Vikings running back Dalvin Cook has shown that he doesn’t need any help from the defense in order to make big plays, but the Lions gave him some anyway in Week 9.
Cook broke free for a 70-yard touchdown run on a play that saw the Lions line up with 10 men on their defense. They were missing their right defensive end and that’s just where Cook ran for the score.
The Lions had 10 defenders on the field twice in their Week 8 loss to the Colts and defensive coordinator Cory Undlin called it “bad coaching” to allow that to happen. Safety Duron Harmon said are “unacceptable” mistake and that “the whole building is frustrated” by the play of the defense.
“The last two performances, you can’t get worse than that,” Harmon said, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “We had a good stretch, two games when we were playing good defense and we had pretty good run defense vs. the Colts, but this league is about consistency. Not doing it for two games, not doing it for three games, but doing it consistently well throughout the entire year. It’s my job to push that, I’m going to push that and we’re going to do everything we can to put a better effort out there and a better display next week.”
The Lions rank near the bottom of the league in points scored and are one of the league’s weakest teams against the run, which may not bode well for the future of their head coach. Matt Patricia was hired after being the defensive coordinator in New England and the unit has not been a bright spot during his time in Detroit. They’ll try to reverse that trend against Washington in Week 10.