Thursday night’s thrilling win over the Green Bay Packers is one the Detroit Lions will remember for a long time, something head coach Dan Campbell emphasized in his postgame locker room speech. One of the reasons is because of how well a defensive front missing five of its seven starters held up well in the critical division win in Week 14.
For this week’s film review, I chose to focus on two of the prominent replacements for that Lions front, defensive linemen Pat O’Connor and Brodric Martin. They’ve both been with the team all year, raising expectations for their play more than the guys who just walked through the door in Allen Park.
I watched every play from O’Connor and Martin, focusing specifically on them in both the sideline and end zone angles via the All-22 tape.
I try to be transparent with my evaluation methodology. A win on a play earns a plus; a loss earns a minus. Not every play earns a mark, nor is it supposed to–especially for the interior linemen on both sides of the ball.
Here’s what I saw in watching the All-22 vs. the Packers and focusing on O’Connor and Martin in the middle of the Lions defensive line.
Pat O’Connor
O’Connor earned the lowest Pro Football Focus grade of the entire Lions defense for the game. And while there is some variance to his performance across the 43 snaps he played against Green Bay, I came away from the focused rewatch expecting him to be among the top five Lions defenders in Week 14.
One great example of O’Connor making a play that doesn’t get rewarded by Pro Football Focus came in the second quarter. Lined up as a shaded nose to the center’s right, O’Connor latched on and rode with the center, clearing out an attack hole for Alim McNeill to fill behind him and Brian Branch crashing around the outside on a run blitz.
O’Connor gave himself up on the play so his defensive mates could make the tackle. That McNeill slipped and Branch (in a rare bad game) took a poor angle was not O’Connor’s fault. No. 95 earned a plus from me on this play because if he tried to anchor, it would’ve disrupted McNeill and Branch’s roles. That they didn’t complete them shouldn’t downgrade O’Connor.
Later on that drive, O’Connor forced Love to throw later than he wanted and it resulted in a deflected INT in the back of the end zone. Detroit was (legitimately) guilty of pass interference on the play, negating the takeaway. Again, that doesn’t take away from O’Connor’s up-the-gut pressure helping create chaos for Green Bay’s offense.
In between those plusses, O’Connor earned a minus for an encroachment penalty. He also earned a minus on the touchdown, a play where pretty much every Lions defender involuntarily wound up on the ground.
Total tally for O’Connor:
12 plusses
5 minuses
The pass rush was where O’Connor thrived, earning 10 of his 12 plusses and just one of his minuses.
Brodric Martin
Martin primarily played heads-up nose tackle (0 tech) in place of injured DJ Reader. This is a role that requires Martin to be an immovable object in run defense and a bulldozer in the interior pass rush. Playing in just his second game of his second season after missing several weeks with a knee injury, Martin did not fare all that well in either capacity.
I think the first Packers drive of the second half was a good comparative spot for O’Connor and Martin. They were on the field together for the first four plays. O’Connor earned a plus on one play, while Martin earned two minuses as a pass rusher. Martin didn’t broach beyond the line of scrimmage on either pass-rush attempt, with one rep as a 3-tech (the rush tackle role) finding the Packers blocker winning a little too easily.
The biggest issue for Martin is that he doesn’t move his feet well, if at all. His initial thrust off the snap is nice, with both arms firing out and generally striking where DL Terrell Williams wants Martin’s hands to land. But too often, his feet don’t follow, leaving Martin overextended and easy to stand up or push aside for the blocker. His hands just aren’t active after that initial punch, either. In this game, he still looked very raw technically and lacked any follow-up plan beyond his initial movement.
Total tally for Martin:
2 plusses
8 minuses
Both plusses came in run defense, with the minuses split evenly between run defense and pass rush.
Quick hit thoughts on the new Lions DL
Myles Adams and Jonah Williams are keepers, based on their first game in Detroit. Adams was very effective with his technique and lateral quickness off the initial move. Williams plays to the stalemate well, something Martin could stand to learn from.
Mitchell Agude, playing as a practice squad elevation, didn’t use his hands well or have a Plan B as a pass rusher. His burst remains very nice, something that made many (myself included) expect Agude to make the 53-man roster over James Houston based on training camp and preseason. Lack of NFL reps showed more than a lack of ability.
