The Detroit Lions Struggled To Stop Russel Wilson’s Passing Attack In The 28-14 Loss To The Seattle Seahawks.
The secondary has been the strength of the Detroit Lions defense for some time now. It has been a group that the team could count on to carry a pass rush that has been struggling to generate pressure for years. 2018 hasn’t been the best year for any of the members of the Lions secondary, and the loss to the Seattle Seahawks marks a continuation of those woes in a week that showed very few positives for the Lions defense as a whole.
The rushing defense was abysmal on Sunday. There’s no doubt about that. Its easy put the poor defensive performance on the front seven, but that would be ignoring the fact that quarterback Russell Wilson was able to do pretty much whatever he wanted with the football, riding an 82.4 percent completion rate to victory.
Wilson only threw 17 passes, but it’s not easy to stop an offense that has only three incompletions through an entire game.
The Seahawks ran at will against the Lions, but if their secondary had played solid coverage in the passing game, this game could have ended very differently.
A couple of stalled drives could have given the Lions just enough to make this game close enough to make it winnable, despite the terrible run defense. Unfortunately, that was not the case.
Cornerback Darius Slay, still the stud of the Lions defense, is not playing the most consistent football of his career. While safety Glover Quin is not the same player that he has been for the Lions in years passed.
Cornerback Nevin Lawson still struggles with all of the things that he has struggled with over the years and doesn’t seem to have shown any improvement this year. He still has too many penalties and struggles to make plays on the ball when it is in the air.
Cornerback Teez Tabor looks like a player that is completely outmatched at the NFL level. He may still be developing, and head coach Matt Patricia may still find a role that is suitable for his skill set, but he doesn’t appear to be a player that is going to be a staple of the Lions defense in the future.
This Lions secondary looked like one of the best position groups on the entire team when the season began. They just haven’t looked the same as they did last year. With Quinn aging, lack of improvement from Tabor, and the continuing struggles of Lawson, it looks like this is going to be a position-of-need for the Lions when the next offseason rolls around.
For now, Slay needs to play up to the level that we all know he is capable of playing, Patricia needs to find ways to mask the secondary’s deficiencies, and the pass rush is going to have to step up to help take some pressure off of the cornerbacks and safeties.
Thanks for checking out the article everyone. Go Lions! You can follow me on Twitter @Lanny1925 and be sure to join the community on the Detroit Lions subreddit.
