The 2022 Detroit Lions had a tale of two seasons defensively. Out of the wreckage of the disastrous start, the Lions emerged as one of the league’s best defenses down the stretch. If not for the brutal outlier in Carolina in Week 16, Detroit’s defense was a top-5 unit in yards allowed and points allowed over the final six weeks. Even with the atrocious day in Charlotte, the Lions were still an upper-echelon defense over the final two months.
The overall season statistics don’t reflect that upward spike and late-season improvement, unfortunately. Linebacker Alex Anzalone, whose dramatically improved play down the stretch helped fuel the surge, offered up a great analogy for the full-season rankings sticking near the bottom in most categories.
In an appearance on Sirius XM NFL Radio, Anzalone shared a relatable concept about the Lions defense in 2022.
“The way I put it is, you’re early in a semester and you fail the first two or three tests, it’s hard to bounce back from that statistically,” Anzalone told hosts Pat Kirwan and Jim Miller. “If you look at our numbers, I think from Week 9 or Week 10 on, we were really a dominant defense. That’s really a credit to (Lions DC Aaron Glenn) and what he stuck to and really what he changed also, personnel-wise — making hard decisions. Schematically, figuring out how to put our players in really great positions to succeed, myself included.”
Anyone who started slowly in a class in high school or college (or both) understands how hard it can be to bring up the mark for the full semester. It’s a well-conceived analogy by Anzalone, who also talked up Glenn’s candidacy as a head coach in the interview.
