Lions Defense Getting It Done Without Big Names or Big Talk

It's OK to be skeptical about the Lions having the best defense in the NFL. 

They lead the league in fewest points allowed per game (13.7) and yards allowed per game (270.7). They lead the league in sacks (20) and yards allowed per play (4.49). They rank second in third-down conversion rate allowed (31.25 percent), yards per pass attempt (5.71) and rushing yards per game (73.5)—to three different top-ranked teams. Football Outsiders ranks the Lions as the best defense in the NFL in its high-tech DVOA metric.

Still, a little skepticism is wise. The Lions' track record is terrible: We have seen their defense start out strong then bury itself beneath an avalanche of penalties and distractions. Their personnel are unimpressive; the depth chart is full of the same old Lions who disappointed us before. Opponents so far have included the Jets, the Kyle Orton-led Bills and the Vikings with their rookie quarterback. Any defense is going to look pretty good after a three-game stretch like that.

So it makes sense to doubt that the Lions have the best defense in the NFL.

You should not doubt for a moment, however, that they have a very good, playoff-caliber defense. These are not those same old Lions. They are as talented as ever but more focused, disciplined and versatile. The Lions have finally become the defense they always thought they were. All it took were a few new faces and a lot of new voices.

Meet the Lions Again, for the First Time

The Lions defense still starts with Ndamukong Suh, but it no longer ends with him.

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Suh has three sacks, three other tackles for a loss and five other tackles for no gain or a gain of one yard. He has sniffed out Fred Jackson for a loss on a screen and chased down Cam Newton on a goal-line scramble. Most critically, he has been penalized just twice, zero times for roughness or foolishness. Suh now sets the tone for the Lions by his play, not his mistakes.

Suh still rips away from overmatched guards and shoves centers straight back into the quarterback's face, creating opportunities for his teammates. This season, his teammates have seized those opportunities.

Nick Fairley began the season in the doghouse. The Lions declined to exercise their fifth-year option on his rookie contract, a sign of dissatisfaction with the penalty-and-slump-prone nose tackle. Fairley shed weight in the offseason but quickly gained it back early in camp, prompting a demotion to the second string. Fairley lost 10 pounds, earned his starting job back and has been a terror ever since.

Fairley has three tackles for a loss and a forced fumble, but a nose tackle's impact can rarely be seen in his own statistics. Fairley draws constant double teams. It is not unusual to see him take on two blockers and drag them along the line of scrimmage, constricting a hole or taking away a cutback lane. When opponents try to single block him, as the Packers sometimes did with rookie center Corey Linsley, the result is complete disruption in the backfield.

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Suh and Fairley make life easier for linebacker DeAndre Levy, who is having an All Pro season: 58 total tackles, seven tackles for losses, three passes defensed, an interception and a safety. According to Football Outsiders, Levy's tackles on running plays result in average gains of just 2.0 yards. When Fairley squeezes a hole, Levy is often the one crashing through it to stuff the ball-carrier. When Suh blows up a blocking scheme, Levy cleans up the play. Levy has always been effective in pass coverage, but he has reached a new level this season: When injuries ravaged the Lions secondary against the Packers, the outside linebacker sometimes covered Jordy Nelson in the slot.

The interior defenders also open things up for pass-rushers Ziggy Ansah and George Johnson, who have combined for 10 quarterback sacks and seven quarterback hits. Ansah and Johnson's sacks often start with one of them looping behind a double-teamed Suh, or finishing off a quarterback who is already running for his life. Ansah, tentative and streaky as a rookie last year, has been winning matchups and using his quickness far more consistently this season. Johnson, a knock-around journeyman, has been a revelation as part of a rotation with run-stuffer Jason Jones.

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The pass rush feeds the pass coverage. Rashean Mathis looked like he reached the end of the road last season: The cornerback was forced to allow short catches in front of him or risk long bombs behind him. The 34-year-old is off to his best start since his 2004-06 heyday with the Jaguars, and he has been a stabilizer for a secondary full of newcomers and injury replacements. After the Packers game, head coach Jim Caldwell spoke about Mathis with reporters:

"

One of the things that is very difficult for individuals to notice is the impact that Mathis has on games. He's a real settling force for those guys out there. Not only in terms of what he does out here during the course of the game—you can see him communicating back and forth, making certain everything is in place—but what he does in practice and the meeting rooms. He's absolutely invaluable.

"

Darius Slay is one of the young cornerbacks Mathis has influenced. Opponents have targeted Slay after his rough rookie year, but he has responded; the completion rate against him is just 50 percent (22-of-44), according to Pro Football Focus (subscription). Mathis and Slay often look like the best 1-2 cornerback tandem in football. Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb combined for just eight catches and 88 yards against the Lions. Greg Jennings and Cordarrelle Patterson caught five passes for 48 yards. Victor Cruz and Rueben Randle caught four passes for 25 yards.

So much of this is Football 101: Interior line play spurs the run defense and pass rush, simplifying the pass coverage by forcing quarterbacks to throw quickly. The average drive against the Lions travels a league-low 22.5 yards, according to Football Outsiders. Only the Broncos and Jets force more three-and-outs. Opponents average just 4.1 yards per play on third downs, making each conversion a chore. This is fundamental football, and it's a reason to believe the Lions' success is only slightly schedule-assisted: The Lions defense is successful across the board, not just in one or two exploit-the-bad-quarterback categories.

This is how the Lions were built to perform from the day they drafted Suh in 2010. Why has it taken them so long to discover the fundamentals? Perhaps they just needed better guidance, both from without and within.

Speak Softly and Carry a Big Performance

Darius Slay is a sponge. He seeks advice from anyone with a lesson to teach him. Hall of Fame cornerback Rod Woodson worked with him throughout the offseason on the nuts-and-bolts of coverage technique, from improving his "zone eyes" to tightening his footwork when a receiver is about to make his cut.

Slay has also absorbed knowledge from Mathis, who stays in the NFL with the help of a grinding film-study regimen.

"That's like my big role model," Slay said of Mathis (via the Daily Tribune). "He came in the game, took me on his knee and showed me a lot. I appreciate everything he's done for me."

Even Calvin Johnson counsels Slay on the finer points of receiver trickery.

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New defensive coordinator Teryl Austin has also helped Slay, as well as the many unknown defenders pressed into nickel duty due to injuries. As a defensive backs coach, Austin honed journeyman Corey Graham, inconsistent Cary Williams and frustrating perma-project Jimmy Smith into a Super Bowl-caliber secondary for the Ravens. He's doing the same thing in Detroit. Adjusting the scheme has helped—the Lions appear to play much more man coverage this year, and blitzes have become more dynamic and less predictable—but the Lions sound as different as they look this season.

You can hear it in the way young players are taking cues from leaders like Mathis and Levy. You can hear it in Fairley's quiet response to this summer's weight controversy: He copped to his bad eating habits and worked his way into shape.

You can hear it in the postgame remarks after the last-second loss to the Bills two weeks ago. The Lions have a habit of going rogue after games like that: defense blaming offense, offense blaming defense, everyone blaming kicker, Suh blaming the media and anyone else who's handy. We goaded the usual suspects for some sweet, sweet copy after that game but found little.

"At the end of the day, a wise man said, 'All this means is that we're not going to be 15-1,'" Suh said to reporters of the heartbreaker.

"I don't think I played well enough to point the finger at anybody," Levy said.

"It's nothing to hang our heads about," Mathis said. "This is what the NFL is about."

You can hear the difference most clearly in the quietness. Both Fairley and Suh may be gone next season. Former teammates are lobbying for their services; Lions brass won't commit to a future beyond 2014 for the star linemen. A cynic might suggest that the mercurial tandem has straightened up only to secure its next paydays. If so, the Lions can expect at least 10 more weeks of tight defense. And good habits have a way of catching on.

The Lions have become a team of little talk and much action, quite the opposite of what they were during the bluster-and-regret cycle of 2011 through '13. Caldwell and Austin deserve much of the credit: Both have reputations as steadying influences on locker rooms full of strong personalities. The players themselves appear to have finally grown up as well. The Lions are less likely to lapse into their old vices. This may finally be the year when frustrations don't lead directly to flagrant penalties, when injuries don't immediately spell disaster and when one narrow defeat does not become a season-crushing snowball.

It's OK to be skeptical about the Lions defense, because even Fairley is reserving judgment. "We can be great, but we're not there yet," he said after the Vikings game. "We can be the best ever, in my eyes."

The seeds of greatness have been sown for years. They are finally starting to bear some fruit. The Lions may not really have the best defense in the NFL, but Caldwell and Austin have a group of perennial underachievers pointed in the right direction who are doing the right things and saying the right things.

Mike Tanier covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Stats via Football Outsiders and quotes from postgame transcripts, unless noted.