The Detroit Lions pass rush in 2019 has been a stalled car on the entrance ramp. The engine starts and idles okay, but the transmission just won’t shift out of park and into drive. When it does, the slightest bump in the road forces another stall.
The latest pass rush win rate evaluations from ESPN reflect the Lions wagon with the flashers on as the other NFL cars go whizzing by. Detroit sits dead last in pass rush win rate.
The Lions have a win rate of just 24 percent. The next-worst team is winless Miami at 31 percent. The league average is 45 percent.
What constitutes a pass rush win? From ESPN’s explanation:
Our Pass Block Win Rate metric tells us the rate at which linemen can sustain their blocks for 2.5 seconds or longer. Likewise, our Pass Rush Win Rate metric tells us how often a pass-rusher is able to beat his block within 2.5 seconds. Our model of pass blocking harnesses player tracking data from NFL Next Gen Stats.
The defense has a sack rate of 3.98 percent on the season (sacks per 100 dropbacks), the third-worst in the league. In the last three games, they have managed just one sack in 126 opposing dropbacks.
That broken-down Lions pass rush needs more than a jump start, unfortunately.
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