Locker room buzz: Lions defense leans on 'savages' to upend Packers
Detroit — Here’s what I learned bouncing around the Detroit Lions’ locker room following the team’s 34-31 victory over the Green Bay Packers.
All hail the Northern Savages
The biggest story coming into the game was the number of new additions the Lions were incorporating into their defense. Despite surrendering 31 points because they were saddled with some short fields, the patchwork group held the Packers to fewer than 300 yards of offense and under 100 yards rushing in the win.
“(Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn) AG said it best,” defensive tackle Brodric Martin said. “We already had savages here and we just brought in more savages. That's how we do it. We're built one way. We're coached one way, that's to be savages, to be dominant at what we do.”
Coach Dan Campbell elaborated in his postgame comments that the nickname they’d been using to describe the defensive line this week was “Northern Savages.”
Martin isn’t new, but he was new to the lineup. A 2023 third-round pick, he’d played just 30 career defensive snaps before being asked to start on Thursday.
Another player seeing a far bigger role than usual was Pat O’Connor, who was announced as part of the pre-game introductions, joined the captains at midfield for the coin toss, and logged the most defensive snaps of his seven-year career.