The headline coming out of the Lions’ win over the Buccaneers was how their defense shut down Tampa with a ferocious pass rush. Detroit was able to pressure Baker Mayfield on 20 of his 54 dropbacks according to NFL Next Gen Stats, ultimately sacking him 4 times.
But most of that pressure came in the 4th quarter after Detroit had a two-score lead. In fact, 13 of their 20 pressures came in the final 15 minutes. That’s not insignificant, by the way. It’s important for a defense to be able to close out the opponent with their pass rush when they have a big lead (just ask the New York Giants).
But through the first 3 quarters when Detroit was trying to establish control of the game, they only pressured Mayfield on 7 of 27 dropbacks. Despite being short-handed in the secondary, it was actually the way that Defensive Coordinator Kelvin Sheppard approached Tampa’s most dangerous receiving threats with coverage that allowed them to shut down their passing game.
This was especially the case on 3rd down, where the Bucs converted just 4 of 16 attempts.
The below example was the first 3rd down of the game, a 3rd-and-6. The Buccaneers were in a 3x1 to the right and used motion just before the snap. The Lions matched up in a 2-shell look with man coverage underneath:
How those two safeties provided help would be the difference in the game.
On this play, the back-side safety dropped down in the middle to help out on Emeka Egbuka’s deep-over route:
The safety to the other side had his eyes on Mike Evans and made sure to play over the top of him:
Detroit had two defenders accounting for each of Tampa’s two best receivers. Mayfield’s only option was to get the ball to Sterling Shepard on a crosser underneath. He was tackled short of the line to gain, and the Bucs would be forced to punt: