Nick Cotsonika over at the Free Press has written an interesting little post about both the forgotten man, Jared DeVries--the only Lion (not named Jason Hanson) who's seen Millen come and go--and the new defensive alignment.
"You get down to it, it's the total opposite," DeVries said. "Instead of making the corners make the tackles, you make the linebackers make the tackles."When he puts it that way, it makes an awful lot of sense. The new ends-wide alignment should cut down on the screens, pitches, and bounce-outs that the Lions have had chronic difficulty slowing in recent years. Often, the DTs would disrupt or penerate on running plays, only to have the DEs be easily sealed off or blocked down; the runner could make one quick adjustment and get into the second level untouched. Regardless of the tremendous amount of sense the philosophy switch makes, I think doing "the total opposite" of what the worst defense of all time did is at least a good starting point. Discuss it here, in The Den!
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