Lions' Run Defense Off to Historic Start

The Detroit Lions’ rush defense has excelled through the first five weeks of the 2023 season.

In fact, the ability to stop the run has been historic, through the first five games. 

It has been so good, too, that it has yet to allow a single opponent to accumulate 100 total yards on the ground.

In Week 5, the Lions continued the aforementioned effort by limiting the Carolina Panthers to 99 total rushing yards – a stark contrast from Detroit’s run-stopping efforts a year ago against the Panthers. In a Week 16 contest last season in Carolina, the Lions were thrashed on the ground, to the tune of 320 yards and three touchdowns.

Detroit needed a much-better performance against the Panthers’ run game this past Sunday, and delivered just that. In doing so, Aaron Glenn’s defense has now permitted only 342 rushing yards through five games – the third-fewest amount of yards on the ground this season.

It also is the lowest number of rushing yards Detroit has allowed through the first five weeks of any season since at least 1932.

Numerous players have keyed the Lions’ stout rush defense to start the season, including defensive backs Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph, linebackers Jack Campbell and Derrick Barnes and defensive lineman Alim McNeill. Each of the aforementioned players has accumulated a Pro Football Focus run-defense grade of 73.2 or better.

Branch, the No. 45 overall pick in the 2023 draft, ranks No. 1 among all Lions defenders with a PFF run-defense grade of 89.1.

Collectively, the Lions have been a vastly improved unit against the run in 2023. Just a season ago, Glenn & Co. permitted the fourth-most rushing yards in the entire league (2,491 yards).

What a difference a year has made for Detroit.

“I don’t think there’s too much secret sauce to it,” EDGE Aidan Hutchinson said, prior to the Lions’ Week 5 contest with Carolina. “I feel like teams have been leaving the run game a lot early against us, because we’re stopping it so well. So, it’s very beneficial for our pass rush, too, when you can stop the run. So, it really, all around the board, I think we’re just executing at a high level, and everyone’s doing their job.”