Defensive Strategy

Everyone has an opinion on Tobin's firing and that's fine, but it was coming with or without the proper talented players.

First, the idea of the defense is to stop the other team from scoring and give your offense the ball back. This happened rarely... the Lions have traditionally been a poor defense in 3 and outs. Stopping the other team means getting to the quarterback, again, something rarely done. How many times did we have to watch a qb step back in the pocket and have up to 10 seconds to throw the ball. Rushing 3 vs 5 in the NFL just doesnt cut it.

Second, a defense should be aggressive. Very rarely was this defense aggressive enough to be in a football game. Right from the first kickoff till the end.

Third, when the offense scores enough points to win, the defense should be strong enough to protect that lead. Conditioning and a passive philosophy never helped this team. How many 4th quarter last minute scores were made to let the other team win? Too many, and that's why the DC Tobin is gone.

Coaches are supposed to teach and enforce these ideas, but it seemed that hasn't happened. Whoever the new DC is, I hope he's young and aggressive. Not another retread from the past.

Another problem that the Lions have had on D (and O, for that matter) is that they've been very one dimensional. A DC will come in, decide that all out defensive pressure is the answer, and the D collapses when the other team runs draws and screens. Another DC comes in and decides that turnovers are the goal, and the D collapses when the other team adjusts to protect the ball.

One of the indications of a truly good D is that they can do more than one thing well, and the Lions need a DC who can adjust his game plan AND make it work.

Why *is* that? I know I complained a bit about being soft in two minute drills and on 3rd and longs on occaision. But why is it so many are thoroughly down on the guy?

Retread, smetread. I can't believe you've ever seen a bonafide Tobin defense at work. How else could you imply that one of his defenses (when all the pieces are in place) is anything less than really aggressive. There were times in Chicago, when pundits were calling his D's too aggressive in some situations.