ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- Teryl Austin shook his head. He let out a long breath. The defensive coordinator was in the midst of being told his defense’s completion percentage allowed -- 81.8 so far this season -- and the frustrated look on his face said more than anything he actually could.
“We just have to challenge better. We have to tighten up and do a little bit better job challenging throws,” Austin said. “I think that’s the biggest key. We just, the first game, we had some coverage issues. We got them ironed out the second game, but we didn’t challenge.
“So we’re there, but maybe a step late, maybe half a step slow. So they are all things we are working on.”
It doesn’t get easier as the Lions face Peyton Manning -- the quarterback with the fifth-best completion percentage of all time -- on Sunday night.
Part of the reason for the high completion percentage is how offenses attack Detroit, using short passes instead of runs or downfield throws.
“A lot of passes they are completing are short, quick passes,” safety Glover Quin said. “A lot of times, they’ll know what you’re playing. Guys are, I’m not going to say uncovered, but if you’re in a zone and they are throwing quick passes, zones are made for guys to see the ball come out, short passes, run, tackle and you’re on to the next play.
“So when you’re getting a lot of short passes, screen passes, things of that nature, quick routes and stuff like that, a lot of times the completion percentage is probably going to be high. You've got to make sure you drive and tackle them and keep the yardage down.”
This mainly started with Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. New England sliced Detroit’s defense last season using quick, short passes instead of a run game.
Since that game against New England in Week 12, the Lions have allowed opponents to complete 69.2 percent of passes against them with a passer rating of 91.3. The air yards per attempt? 5.92 yards over the last eight games -- down from 7.01 air yards per attempt over the first 10 games of Austin’s tenure as the Lions’ defensive coordinator.
This season, San Diego and Minnesota both have gone under five air yards per attempt -- the fewest air yards against a team in the NFL. This was the solution last season when Detroit had the best run defense in the NFL. It has continued this season, when the Lions’ defense has not been.
Part of the success of opponents also has to do with Detroit’s pass rush. The Lions have only gotten pressure on opposing quarterbacks on 18.5 percent of dropbacks this season, but that is in part due to the extremely quick releases by opposing quarterbacks. Detroit’s opponents are averaging 2.11 seconds before a pass this season, second-fastest in the league.
It makes pressure difficult to create when there’s no time to do so.
“It’s tough,” defensive lineman Darryl Tapp said. “It’s extremely tough. But first things first, we’ve got to stop or contain the run. We can’t give teams the ability to do both.”
So far, that’s been an issue. The Lions could create more passing problems if they were more efficient against the run. Where teams didn’t try to run on the Lions last year, opponents are averaging 36.5 rushes per game against Detroit, most in the NFL. The 147.5 yards per game allowed is No. 29 in the league.
That starts with the defensive line, where a hidden issue has been familiarity. Last season, Ndamukong Suh, Nick Fairley, C.J. Mosley and Andre Fluellen had years of experience together.
This season, no one on the interior played together before. Much like chemistry is needed for offensive line success, it can be similar for defensive lines that need to be aggressive in pass rush. It’s part of why the Lions have confidence things will change.
“We’re not going to be as good now as we’re going to be come November, December,” Tapp said. “That’s when a lot of your season standings are really determined. But you don’t want to put yourself in bad situations out of the gate, either.”
So far, the Lions are in a very poor situation starting the season. Whether they are in playoff contention in November could depend on how fast they can fix their defense.
