One area where the Detroit Lions quietly thrived in their 15-2 season a year ago probably catches even many strident Lions fans by surprise. Detroit’s pass defense had a very strong performance in a few metrics. Foremost amongst those: not giving up touchdowns.
Through all the injuries all over the defense, the back end still held up remarkably well. Even with the mix-and-match defensive personnel, Detroit was quite stingy at allowing touchdown passes. In fact, no defense was tougher to score a passing TD against in 2024 than the Lions.
Per Inside Edge, the Lions allowed 18 passing TDs on 373 completions in 17 games. That’s a rate of 20.7 passes per touchdown, the best in the NFL. The Saints and Bears were next at 19.3 and 19.1 passes per TD allowed, respectively.
A key reason for the success was the defensive play in the red zone. Brian Branch, Kerby Joseph and company locked down receivers in the red zone in 2024, allowing under 40 percent of opposing passes to get caught inside the 20. That was the best ratio by far, more than five percentage points better than Arizona, the next-best defense.
Adding D.J. Reed in place of Carlton Davis at outside corner could make the pass defense even better. Davis was good in his one season in Detroit, but Reed was better with the Jets–better completion percentages allowed, better at preventing yards after catch and better at amking plays on the ball in the red zone.
All that’s not factoring in a better pass rush with a healthy Aidan Hutchinson, Marcus Davenport and Derrick Barnes–the team’s three primary pass rushers who all missed at least 12 games a year ago. Top coverage LB Alex Anzalone also missed several weeks with a broken arm. He’s back and looks to be a great piece in New coordinator Kelvin Sheppard’s defense.
We will see how the scheme changes under Sheppard from predecessor Aaron Glenn. Training camp showed a more aggressive front and more variable use of the NFL’s best safety tandem. Second-year CB Terrion Arnold showed considerable improvement in ball awareness and keeping his hands to himself, too.
The pass defense doesn’t get the love it should. Packers QB Jordan Love could learnt that fact the hard way in Week 1.
This article originally appeared on Lions Wire: Data shows the Lions pass defense was the NFL’s best at preventing TDs in 2024
Reporting by Jeff Risdon, Lions Wire / Lions Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
