Lions film study: Marcus Davenport caused a lot of problems for the Rams on Sunday night

Everyone agreed that the Detroit Lions needed some help on their defensive line after a 41 sack season in 2023. They went out and got that help on the cheaper side of things with Marcus Davenport. The former Saint spent time with Dan Campbell and Aaron Glenn in New Orleans and he was pretty good there.

The thing that has always held him back was injuries. After seeing what he could do on Sunday night, it's pretty clear that he could be a huge part of this Lions defense if he stays on the field.

We went through and watched the film and came out with six big plays that Davenport made on Sunday night that helped the team win.

The bull rushRi

This was early in the game. You can see that Davenport comes at his man going a 1,000 miles per hour and he's able to push the lineman back into Stafford and Davenport gets his hand up in time before Stafford throws it incomplete.

The bend for the sack

Marcus Davenport is not a small man. He's 6-foot-6, but he's still able to get around his man by getting low here and he gets back for the sack. This is smooth man. He can bull rush and we know that, but that bend is a whole other aspect that really helps.

Moving the quarterback out of his spot

You would have loved a sack here, but they can't all be sacks. What Davenport does do is he forces Stafford to leave the pocket and throw on the run while being chased. He winds up hurrying his throw and it's incomplete. That's almost as good as a sack if you ask me.

Hurrying the throw in the red zone

Another big one here. Davenport gets chipped, but still gets around his man in time to hurry Stafford's throw out of the back of the end zone. This was a big one because the next play Stafford threw a pick. Get the quarterback feeling uncomfortable and he'll make a mistake at some point.

Crunch time hurry

This one happens really fast and Davenport isn't alone here, but you see that bend again with Davenport coming around the back end. It could have been cleaner, but it did enough to hurry the Stafford throw. The Rams had one more play on offense after this one.

This Sunday will be a big test for Davenport with a pretty good Bucs offensive line coming to town. If he plays like this again, we could see the Lions giving Baker Mayfield a hard time.

Related: Brian Branch had an immediate message for Dan Campbell when he got to the Lions locker room