After falling in overtime to the Seahawks last week, the Lions put on a strong defensive performance to defeat the Falcons 20-6 on Sunday.
Detroit recorded seven sacks on quarterback Desmond Ridder, with second-year defensive end Aidan Hutchinson recording 2.0 of them.
“I think that those are prideful guys in there, we’ve got players that it means something to them, and so do the coaches,” head coach Dan Campbell said postgame, complimenting defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn’s game plan. “[W]e wanted to find a way to generate a little more pressure, and we did that with a couple of things that we did, but also guys really showed up, they really won their one-on-ones today, a lot of guys.
“And we fought on the back end, we really did, I thought we covered pretty good. … [D]efense really just set the tone for the day and I thought the offense finished it.”
After finishing with 9.5 sacks as a rookie, Hutchinson had not brought a quarterback down in Detroit’s first two games this year. That changed on Sunday.
“Look, any time Hutch rushes I think he’s going to get there because it’s the nature of the way he rushes,” Campbell said. “He’s high-motor, he’s got craft about what he does, he’s not a one-trick pony, he’s got a couple of different moves and he’s got ability, so I always expect it.
“The sacks are always going to be good because you’re getting him to the ground, but there’s a lot of times where just because you’re not getting a sack doesn’t mean you’re not affecting the quarterback. But it was good, it was good for us to finish out that way.”
Atlanta finished Sunday’s game with just 183 yards, averaging only 2.8 yards per play.
The Lions have a quick turnaround after moving to 2-1, as they’ll play the 2-1 Packers on Thursday night.