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Carmen Vitali
NFC North Reporter
You might expect the NFL’s leader in QB pressures to be a highly paid superstar like Nick Bosa, Maxx Crosby or T.J. Watt. It’s actually Detroit Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, who leads the league in pressures (42) in only his second season.
But Hutchinson has just 6.5 sacks.
Every other player on that list except for Bosa was well into double digits through 13 games. Every other player on that list except Watt has single-digit missed tackle numbers. Hutchinson’s missed tackle rate is 17.4%.
I don’t bring that up to discredit Hutchinson. The reason pressures haven’t manifested into sacks is because Hutchinson is largely on his own on a Detroit defense that is badly injured and has struggled to stop the bleeding.
The lack of help up front has resulted in a unit that ranks 24th in sack rate. They’re allowing nearly 20 first downs per game to opponents, which ranks 19th. The red zone has the Lions seeing red, letting opponents score 68.18% of the time, which is the third-highest rate in the league. They’re tied for 28th in goal-to-go rate. Detroit needed all 41 points to win over the Chargers in Week 10. The Lions offense has put up 25 or more points seven times this season and the team is 6-1 in such situations.
When the offense was totally healthy, the points and yards the defense was giving up flew under the radar. Now that the offense has struggled to stay healthy, and is falling short in protecting quarterback Jared Goff, the issues defensively have become more glaring.
As with the offense, everything starts up front for the defense, which brings us back to Hutchinson. He’s a blue-chip pass rusher and has developed at an incredible pace. But the sack production isn’t there because who else does he have on the defensive line?
Defensive tackle Alim McNeill is on IR until at least Week 18. He is one of the most underrated defensive tackles in the league and Hutchinson…
Source link : https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/lions-defense-has-held-aidan-hutchinson-themselves-back-could-that-change
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Publish date : 2023-12-15 14:59:59
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