I looked at the Detroit Lions' season on offense last week. Now, it is time to look at their defense. For years, the Lions struggled on defense, but that certainly hasn't been the case recently. Here's the story of their season of defense.
The top player on their defense was Cliff Avril. He led the team in sacks with 11, one of the better totals in the NFL. He had three tackles for loss, four passes defensed, that excellent interception he returned for a touchdown, and six fumbles forced. Those six forced fumbles tied for the league lead. He also recovered a fumble for a touchdown. Kyle Vanden Bosch also had a strong season with eight sacks and four forced fumbles. Lawrence Jackson had 4.5 sacks and Willie Young had three. Nick Fairley only had one, but he was injured a lot.
Ndamukong Suh was a mild disappointment. Not only did he get himself suspended for two games, he only had four sacks. He also had 36 tackles, three tackles for loss, a pass defensed, and a blocked kick. Still impressive numbers for a second year defensive tackle, but we've come to expect more from him already.
Stephen Tulloch had a really good year at linebacker. He led the team with 111 tackles, and he also had three sacks, five tackles for loss, five passes defensed, two interceptions, and a touchdown. DeAndre Levy had 109 tackles and led the team in tackles for loss with seven.
Eric Wright and Chris Houston both had good years at cornerback. Wright had 73 tackles, including four tackles for loss, and led the team in passes defensed. He also had four interceptions and a forced fumble. Meanwhile, Houston had 14 passes defensed, five interceptions, and two touchdowns. Amari Spievey was also solid at safety.
On defense, the Lions were 22nd in passing yards allowed per game, 23rd in rushing yards allowed per game, and 23rd in points allowed per game. However, over at Football Outsiders, the numbers were much kinder. The Lions were ninth overall in defense, fourth against the pass and 20th against the run. Those numbers are much more reliable and make more sense from a qualitative standpoint.
The Lions defense was good, but they still have issues. Their main issue was tackling, as was abundantly clear during their playoff game against New Orleans. However, next season Nick Fairley will hopefully he healthy all the way and Ndamukong Suh will hopefully bounce back as well. If they can keep Cliff Avril around, the Lions could end up having one of the best defenses in the league.
Update: 49ers over Giants in a close one, Patriots over Ravens by 10 points or so.
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