The Detroit Lions will be without defensive workhorse Alim McNeill for the next four weeks, at least, as he was placed on injured reserve Tuesday.
McNeill has played 529 snaps this season, which equates to 69 percent of total defensive downs. He hasn’t played less than 33 snaps in a game and has notched 50-plus snaps in four games this season.
As a result, his absence lingers in more ways than just his stellar production. The Lions are now tasked with effectively replacing his production along with allocating the snaps that he’s vacating.
“I think that’s what some of this week has been, who’s gonna give us the best opportunity per situation. We’re gonna have to spread the load,” Campbell stated. “There’s a number of guys who are gonna have to take over those 60, 70 plays that Mac has been doing for us. It’s really spread out amongst a lot of guys. Could be the bigs, could be the hybrids, Cominsky, Paschal. And so everybody’s got a job to do. There again, down and distance, situation, is gonna play into that.”
Levi Onwuzurike, Isaiah Buggs and Brodric Martin are all potential replacements who have bounced between active and inactive on game days. Another potential option is Quinton Bohanna, though his situation is different given his status on the practice squad.
Bohanna has played the maximum three games for a practice squad player, so utilizing him would require the Lions to sign him to the active roster.
“All those guys are getting opportunities. (Bohanna), Levi, Brodric, obviously Buggs, Benito, they’re all in play,” Campbell explained. We’ll make that decision tomorrow on where we’re gonna go. But Bohanna’s a load in there. When he does things right, he plays with pad level and uses footwork and stays consistent, he’s a load. He’s hard to move.”
Improving on third down
Since the bye week, the Lions have seen their opponent scoring totals rise.
The Los Angeles Chargers scored 38 points in Week 10, beginning the current string of four games in which every opponent has scored at least 25 points per game. They are 3-1 in that stretch, however, signifying an ability to overcome these shortcomings.
Heading into a matchup with the Chicago Bears, who scored 26 in Week 11, the Lions are certain of areas in which improvement is key to success. Among them is third downs, where they’ve have struggled defensively.
Against New Orleans in Week 13, the Lions struggled to get off the field on third-and-long situations. Improving in this area, specifically, would aid the team’s defensive production.
“They’re highly motivated, highly, and we’ve got professionals over here. They’re hard workers and they want to clean up these little issues. But I go back to this, last week we played pretty damn good on first and second downs,” Campbell said. “Third down has got to be our money down. We had five of those, third-and-longs, third-and-9 pluses. We’ve got to get off the field, there’s no way.
Those were our own errors and I would say that has not been characteristic of us. I have full confidence that we will clean those up. That’s the way we’ve got to play, man, you just bang away.
They may get some yardage, they may move it a little bit but at some point, we’re gonna get them in third down and that’s where we’ve got to make our hay.”
