Lions focused on forcing more turnovers in 2019
DETROIT(AP) » After apublic practice at Ford Field, Detroit cornerback Darius Slay offered his assessment of the defense.
His area of emphasis was telling.
“We all got ball skills,” he said. “I like that.”
The Lions enter the 2019 season with room for improvement across the board, and one stat that definitely could use a boost is takeaways. Detroit had only 14 last season, the second fewest in the NFL. That contributed to a minus-5 turnover differential and a 6-10 record.
The Lions have the potential to be better. Slay is an accomplished cornerback, and Detroit made significant additions on the defensive line that could lead to more pressure and more mistakes by opposing quarterbacks.
“We improve the turnovers, we increase the chances of (quarterback Matthew) Stafford scoring, and the offense scoring more,” Slay said.
Just two seasons ago, the Lions ranked third in the league with 32 takeaways. Slay tied for the NFL lead that year with eight interceptions, earning All-Pro honors. He had only three last season, and the rest of the team added only four.
“It’s a big point of emphasis for us,” coach Matt Patricia said recently. “Attacking the ball, things like that, wework really hard at that stuff. We did last year, we’re doing it this year. We try to change up the drills and maybe look at some of the different way that teams are losing the ball through the course of the season last year.”
Patricia said defenders now use different techniques to try to force turnovers. He also said a stop on the third down is similar to a turnover. Detroit held opponents to a 37.1% success rate on third down last year. The Lions’ defense ranked 11th in that department.
The Lions signed safety Andrew Adams in the offseason. He was not a regular starter last season for Tampa Bay, but he still picked off four passes. Adams intercepted a pass in a scrimmage that was part of Detroit’s Ford Field practice Friday night.
Slay was on hand Friday as well, taken off the active/ non-football-injury list earlier in the day — although he spent much of his time on the sideline observing.
“It’s just good to have him get out and do some drills and things like that and be able to see him,” Patricia said before practice. “We certainly are going to do everything we can to have him out there as much as we can, but also be smart about the entire situation because we know it’s a long year.” ST. JOSEPH, MO.(AP) » There was no disputing who the featured running back was for the Kansas City Chiefs when they made the short trip up Interstate 29 for the start of training camp a year ago.
Kareem Hunt was coming off an NFL rushing title and was poised for stardom.
Things are much different these days.
Hunt never finished the season after a video surfaced that showed him pushing and kicking a woman in an Ohio hotel room, an incident that led to his immediate release. Damien Williams wound up finishing the year as the lead back, playing well down the stretch and right through the playoffs, even though he had arrived at camp as an afterthought just trying to make the team.
Williams was expected to be the lead back this year, too. But a hamstring injury has caused him to miss most of camp, throwing the entire position into question with a week left before the Chiefs play the Cincinnati Bengals in their preseason opener at Arrowhead Stadium.
“One thing with all of our backs is that we are coaching all of them to be the starter,” Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy said. “We’re coaching all of them to take somebody’s job.”
Or be ready when the job is given to them.
In three of the past four seasons, the Chiefs’ starter at running back failed to make it through the year — along with Hunt’s release, Jamaal Charles and Spencer Ware were lost to serious injuries.
That means f inding a feature back is paramount, but so is building depth behind him.
The injury to Williams has increased the number of opportunities for veteran Carlos Hyde, thirdyear pro Darrel Williams and rookie Darwin Thompson, each trying to carve out a role on the team.
It also led coach Andy Reid to switch speedster Tremon Smith from cornerback to running back this past week. Smith emerged as one of the best kick and punt returners in the league last season, and his ability in all facets of special teams makes him valuable. But he was rarely used at cornerback, so the Chiefs decided to see how he would fare with the ball in his hands on offense.
“Listen, he was the Alabama ( 3A) Of fensive Player of the Year,” Reid said, referring to Smith’s high school days. “I had messed with him last year that I was going to play with him a little bit on the offensive side. So, I moved him over just to take a peek and see how that goes.”
Nevermind that Smith was a cornerback for four seasons at Central Arkansas.
“We just thought that the timing was right,” added special t eams coach Dave Toub. “We were talking the other day and Andy decided to make the move. He had a good day. If you watched him, he caught the ball well out of the backfield and he looks pretty natural over there.”
That ability may be the biggest challenge to identifying workable running backs.
Yes, the Chiefs run the ball when they need to keep a defense honest. But Reid has always valued the screen game in his offense, dating to his days in Philadelphia when Brian Westbrook became a fantasy football darling by catching an obscene number of passes for the Eagles.
Hunt caught 53 passes for 455 yards and three scores during his only full season in Kansas City.
“Honestly, I didn’t run too many screens with the other teams I’ve been on, but I’ve always wanted to,” said Hyde, who spent four years in San Francisco before splitting last season between Cleveland and Jacksonville. “I see here that they run a lot of screens, and screens can pay off.”
So can having the ability to change the offense on a whim.
Damien Williams is a shifty, all- purpose back. Hyde and Darrel Williams are 224- pound bruisers who are best between the tackles. Smith is a speedster and Thompson is a 5- foot- 8 jitterbug.
Regardless of who ends up the No. 1 running back, all of them bring something to the table.
That makes the running back race one of the most intriguing of camp.
“At the end of the day, we want to put the best players in the best situation to give us the best opportunity to win,” Bieniemy said. “We want to compete for a job. Who wants it? Who can improve on the little things we worked on and talked about throughout the offseason?”
NOTES: LB Damien Wilson missed practice Saturday with a sore knee. WR Gehrig Dieter ( back) and FS Jordan Lucas ( hamstring) also missed the workout. ... Rookie SS Juan Thornhill continues to make plays in training camp, alertly picking off Mahomes during one full- team session Saturday.