The Lions are dangerous. Their defense is talented, but streaky AF. Year after year of picking in the top five or top 10 every round has built up a critical mass of talon that is hard to ignore.
The defense is terrible in terms of results:
- Every opponent Detroit has faced has scored more points against the Lions then against any other team that they faced, except Washington, who scored one more point against Jacksonville.
- Seattle scored more points against the Lions then against all of their other opponents combined... And we're in victory formation at the Lyons 35 at the end of the game.
- In 16 quarters of football, opponents have scored more than 10 points against the Lions in 9 of them, more than half the time. In the other seven quarters they have allowed zero total points.
Hutchinson is probably more hype than real, at least for now. Who made a big deal of his three sack game, which is great for anyone, and especially a rookie, but his play wasn't as good as his stat line. He's dangerous, but looks subject to influence blocks and intelligent line play.
CB Okudah, on the other hand, is probably better than his reputation. The third overall pick a few years back was pretty much terrible as a rookie and quickly injured in his second year. But this year so far he's looking pretty good. The Lions haven't been afraid to put him on the opponent's best receiver and let him do his thing. He's not a speedster; he gets help over the top sometimes, and sometimes gets a little lazy when he has it. But his results overall have been really good, and lost in the overall defensive mess. They put him on Jefferson in the Vikings game, and gave him help over the top about half the time. Jefferson finished 3/14/0 on 6 targets.