The Detroit Lions have struggled to get pressure on opposing quarterbacks throughout the 2023 NFL season. In four of their 11 games, they’ve been held without a sack.
There’s talent on that defensive front, with Alim McNeill and Aidan Hutchinson, but the unit has had a difficult time with getting to passers. McNeill and Hutchinson have combined for 10.5 of the team’s 23 sacks, with just one other player having three or more.
Hutchinson has a 91.4 PFF pass rush grade with 63 pressures this season. As a result, opponents are dedicating more resources to neutralizing him.
Against the Packers in Week 12, the Lions’ pass rush struggles were on full display. They failed to sack Jordan Love, who picked apart the secondary in what many are calling his best performance as a pro.
Ahead of Detroit’s showdown Sunday with New Orleans, Dan Campbell explained what went so right for the Packers as they kept the pass rush quiet.
“Look, Green Bay did a good job.
They nudged the edges, they chipped with the back and they did a good job of dragging inside.
So they were doubling, they would double, start with Alim and then work their way to the slide or vice versa,” Campbell told 97.1
The Ticket. “So that takes care of your interior. They’re going to nudge Hutch.
Then that leaves one guy on the back side and he’s the guy who’s got to win, but then the back will chip him on the way out. And so the stress is now in your coverage.
You know we got to hold up and we’ve got to fight those guys for as long as we can until we can at least close the pocket on him and make a play.”
Additionally, the Lions coverage unit struggled to stay in front of the Packers’ young wide receiving corps.
This reaffirmed what Campbell has said since the beginning of the season when it comes to the importance of winning 1-on-1 matchups.
In the clip below, the Packers dedicate three players to containing Hutchinson during the first quarter of Thursday’s game.
First, tight end Tucker Kraft chips him, then center Josh Myers pulls to provide insurance.
