Lions Insider

The Giants have been the gold standard for defensive lines in the NFL for a number of years now. They were consistently ranked among the top teams in sacks and quarterback pressures over the last five season and their defensive line is one of the big reasons the Giants have two Super Bowl rings over that span.

“They definitely have a great defensive line,” Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh said of the Giants. “I know a lot of those guys on that team – Osi (Umenyiora), Justin Tuck, Jason Pierre-Paul, all those guys. They’re great athletes. They’re all interchangeable.”

“We have that same type of talent on our defensive line. We can play up to that level. It’s just about putting it together and making it happen in the season. That’s what camp’s here for.”

Suh is right. The pieces all seem to be there for the Lions with Suh, Corey Williams, Sammie Hill and Nick Fairley being a very talented group of tackles. Cliff Avril, Kyle Vanden Bosch, Lawrence Jackson and Willie Young are a talented group of rushers coming off the edges.

The Giants were third in the NFL with 41.5 sacks coming from their defensive line last season. The Lions were right behind them in fourth with 35. With young players like Fairley and Young ready to step up and make a bigger contribution in 2012, the Lions view their defensive line as having the potential to be in that elite status with the Giants and others.

“I think you see a couple of the younger guys really maturing,” Vanden Bosch said. “You see Sammie Hill. You see Willie Young and Cliff is a premier pass rusher. We have that ability that if we can get everybody healthy on the field and go full speed, we got eight, nine, 10 guys that can get to the quarterback and present problems for teams.

“That’s what our goal is. If we keep working and keep improving and can stay healthy, we're gonna cause offenses problems and quarterbacks problems.”

The Lions might be leaning on that kind of effort more so this season with some question marks still lingering with their secondary. After releasing projected starting cornerback Aaron Berry last week, the Lions are still trying to find the right combinations in their back end. Alphonso Smith has been manning the right cornerback spot early on in training camp with rookie third-round pick Bill Bentley playing in nickel situations.

“There’s probably 32 teams across the league that have varying strengths and weaknesses,” Lions head coach Jim Schwartz said. “Rather than worry too much about what’s a perceived weakness, play to your strengths. The good teams do that.

“I think you go and put good players in that accentuate your strengths, which we expect our front to be a strength. Not just front four, but front seven with front seven adding our linebackers in. Even there, you can go seven, eight deep on our defensive line.

“We expect to be stronger up front and a good front four can take a little bit of stress off the secondary.”