Lions' Defense Is Better Without Aaron Glenn

No Aaron Glenn, no problem.

The Detroit Lions continue to produce solid results on defense with first-year coordinator Kelvin Sheppard – the team’s former linebackers coach – calling the shots from the sideline. 

What’s remarkable is that Sheppard has guided a unit plagued by injuries and a Brian Branch suspension to some of its most complete performances of the season.

The Lions’ defensive dominance was on full display in their 24-9 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday Night Football. 

Despite being without their entire Week 1 secondary – cornerbacks Terrion Arnold and D.J. Reed, plus Branch and fellow safety Kerby Joseph – Detroit’s defense executed at a high level.

Amik Robertson and Rock Ya-Sin started at cornerback in place of Arnold and Reed, while Thomas Harper and Erick Hallett filled in at safety. 

Harper and Hallett weren’t just depth players, either; they were deep reserves forced into critical roles under the bright lights of prime time.

“We heard all the noise,” Robertson said after Detroit’s win over the Buccaneers Monday. “‘Secondary, whatever, whatever.’ But those guys went out there and played their hearts out and I had no doubt in them. I just wanted them to — let’s go out there and show everybody instead of talking about it. And then that’s what I felt like they did tonight.”

Robertson’s confidence wasn’t misplaced. Both he and Ya-Sin battled all game before the latter exited in the third quarter with cramps. 

Career reserves Arthur Maulet and Nick Whiteside picked up the slack, logging heavy snaps and delivering game-changing plays.

Maulet, who had been on Detroit’s practice squad earlier this season, finished with five tackles, a pass defensed, and a key interception of Baker Mayfield. 

Whiteside, who entered the night with just 15 career defensive snaps, came up big with two tackles and three pass breakups, including a timely end-zone deflection of a Mayfield pass intended for rookie Emeka Egbuka late in the fourth quarter.

Together, they helped stymie a Buccaneers offense that had been rolling. Mayfield, who had entered the game completing 66.2 percent of his passes and averaging over 256 yards per contest, was limited to 228 yards and one touchdown on just 56 percent passing.

“There was no drop-off (in the secondary),” Maulet, who joined the organization just two weeks ago, said to The Athletic postgame. “We’re all professional athletes. We all hold each other accountable. We know what we have and we know what we’re capable of. Obviously, everyone else doesn’t. We’re in the room every day seeing what we’re doing. We’re practicing with each other every day, and we trusted each other, and obviously, it showed today.”

While the patchwork secondary held its own, the Lions’ front seven also dominated. 

Detroit racked up four sacks and eight quarterback hits, pressuring Mayfield from start to finish. The veteran quarterback had only been sacked 10 times all season entering the game.

Unsurprisingly, Aidan Hutchinson led the charge, generating 11 pressures and forcing Tampa Bay’s protection schemes to collapse repeatedly. 

Meanwhile, linebackers Jack Campbell and Derrick Barnes stuffed the stat sheet, combining for 13 tackles, two sacks, three tackles for loss, two passes defensed and two QB hits. Their relentless play earned both linebackers game balls, and Barnes made sure to credit the man leading the defense.

“This really goes to Shep, man,” Barnes said. “He’s put us — (the) defense — in a great position to go out and make plays.”

Additionally, Robertson, who has developed a knack for stripping ball-carriers, recorded a forced fumble late in the second quarter, knocking the ball out of the hands of Buccaneers receiver Sterling Shepard. 

It was the defensive back's first forced fumble of the season, but his fourth overall since joining the Lions last season. Hutchinson proceeded to recover the fumble. 

With the forced fumble and multiple sacks, Detroit now has produced two sacks and a forced fumble in six straight games for the first time since fumble data became available in 1999.

The statistical dominance underscores just how well-prepared Sheppard’s group was. 

Detroit held Tampa Bay to just nine points and 251 total yards of offense, far below its season averages of 27.5 points and 353.5 yards per game. 

What was supposed to be a major test for the short-handed Lions turned into another example of their defensive depth and resilience.

Detroit head man Dan Campbell sung the praises of his defensive backs after the game. 

“Those DBs, man,” Campbell told reporters in the postgame. “Maulet and Hallett and Harper and Whiteside and Amik and Rock. … I just thought (defensive assistant/safeties coach) Jim O’Neil and (passing game coordinator/defensive backs coach) Deshea Townsend had those guys ready to go, and I think they competed, they challenged.”

The Lions’ defensive performance Monday is not only a testament to the grit, toughness and overall adaptability of the team's players. But, it's also a testament to the masterpiece of a gameplan devised by Sheppard to curtail the production of Mayfield & Co.

The first-year defensive play-caller put the team's collection of unheralded defensive backs in position to succeed, and got the most out of the Lions’ injury-ravaged defense in the process.

Sheppard, a former NFL linebacker himself, has brought a youthful energy and player-first approach that resonates with his roster. 

His familiarity with the locker room – having previously coached many of these players as the team’s linebackers coach – has allowed him to efficiently communicate expectations and maximize each player’s strengths.

And the results are undeniable. 

Even without Glenn, Detroit’s defense ranks among the league’s best in generating pressure and takeaways. 

The Lions are thriving off cohesion and depth, two traits that often separate the good teams from the great ones down the stretch of a mentally and physically taxing NFL season.

Robertson, in the postgame, summed up the team’s trust in Sheppard perfectly.

“Great plan. Hell of a coach,” Robertson expressed. “Even though he’s young, we believe in him. We believe in him to put us in the right position and that’s what I feel like he did tonight. And he had no doubt in us. He had no doubt in us.”

Losing a respected coordinator like Glenn could have derailed most teams, but not these Lions.

With Sheppard at the helm, Hutchinson leading the charge and a cast of unsung heroes demonstrating their worth week after week, Detroit’s defense isn’t just fine without Glenn.

It’s thriving and proving to the rest of the NFL that this Lions team can win any way it has to.

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