Expect to see more of Za’Darius Smith Sunday in Indianapolis.
Smith played 37 snaps in his Detroit Lions debut last week against Jacksonville, or 77 percent of Detroit's defensive snaps.
"We're excited to get his count up and see what he's actually going to do as far as a true edge defender for us this week," Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said Thursday. "Personality out of this world, energy out of this world, he really fits who we are when it just comes to us as a team and really us as a defense. He does have violence to him, he does have a physical nature to him."
Smith recorded a half sack last week he shared with linebacker Jack Campbell as Detroit lined him up all over the defensive front against the Jaguars. Glenn said that's the plan again this week. Smith is very much a matchup player for Glenn upfront because of his versatility to rush on the edge but also bounce inside and be productive against interior linemen.
"Well, that's the one thing that he did a really good job of in Cleveland, is his ability to rush from the inside," Glenn said. "So, we're going to continue to put him there, we're going to put him in some other spots now to see what he can do for us."
Smith has been here for just two weeks so there's still a feeling out process between him, Glenn and defensive line coach Terrell Williams. Assistant defensive line coach Cameron Davis has done the heavy lifting trying to get Smith acclimated the last couple weeks working with him one-on-one and during walkthroughs.
Smith is at a point now where Glenn feels like he can just about let him loose and play free.
Indianapolis has done a pretty good job protecting their quarterbacks this season. Their 24 sacks allowed are the 12th fewest in the league this year. They're also a Top 10 team in the Stats. Inc. protection index.
It's a good test for Detroit's defense and they plan to make Smith a bigger part of their counterattack on Sunday.
THE DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES
The statistics from wide receiver Jameson Williams through eight games this year (he missed games against Green Bay and Houston) compared to his performance and impact last year jump off the page:
- 2023: 41 targets, 24 receptions, 354 yards, 2 TDs in 12 games
- 2024: 41 targets, 24 receptions, 538 yards, 4 TDs in 8 games
Maybe even more important is the way his speed is affecting opposing defenses.
"I've got this bad habit right now of calling that particular pass concept into Cover 2 and it's usually a dead play when I do that," offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said Thursday. "He makes it work."
Johnson was referring to Williams' 64-yard touchdown catch last week in that pass concept against Jacksonville's Cover 2 look.
"There's a number of things, and it's certainly him, but there are a number of other players, (Jahmyr Gibbs) Gibby is another one, where they are erasers. They are fixers," Johnson said. "If things aren't quite right, they make it right and he is certainly giving us that element in the passing game and I think defenses take notice of that."
THIRD-DOWN DEFENSE
The Lions' defense is No. 1 in the NFL on third down this season. Opponents have converted just 34 of 112 third-down tries against Detroit this season as their 30.4 percentage tops the Chargers (32.3), Titans (32.5) and Bears (32.8) who are next on the list.
To be good on third down Glenn said they have to be good on first down and the Lions also rank in the Top 10 in first down defensive efficiency as well.
"Any time we can have first down efficiency, then end up playing a second down to where we're forcing them to do something that we know that they're going to do – I guess you could say second-and-pass, that puts us in an advantageous situation," Glenn said.
That has a chance to lead to third-and-long and that's where Glenn and this defense feel like they have the real edge.
"Any time you can get a team in third-and-long, alright, man, we can pin our ears back and get after the quarterback, and then our guys love to play man coverage and then we put ourselves in a situation where we can dictate, so that's what we try to do every week," Glenn said. "How many times can we get a team in third-and-long situations so now we can rush, we can play man coverage and we can dictate the situation?"
