Lions had the NFL's best short-yardage run defense in 2023

The 2023 Detroit Lions defense wasn’t great at a lot of things, most of which involved the forward pass. But coordinator Aaron Glenn’s defense did accomplish a couple of very impressive feats in run defense.

No team allowed fewer rushing yards to opposing running backs than the Lions did a year ago. Stripping the quarterback (and WR) runs out of the equation, the Lions allowed just 3.5 yards per carry to running backs, good for third in the league, too.

Then there was the short-yardage situational defense, and the Lions pounced all over opposing offenses on this one. Facing 26 rushing attempts on 3rd-and-short in 2023, Detroit allowed just 13 successful conversions. That 50 percent stop rate was the best in the league, according to NFL Inside Edge, the data behind NextGen Stats.

The Lions accomplished this despite a largely rotating cast of nose tackles (Isaiah Buggs, Benito Jones, Tyson Alualu, Quinton Bohanna), none of whom are back with the team in 2024. End Aidan Hutchinson and LBs Alex Anzalone and Derrick Barnes all had multiple stops on third-and-short last year.