First impressions of Detroit Lions defensive line

The Detroit Lions defensive line made life miserable for Giants quarterbacks in Friday night's preseason game. New defensive line coach John Scott's influence showed why Aaron Glenn added him to his staff to replace the departed Todd Wash. Scott came to the Lions from Penn State University, where he was the defensive line coach and defensive run game coordinator. 

Scott has worked hand-in-hand with linebackers coach Kelvin Sheppard to revamp how the front seven will play this season. Two points of emphasis that needed improvement from last year were gap discipline by the linebackers and setting the edge by the defensive ends/outside linebackers and defensive backs. 

Scott ran an attacking defensive line scheme that focused on stopping the run at Penn State. His team led the Big Ten Conference with 42 total sacks in 2022. Scott's addition to the coaching staff was to improve the Lions' pass rush, which ranked in the middle of the league with 39 sacks last season. 

"You see what he’s done out there at Penn State, and those guys they’re fundamentally at Penn State, those edge guys are – and up front, they’re on it now. They do it right and so it just felt like it was going to be a fit for us.” - Dan Campbell on Scott's coaching ability 

The defensive line applied pressure on the Giants quarterbacks from start to finish. In the first half, most of the disruption came from the interior, with defensive lineman John Cominsky getting some quarterback pressures and a tackle for loss. Defensive tackle Benito Jones registered a sack, a tackle for loss, and batted down a pass. 

The second half belonged to the edge rushers. Outside linebacker, James Houston didn't record a sack, but he constantly applied pressure off the edge, causing the quarterback to move in the pocket. Houston looks to pick up where he left off last season when he had eight sacks in seven games.