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Drew Brees dropped back to pass 34 times.
Of those 34 plays, the Lions blitzed twice. Both of those blitzes came in the 2nd half. On the first blitz, the Lions brought only 5 pass rushers (3 down-linemen, an OLB, and a CB from the slot). The 2nd "blitz" was actually a zone blitz where they brought only 4 guys but mixed in a CB and dropped one of the down-lineman into coverage.
The Lions also ran 4 stunts the entire game and there were 4 plays where the LBs showed a blitz but backed off into coverage.
So on 32 of Drew Brees' 34 pass attempts the Lions went with only a front-four pass rush (and only brought 3 of them on a couple of those plays). And on 24 of those 32 plays the Lions didn't even attempt to confuse Brees by faking a blitz.
So as far as pass rush is concerned, the Lions were just about as vanilla as it gets.
I say all this to say, we can expect to face a different defensive philosophy this week. The Eagles, under Jim Johnson, have always thrived under an aggressive, exotic pass rush scheme. I think McDermott will mix it up quite a bit more than Schwartz/Cunningham. Each of the Eagles front four D-Lineman are much more capable than what the Lions have on their squad. While I don't expect to see a whole lot of all-out blitzing, I do expect to see a much heavier use of the blitz than last week. Particularly on the left side against our untested LT.
Of those 34 plays, the Lions blitzed twice. Both of those blitzes came in the 2nd half. On the first blitz, the Lions brought only 5 pass rushers (3 down-linemen, an OLB, and a CB from the slot). The 2nd "blitz" was actually a zone blitz where they brought only 4 guys but mixed in a CB and dropped one of the down-lineman into coverage.
The Lions also ran 4 stunts the entire game and there were 4 plays where the LBs showed a blitz but backed off into coverage.
So on 32 of Drew Brees' 34 pass attempts the Lions went with only a front-four pass rush (and only brought 3 of them on a couple of those plays). And on 24 of those 32 plays the Lions didn't even attempt to confuse Brees by faking a blitz.
So as far as pass rush is concerned, the Lions were just about as vanilla as it gets.
I say all this to say, we can expect to face a different defensive philosophy this week. The Eagles, under Jim Johnson, have always thrived under an aggressive, exotic pass rush scheme. I think McDermott will mix it up quite a bit more than Schwartz/Cunningham. Each of the Eagles front four D-Lineman are much more capable than what the Lions have on their squad. While I don't expect to see a whole lot of all-out blitzing, I do expect to see a much heavier use of the blitz than last week. Particularly on the left side against our untested LT.
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