The Detroit Lions, Wide 9 Defense Explained

By: Prime Time Football Intuition

(See Wide 9 Formation above)

The Detroit Lions Wide Nine Defense was popularized by Jim Washburn, the Defensive Guru formerly employed by the Tennessee Titans. It is no surprise that the Lions adopted the Defense after Defensive Coordinator, Jim Schwartz landed the Head Coaching job. I have seen it said many times in groups full of Lions fans, about how the Wide 9 needs to be scrapped because it is such an ineffective defense and leaves us vulnerable against the pass because we do not blitz our linebackers. Due to these comments, I am going to take the time to explain in detail how the Defense Actually works, and how the Lions will be able to execute it to perfection. The Defense gets its name from the Left Defensive End playing the 9 Technique which is where he is lined up outside of the tight end. The Right Defensive Ends job is to hit his man and drive him backwards collapsing the pocket, while the 9 Technique simply rushes into the backfield and disrupts the pocket. The 9 Technique is lined up outside due to the advantage it gives him over the Right Tackle, and the Tight End, if applicable. The path taken to the Quarterback from the 9 position makes it extremely difficult on the Right Tackle (Usually not too great in Pass Blocking) to maintain leverage and slow down the Pass Rusher. It would only take a limited amount of pass rushing

moves to make an impact from the 9 Spot. You can use speed to simply run by the blocker, a quick Dip and Rip to jolt inside, or just simply power rush him into the QBs lap.

The Defense does not rush its Linebackers. The Linebackers have the job of reading and reacting, to fill the gaps opened up by the Defensive Tackles, only after reading run. Stephen Tulloch is a master at this and that is why he was such a high priority Free Agent going into 2011. Not to mention he has experience with the coaching staff coming from Tennessee. You will begin to see a pattern here.

2012 Defense in Review

Going into the offseason, judging by the many Lions groups out there, including the #20 Lounge I am a part of on Facebook, the consensus among Lions fans was that the woes of our pass defense were due to the Corner position; this couldnt have been more inaccurate. To the casual fan, it would make sense; we cant stop passes, so its the Corners fault. In reality, our Corners held up strong all year. Chris Houston, our staple in the secondary only gave up three touchdowns (two against the Falcons stable of studs.) Jonte Green after healed from injury only gave up three in his Rookie Campaign. Please do not forget that our 2012 draft picks were aimed at fixing the Corner position, but they remained injured all year, along with our bargain bin corners. (The Lions Secondary did NOT have the same Secondary rotation for more than one game, all season.) Our real problem did not occur on the field, but rather our inability to get on the field. As mention above, we were bitten hard by the injury bug. The unquestioned leader of our Secondary, Louis Delmas, as we all know cannot stay healthy. It is also a consensus among Lions fans, that when on the field, he is a Top 5 safety and makes our Defense light years better. Our Safeties were a huge reason why the Pass Defense looked so awful and was unable to hold onto those leads late in games that could have seen us making a playoff push, not to mention taking it to the Packers. Our Defensive Ends generated little pass rush; coupling the inadequate pass rush and poor safety play... As we unfortunately know, is a disaster.

How the 2013 Defense Stacks up

On paper, this is the most explosive defense that I have seen in my entire time as a Lions fan. This extends back to the Kevin Jones days. Our Free Agent acquisitions: Glover Quin, Safety. CJ Mosley, Defensive Tackle. Jason Jones, Defensive End.

Glover Quin was regarded as the best Free Agent Safety on the market by NFL Network and the Lions hunted him down hard. He is very solid in pass defense and is an elite tackler, unlike Delmas; he actually wraps up and doesnt go straight for the kill shot.

CJ Mosley is a brute on the Defensive Line, famous for his hit on Matthew Stafford in his infamous injury he returned from to throw the game winning touchdown. He would leave Cleveland and spend his days prior to signing, with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Mosley will be more than solid in rotation with Ndamukong Suh and Nick Fairley, taking the spot of Williams.

Jason Jones, the Defensive End brought over from the Seahawks drew a bit of controversy. He is a Jim Schwartz product from Tennessee, who played better as a DT in Seattle. Jason is a part of the new evolution of Lions Defensive players; Big, Physical, and Nasty. Schwartz added, "I think his talent sort of stands alone, and it's more about putting the players that we have in a position to make plays," "We couldn't do that with Cliff. It didn't fit his skill set. We put Cliff in what we thought was the best position for him to be effective for him to help us. It didn't necessarily put Nick Fairley or Ndamukong Suh in the best position, but that's coaching.

Anyone that has ran into me in the Lions groups know that this is my favorite pickup this offseason, the number five overall pick in the draft, Ziggy Ansah. Ziggy made an impression of me at the Senior Bowl, coincidentally practicing all week under the Lions Coaching Staff, and playing in the 9 Technique during the All Star Game. This was controversial to the majority of Lions fans, because of his low sack number at BYU and his lack of experience, only playing football in college. His sack number was low due to his role, in a 3-4 defense and moved around to Inside Linebacker, and also Nose Guard. Fun fact, he was also double teamed more than any Defensive End in college football. I consider myself to have an eye for talent on the Defensive Line and I was screaming from the mountain tops for this kid, even before he showed up at the combine and posted a freakish 4.5 40 at 65 280 pounds. His explosiveness, coupled with being lined up in the 9 technique outside of the Tackles, is going to be hell to deal with. Ndamukong Suh is

going to make sure that Ziggy has no chance of drawing multiple blockers in a designed blocking scheme.

Our Second round pick, Darius Slay, was also controversial among Lions fans. Darius was rather unknown among Lions fans, which came as a relative shock to me, due to the fact that he led the SEC in Interceptions, (NOT Dee Milliner who everyone was raving about) and has the knack for taking it back to the house. Darius drew controversy because of his torn meniscus, which is nothing to even be concerned about, but fans werent buying it. He is a ball hawk and has freakish speed, 4.31 at 60 192 pounds; Slay fits the bill of the bigger, faster secondary that the Lions are striving for. Little do you know, slay only spent TWO months rehabbing his knee before being a full participant in Mini Camp, where he picked off Hill twice, one of which was jumping over Mike Thomas to make the interception. Rest peacefully, Lions faithful, Darius is going to be everything we have ever wanted. Jim Washburn, the genius behind the Wide 9 Defense, has also been brought onto the staff as the assistant D-Line Coach. His expertise and experience with this defensive formation, combined with our Defensive Minded staff, will make us an elite defense; if healthy. This pick up, was little know, but HUGE.

Conclusion
We should expect big things out of the Lions Defense in 2013. A dominant Duo in Fairley and Suh, coupled with immediate upgrades over KVB and Avril; Ansah and Jones, will give the Lions the pass rush that the Wide 9 warrants. We will have our Rookies from last year healthy, (They are all over 6 foot and run 4.3 40s, except Bentley) and the addition of the ball

hawk, Slay at Corner along with an actual Safety net for once with the addition of Glover Quin. I am going out on a limb saying the Lions will be at least a Top 10 defense this year.