ALLEN PARK -- Matthew Stafford has been beaten up unlike any other quarterback of his generation.

In 2011, his first full season under center, the Lions QB was sacked 36 times. That was more than all but five quarterbacks in the league. That's pretty bad. And yet it just barely cracks the top five worst seasons of his career.

In fact, he's been sacked more times each of the last three years in a row. Last season alone, he was sacked 47 times. Only Jacoby Brissett was worse.

All told, Stafford has been sacked 173 times the last four years combined. That -- and you're never going to believe this -- but that leads the NFL. So you'll have to forgive Stafford, who was caught off guard Thursday when asked by a reporter just how it feels to be the least sacked quarterback in the NFL in 2018.

"Is that the deal?" he said after a pause, glancing around the room. "I didn't even know that. That's great."

Yep, that's the deal. Stafford has been sacked just three times heading into a Week 4 matchup against Dallas, the fewest of any quarterback who has started all three games. As a team, the Lions are allowing a sack on just 2.08 percent of dropbacks, which blows away the rest of the league.

Cincinnati is next closest at 3.33 percent.

Sure, the sample size is small. But the early returns are promising, and Stafford -- who has been battered more than any quarterback of the last four years -- has felt it with firmer and more consistent pockets.

"Yeah, I knew it was less," he said with a laugh. "I don't know the numbers. I don't check on everybody around the league. But I knew our guys were doing a good job up front."

They have. And they've received a lot of attention this week, too, though that's more so been for their exploits in the running game, which just produced the club's first 100-yard back in nearly five years. But they've held up well in the passing game too.

The only Lions offensive lineman to rank among the top 50 in pressures allowed is Frank Ragnow, a rookie who got off to a rough start and then was terrific against New England. He didn't allow so much as a single pressure against the Patriots, and graded out as the club's best offensive player according to PFF.

Rick Wagner, ranked No. 3 among all right tackles, has been especially gnarly this season. T.J. Lang, ninth among all guards, has been good too.

As a unit, ProFootballFocus ranks the Lions offensive line as the fifth best unit in the league.

Not bad for a group that was among the league's most underwhelming a year ago -- and allowed Stafford to take the most sacks of his sack-filled career.

"I saw a group up front that played well together," offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter said after the win against New England. "It wasn't a left side, right side thing. Those guys were five guys playing together, along with tight ends and fullbacks and the running backs and everybody. Those guys came out and really worked at getting the right block, getting the right combination, finishing plays. There's a lot of really encouraging things that happened there.

"We've still got some gettin' better to do, there's no doubt about that, but it was encouraging."