Lions defensive coordinator defends scheme against Eagles
By Mike Dyce
The Detroit Lions got thrashed in the snow against the Philadelphia Eagles last week. Eagles running back LeSean McCoy broke several long runs to break open the lead. He finished the game with 217 yards rushing.
In the final 22 minutes of the game, the Lions defense surrendered 34 points on 384 yards. Lions defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham is defending his scheme in the game.
“I’ve been around for a while but I’ve never seen anything like that,” Cunningham said, via the Detroit News. “We couldn’t tackle in the second half. It wasn’t the scheme that broke down, it was missed tackles. It happens. You can’t afford to let it happen.”
Some questioned the formation used at the defensive line, and why an adjustment wasn’t made when McCoy started having success running the ball.
“Whoever is saying that should look at the tape,” he said. “We made adjustments. We put [defensive end Willie Young] inside. But we missed tackles. People have their opinion. But you can’t hold teams six games in a row to 60 yards or less rushing and think the scheme is bad. We missed tackles. That’s what happened. We’ve been a good tackling team all year. You scratch your head about it but you have to move on to the next one.”