Cory Undlin, if he had the chance, would have done things differently to stem the tide of Washington’s late comeback in the Detroit Lions’ 30-27 victory.
The Lions’ defensive coordinator said he stuck with zone coverage a little too long in the second half as Washington scored 21 unanswered points on three consecutive drives and tied the score at 24 with 6:09 left.
“I probably should’ve played more man in the second half, kind of stayed with the plan there as they kind of went through the no-huddle and then Alex (Smith) was ripping that ball out super quick,” Undlin said Tuesday. “Stayed with some zone and it wasn’t really until the end of that last drive that we had to change it up.
“Looking back on it I could’ve probably changed it up faster than that just to give them another look. We’re going to play man, or we’re going to play zone, whatever I think is going to be the best key to win the game. So, if I can do it again, I probably would’ve played some more man faster in the second half.”
Smith picked the Lions’ zone coverage apart during those drives. The Lions struggled to get any pressure on Smith, sometimes rushing only three players, as they conceded shorter passes but also ended up getting burned on some deeper throws.
“But probably held on to (playing zone) a little bit too long because he was getting the ball out quick and there was some space in there,” Undlin said. “We didn’t get off the ball in time. We were short in a couple of our drops and the ball got floated over the top of us there. We ended up playing man at the end, like I said, and ended up getting in some third downs and some fourth downs, and we just couldn’t make a play.
“They threw a flag on us there a couple times, which is not an excuse. We can’t have that when we could’ve been off the field in both of those situations. It wouldn’t have come down to the end of the game, but it is what it is. You’ve got to keep fighting and I would say I’m very proud of those guys. They fought there at the end. It wasn’t pretty, but we found a way to get them stopped there so we could have a chance there at the end to win a game.”
The Lions, like most teams, strive to play complementary football in all three phases. Against Washington, the offense struggled to give the defense some rest by either scoring quickly at times or going three-and-out late in the game during Washington’s rally. But Undlin said fatigue didn’t play in a factor in the defense’s performance in the second half.
“I don’t know if I really felt a fatigue part of it from them,” Undlin said. “You might have to ask the players that. I never got that. We do try to do a pretty good job of keeping those guys rolling and getting them on and off.
“But you know, one, they have three drives in a row there that go multiple plays. That can obviously, maybe have an effect on it, but we’re not going to use that as an excuse. We practice very hard around here. We work very hard. Those guys do a great job of trying to keep themselves in shape and doing all the extra running. So, I’d like to say we’re built for that. We’ve just got to play better in those situations.”
The game against Washington bared some similarities to the meltdown loss to Chicago in the season opener. But Undlin rejected the notion that his defense is still having trouble learning how to preserve leads late in games.
“No, I don’t think we’re struggling to play together,” he said. “We just got to play better. I don’t know if it has anything to do with us — I think we play together whatever it has been, nine weeks now, I think we’ve got a good feel for that. Not that we played perfect in those nine weeks, but … I wish I had the answer for having a lead and then kind of turning down the dial. Game plan didn’t really change that much from the first half to the second half.
“We played lights out in the first half, kind of played (out) exactly how we talk about it all week. We’re going to have to tackle the check downs. They might get some yards, but proud of them how they stepped up down there once they crossed the 50 in that first half. Made some plays and then held them to three points, and then we came out in the second half and tempo got us.”
Undlin said he and his assistant coaches spoke to players and prepared them to expect a faster no-huddle tempo in the second half. He was ultimately happy with the defense’s overall effort and ability to hold Washington to a field goal on its final possession, which allowed the Lions’ offense to set up Matt Pater’s winning 59-yard field goal to cap a 16-second drive.
“So I was proud of them playing until the end,” Undlin said. “We’re going to just keep fighting and keep coming out trying to play 60 minutes of football there.”
Contact Carlos Monarrez at cmonarrez@freepress.com and follow him on Twitter @cmonarrez.