The 2018 season didn’t go as well as the Detroit Lions wanted, but there were some legitimate positives to take away from Matt Patricia’s first season. Patricia’s defense even led the league in one positive category.
No defense faced fewer plays from opposing offenses in 2018 than the Lions.
Patricia’s Lions faced an average of just 58.9 plays per game by the other team’s offense. Carolina saw 59.3 offensive snaps per game, the only other team that didn’t face at least 60 offensive plays each week. The league average was just above 63 offensive plays per game.
That means the Lions shaved almost five opposing offensive plays per game from the 2017 season, where they saw an average of 64.9.
Detroit surrendered 5.7 yards per play on average, which tied with several other teams from 16th in the NFL.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Cleveland Browns were the only team that saw over 70 opposing snaps per game.
