The Detroit Lions acquired defensive lineman Za’Darius Smith from the Cleveland Browns on NFL trade deadline day. At 7-1, the Lions are the NFC’s hottest team, winning their last six games. The move for Smith could spell trouble for the Houston Texans, who play Detroit Sunday night.
The Lions lost edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson, who led the league with 7.5 sacks before suffering a season-ending leg injury in Week 6. Nobody else on Detroit has over 2.5 sacks this season. Smith has five through nine games, he’s no Hutchinson but he’s a clear upgrade for Detroit against one of the NFL’s worst pass-blocking units.
Houston is fresh off its worst pass-blocking performance of the season against the New York Jets. New York sacked C.J. Stroud eight times, a career-high for the second-year quarterback. It wasn’t a one-game fluke though. The three games in Stroud’s career that he’s seen the highest pressure rate have been the past three games. He was pressured on 51.7% of his drop backs in Week 7, 46.2% in Week 8 and 47.8% against New York according to FantasyLife’s Ian Haritz.
“Of course we’ve had some bad reps in the pass blocking, but it’s everybody working together, the entire offense working together,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said Monday. “I know it’s easy to point the finger at one thing, it’s never just one thing. It’s all 11 guys working together, being in sync.”
Neither Ryans or Stroud will flat out blame the offensive line for the pass blocking struggles. Whenever Stroud is asked about it, he takes blame and says he could improve as well. There’s also the fact that Stroud didn’t have either Nico Collins or Stefon Diggs for the first time this season in Week 9. Collins is eligible to return from the injured reserve this week, but Ryans wouldn’t say if he will.
Detroit has one total sack in the past two games, and didn’t get to Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love once. Smith instantly upgrades the pass rushing room, and it couldn’t have come at a better time for Detroit. If Houston has any chance of taking down the red-hot Lions it’s by protecting Stroud and allowing him time to throw. The three-time Pro Bowler will make life harder for Texans tackles Laremy Tunsil and Tytus Howard Sunday night.
