Jared Ramsey Detroit Free Press
Detroit Lions take over NFC lead with thrilling road win over Vikings
Best photos from Detroit Lions vs. Minnesota Vikings in an NFC North battle at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024.
The Detroit Lions’ top-ranked offense will face another premiere defense on Sunday when the Tennessee Titans come to town.
Tennessee has struggled in the first year of a new regime coming in with a 1-5 record, but the Titans’ defense has not been why. They have have consistently frustrated offenses with a stifling defense that has been one of the league’s best in preventing big plays.
The Titans’ defense ranks first in yards allowed (272.2 per game), third in pass defense (166.7 passing yards allowed per game), and seventh in rushing (105.5) while holding teams to an average of 24 points per game.
“(They) might be the best we’ve seen all year,” offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said. “Maybe not as challenging from a schematics standpoint, but personnel-wise, these guys are, across the board at each level, sound, they are violent, they’re physical, they finish.”
The Lions are coming off a 31-point performance against the Minnesota Vikings’ defense that came into the week as a top-five scoring unit predicated on creating turnovers. The Lions weathered coughing the ball up late in the fourth quarter thanks to another uber-efficient performance from quarterback Jared Goff and 160 all-purpose yards from Jahmyr Gibbs.
It’ll be a different challenge this week, Johnson said, because of the difference in defensive schemes and Tennessee’s challenging personnel. The Titans sit in the bottom half of the league in blitz rate (24.1%), well behind the Vikings’ league-leading blitzing (42.5%), and have been effective with keeping two safeties on the backline and stopping the run with their front seven.
“When you see a team that plays as much two-high as they do and yet still be able to shut down every run game that they face, we already know that we have our work cut out for us,” Johnson said.
The defense is headlined by a stout line featuring Jeffery Simmons and Harold Landry with others such as Kenneth Murray, Arden Key and rookie T’Vondre Sweat and a secondary led by safeties Armani Hooker and former Lion Quandre Diggs, and corners Roger McCreary and L’Jarius Sneed, who is questionable to play.
“It’s like, ‘Man, this is a talented unit that knows how to play defense,’ ” head coach Dan Campbell said Wednesday. “And so, they’re giving people fits, man, and they’ve had a fast start in all their games, and they just haven’t quite been able to close it out.”
The Lions know the chaos won’t be the same as what the Vikings threw at them in terms of simulated pressures and trying to disguise coverages in the back end but they will have to be ready for the talent Tennessee has on all three levels.
But the Lions are confident in the plan instilled by Johnson to find a way to attack, even without deep threat Jameson Williams, who will start his two-game suspension for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing substances. Wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown said the focus will be on beating press coverage on the outside.
“We got to be able to get off, get off the press release, create separation at the line and get open,” St. Brown said. “It’s going to be a tough day for us out wide but like I said, I think we have a great game plan going in.”
Matt Krohn, Matt Krohn-Imagn Images
Lions confident in options behind Williams
The Lions are confident in the other receivers to step up the next two weeks to fill in for Williams, who is second on the team with 361 yards on 17 catches through the first six games. Kalif Raymond, who scored his first touchdown of the season last week against Minnesota, will be the primary speed option and Tim Patrick and Allen Robinson will provide size on the outside.
Johnson said Raymond’s team-first mentality and ability to create separation at the line of scrimmage make him a ‘dynamic weapon’ to have deeper on the depth chart despite currently ranking sixth on the team in catches (11).
“If you told (Raymond), ‘Hey, you’re going to have 10 snaps this week and they’re all run-blocking,’ he’s going to attack that with a vigor, and he just loves playing football and being out on the field for his teammates,” Johnson said. “And so, when you combine that mentality along with — he’s got probably the best press releases on the team because of how small and shifty he is, guys can’t keep up with his quickness, he’s a threat in man-to-man, and then his run after catch is that of what you would expect from a punt returner.”
Patrick and Robinson are the bigger options in terms of size. Patrick, who joined just before the season started, has got some run in recent weeks on the outside and now has 10 catches for 165 yards on the season.
Robinson, an Orchard Lake St. Mary’s alumnus, will likely make his first appearance on the 53-man roster after spending the beginning of the season on the practice squad. Robinson, an 11-year veteran, has helped coach the wide receivers from the practice squad and will now get to join them on the active roster.
“He’s has played plenty of ball, made a bunch of plays so I know he’s going to step in and be just fine,” St. Brown said. “I am excited to see him work on Sunday.”
