Detroit — Speaking to reporters Tuesday, defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard teased the potential for personnel and schematic tweaks.
The Detroit Lions were coming off an outing in which they never sacked Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love. They had four sacks in their last four games, and only 2½ of those came from the defensive line. Sheppard, asked if the lack of a pass rush was hurting his ability to run as much man coverage as he usually likes, was blunt in his assessment: “I don’t think we’ve affected the quarterback to play any style these past couple weeks.”
Changes were needed, and changes were seemingly made.
“They kind of took the reins off the D-line a little bit this week in an effort to create more,” defensive end Aidan Hutchinson said following Detroit’s 44-30 win over the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday. “If I had to guess, it’s how we’ll move forward.”
Took the reins off?
“How do I explain it? Just getting off the ball, even when it could be (a run), it might be (a) run. It’s just really having more of a pass mentality,” Hutchinson said. “Because where teams get us a lot is that block-it-up, (play action pass), eight-man protection, and then (the QB’s) sitting back there and hitting us. It’s getting faster on those transitions and stuff, it’s been an emphasis. I think we did that today, for sure.”
Indeed they did. The Lions sacked Dak Prescott five times, an impressive feat against a quarterback who has been so skilled at escaping danger. Heading into Thursday, opposing defenses had converted only 10.3% of their pressures against Prescott into sacks. That was the third-lowest rate in the NFL among the 42 QBs who had dropped back at least 100 times this season.
Three of Detroit’s sacks came from defensive end Al-Quadin Muhammad, who now leads the team in sacks (nine) through 13 games. Muhammad played 33 snaps against the Cowboys, his most since Week 7. The ninth-year pro said he wasn’t sure how much opportunity he’d receive Thursday, but he was prepared to make the most of whatever he was given.
“I’m just taking it one snap at a time, and then at the end of the game I realized, ‘OK, I did play a lot. I did play a little bit more than normal.’ I don’t really care about the snaps. I don’t focus on the snaps,” Muhammad said. “I let the coaches make whatever decisions they decide to make. I know they have our best interest at heart.”
Muhammad has 12 sacks in his time with the Lions, which spans 22 games over two seasons; he was signed to the practice squad last October before being brought up to the active roster one month later. Before joining the Lions, Muhammad had 12 sacks in 84 appearances, dating back to when he was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the sixth round of the 2017 NFL Draft.
“It wasn’t just me,” Muhammad said of his three sacks against the Cowboys. “It was a collective effort. There’s other guys out there that’s on the field rushing, as well. Shoutout to the other guys in our room, and shoutout to the defense. … When I did get some opportunties to win the one-on-ones, I won the one-on-ones. But, most importantly, it’s a collective effort.”
rsilva@detroitnews.com
@rich_silva18
