The Detroit Lions defense has been a bright spot this season, especially down the stretch as the team has struggled to find impact plays elsewhere on the field offensively. And one of the biggest issues the Lions had in 2017 was an inability to break through and sack the quarterback. In the entirety of the 2017 season, the Lions only managed to collect 35 total sacks. This year, though, they have already shattered that mark in a huge way.

This season, Detroit has 37 sacks on the year with plenty of time left to further pad the total, already way above what they did under Teryl Austin. In fact, the Lions have been one of the more prolific teams at distributing the sacks across their roster. In the entire NFC conference, the Lions are the only squad to have five players with four sacks or more on their team. Team PR man Greg Maiola showed off just how dominating the team has been so far this season at getting after it up front.

"Through Week 14, five Lions have 4.0+ sacks: Ezekiel Ansah, Jarrad Davis, Eli Harold, Devon Kennard, Romeo Okwara. They are the only NFC team to have 5 players with 4.0+ sacks this season," Maiola tweeted.

That's a major departure from the past, which saw the Lions struggle to cultivate sacks from anywhere on the roster, much less multiple different players. Indeed, they've been getting them from linebackers and linemen both, showcasing the ability of Matt Patricia's scheme to free up difference makers along the team's front to make plays at the quarterback. That pressure has been a big reason the Lions have managed to win some important games on the slate for this year.

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Whether they're coverage sacks or not, the Lions defense deserves credit for finding a way to get to the quarterback. A big complaint for the Lions from fans has been their inability to pressure the pocket in recent years, and they have seemingly turned this around in a major way this season with some long-awaited consistent play. Patricia's scheme has found creative ways for the team to get after it, and the players are delivering the big plays to help out what had been a major problem.

Obviously, the Lions have some major building to do along their defensive line in the coming seasons in the draft and free agency, and one could expect them to target those spots most in the coming year when it comes to upgrades. But even without those future players and their arrivals, the Lions have been pretty good already, which should be downright scary for the opposition. Once the Lions can continue to slow the running game and get solid play on the back end, the whole group will be better.

No matter how or why the sacks are coming, the Lions just keep collecting them, and they deserve credit for doing so and powering an improving defense through the season.