Santa Clara — The Lions’ offence is among the best in the league, but their defence is far from stellar.
This season, the Lions’ defence ranked 23rd out of 32 teams in points allowed and 27th in passing yards allowed. Here’s what Shanahan said about the Lions defence on Wednesday, as reported by the 49ers’ public relations department.
Q: What are your impressions on the Lions’ cornerbacks?
SHANAHAN: “They play defensively. They make some plays. You can view their entire defence in numbers, and I believe they rank 31st in the pass game. But once you view the tape, you realise how they are. They are aggressive in what they do. They mix everything up, leaving them open to big plays. They are also the fourth-leading cause of bad outcomes. I believe they’ve led the league in turnovers over the last five games. If not, they’re in the top five or so. They’re a team that is incredibly aggressive in their approach, which means you’ll either hit or miss. However, I believe they are responsible for more negative plays than anyone else in the NFL. I believe it ranked fourth overall for the year. “They are directly related to that.”
Q: What challenges do you face when looking at the Lions defence schematically and personnel-wise, attempting to take them apart and determine which areas to attack?
SHANAHAN: “They change almost every week.” So you’ve got to see that in the game and how they interact. They’ll change things up. If they get a beat on something, it will be different the next time. So they will consistently assault and be aggressive. However, it is not limited to coverages, fronts, and so on. They’re going about attempting to confuse and make bad plays. That’s how they generate turnovers. That’s how they don’t mind giving you a bunch of stuff and then creating a negative play on second down, putting you in third-and-15. Really, I believe that is their purpose for the game. You saw this with Tampa. Three of their drives were really effective in terms of ball movement. Whether it was second or third down, they made a mistake and were quickly off the pitch, forced to surrender on third and long. They see opportunities and create them. When you combine that with a great offence, it only takes a few drives for the entire game to shift dramatically.”
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