Aaron Glenn turned in a masterclass of defensive tactics in the Lions Week 18 win over the Minnesota Vikings. Detroit’s defensive coordinator used a barrage of seldom-used schemes and pressure/coverage packages to dominate Minnesota QB Sam Darnold in Sunday night’s resounding 31-9 victory in Ford Field.
The Next Gen Stats spotlight from the game nicely illustrates how diversely Glenn and the Lions defense broke the mold and hit Darnold with looks he hadn’t seen before from Detroit. From playing man coverage at a freakishly high rate to bringing the house more than any other defense did in any game all season, Glenn’s game plan worked expertly.
From the Next Gen Stats weekly update,
Sam Darnold was under heavy pressure for much of the Vikings’ SNF game against the Lions. Detroit’s defense played man coverage on 66.7% of dropbacks, the 2nd highest rate by a defense in a game this season. Darnold finished 10/28 for 125 yards against man (-20.1% CPOE), while completing only 1/9 attempts on dropbacks over 4 seconds. The Lions specifically played more Cover 0 than any other defense in a game this season (14 times), allowing just 5 completions across those dropbacks. The Lions blitzed Darnold on over half of his dropbacks in both meetings this season (55.6% in Week 18).
Getting Alex Anzalone back at linebacker helped facilitate some of the creativity, no doubt. Outside CBs Amik Robertson and Terrion Arnold both played spectacularly well in coverage, too.