left in the shotgun formation, the Lions changed their call up front to match.