Defense answers calls

Lions tested unit, and it felt that was disrespectful

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

DETROIT — Lions coach Jim Caldwell didn’t show much respect for the Steelers defense when he went for it on fourth-and-goal from the 1 late in the third quarter. Then again, there was ample reason for Caldwell to eschew the field goal and try for the touchdown with his team trailing by a point.

The Steelers entered the game 26th in the NFL in redzone defense. Opponents had scored touchdowns on 62.5 percent of their trips inside the 20. All Caldwell did was play the percentages, but that’s not how Steelers defenders were looking at it afterward.

“I felt like they were trying us,” inside linebacker Vince Williams said. “That was disrespectful.”

On fourth down, defensive lineman Tyson Alualu came off a block to sack Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford. It wasn’t lost on the Steelers after the game that the Lions likely would have won if Caldwell had taken the points on that drive.

“We take that personal that they think they can take a chance,” Alualu said. “As a defense, we needed the momentum, and we came up big on that play.

“When you have the opportunity to make that kind of play you just hope that play turns the game around.”

It was the first of three goal-line stands for the Steelers in the final 20 minutes of their 20-15 victory that kept them atop the AFC standings at the midway point of the season. The Lions penetrated inside the Steelers 10 three times and came away with three points.

Caldwell wasn’t the only coach to question the Steelers red-zone defense this week. Monday, coach Mike Tomlin challenged his defense to play better in the red zone.

“He called us out in front of the whole team,” Williams said. “Fortunately, we hadn’t given up too many trips to the red zone, but when we did they were getting touchdowns. When he called us out at the beginning of the week, he said we’d have opportunities to step up. I think we did a great job tonight.”

Tomlin didn’t mince words.

“He was like y’all red-zone defense [stinks],” Williams said. “The only thing that’s saving y’all is people aren’t getting down there much. If you let people down there you have to stop them.”

The Steelers did just that in the fourth quarter. The Lions reached the 1 on their next possession, and safety Sean Davis stopped running back Dwayne Washington short of the end zone on third-and-1 to force a Matt Prater field goal.

With less than three minutes remaining, the Lions reached the 6. On third-and2, Theo Riddick was dropped for a 2-yard loss by Mike Hilton. On fourth down, Javon Hargrave pressured Stafford and forced an errant throw on fourth down.

“We just try to live from one moment to the other,” Tomlin said. “This game was so tight it wasn’t like you could hang your hat on the previous red-zone stop. We had one waiting on us. It just felt like that. We knew it was going to be all the way until the end. We were open about that all week. That’s how the Detroit Lions play. There wasn’t a lot of celebration. We appreciated those moments, but we knew we’d probably have to do again.”

The Steelers needed every single red-zone hold because Stafford was carving up the secondary like no other quarterback had done this season. The Steelers entered the game with the No. 1 passing defense in the league. They were giving up just 147 yards per game.

Stafford threw for almost three times that many yards Sunday night. He finished the game with 423 passing yards, one of the most prolific performances by an opposing quarterback against the Steelers. But the Steelers didn’t allow him to reach the end zone.

“We gave up a lot of yards, but we definitely didn’t break,” linebacker Ryan Shazier said. “It really helped us grow. We played a great quarterback. He’s the highest-paid player in the league for a reason. He has the arm talent to throw the ball wherever he wants. It was great to stop them in the red zone and kick field goals.”

The Lions were having so much success with the pass some Steelers were taken aback by the number of runs they tried in the red zone.

“Yeah I was a little surprised, but every time they tried to pass we stopped them,” he said. “They had to go to the run, and we stopped that, too.”

The only player the Steelers couldn’t stop was Prater. Thanks to Caldwell’s decision to test the Steelers goal-line defense Prater didn’t single-handedly beat them.

“We take it personal, man. We got called out. We believe we’re a top defense. We can’t come up short in any situation. We held on.” it