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Lions cornerback Darius Slay recently shared his opinion that there wasn’t a big difference between his team’s defense and the one that the Seahawks have ridden to consecutive Super Bowl appearances.

The Lions had one of the top units in the league last season, but it’s not hard to find people who think that the team is going to take a step backward after the departure of Ndamukong Suh as a free agent. While Linebacker DeAndre Levy doesn’t downplay Suh’s talent or the significance he had to the team, he’s quick to point out that Suh wasn’t taking on opposing offenses all by himself.

“Suh didn’t make the defense,” Levy said, via the Detroit News. “We had a lot of guys last year playing their best football. Obviously, Suh is a very great player. He brought a lot to the table, but it’s up to the guys up front to kind of embrace that challenge.”

Levy’s not wrong about the other talent in Detroit. He is coming off two excellent years and Slay and defensive end Ziggy Ansah look like rising cornerstones on a unit that also got strong play from safety Glover Quin last year and added defensive tackle Haloti Ngata this year. It’s enough to make the argument that Lions will still thrive on defense, although defensive end James Jones points out “we can’t really answer those [questions about how good we are] until we get on the field and play.”