The Detroit Lions unveiled their "Who?" secondary Monday night, with a crew of backups flying around the field, befuddling MVP candidate Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a 24-9 win.
"I knew we were going to challenge them and do more than we did last week," Lions head coach Dan Campbell said, via The Associated Press. "But that's a good quarterback over there, and they've been playing good football. I had confidence, but nine points?"
If you had no clue who some of the Lions' defensive backs were in prime time, you weren't alone. Detroit was without five defensive backs, including four starters. Terrion Arnold (shoulder), Kerby Joseph (knee) and Avonte Maddox (hamstring) were ruled out. D.J. Reed is on injured reserve. And Brian Branch was suspended for last week's postgame incident in Kansas City.
The Lions' secondary on Monday would make the word patchwork seem sturdy.
Amik Robertson was left as the lone regular left in the lineup. Rock Ya-Sin, Nick Whiteside, Arthur Maulet, Erick Hallett and Thomas Harper stepped in. To make matters worse, Ya-Sin was in and out of the lineup with injury.
The Lions' defensive line did its part, hassling Mayfield and forcing off-mark throws, but the mishmash unit held its own and made play after play all night long. The group flew around the field. If they were wrong or beaten, they were doing it with their hair on fire. And they were rarely wrong and not beaten so much against a passing offense that has scorched opponents to open the season.
"That's what's expected here," Campbell said. "I've said it before, you get in there, you don't have to be perfect, you just challenge and you compete, and we will help you and the guys around you will help you.
"I love the fact the game didn't seem too big for those guys. That was Harper's and Hallett's first start. I thought it wasn't too big for them. They got in there and competed and that's a great sign."
First start? Heck, Hallett hadn't even played a defensive snap in his career before MNF. In the bright lights, the 2023 sixth-round pick by Jacksonville, who spent the past two years on practice squads, played 62 snaps and tied for the team lead with eight tackles.
Whiteside, an Auburn Hills, Mich., native, went undrafted in 2023 and hadn't played a defensive snap since his rookie year in Washington. He had a game-high three passes defended and gave up just one catch on six targets -- a 22-yard touchdown.
Harper was an undrafted free agent in 2024 and bounced from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, where he played 15 games, including five starts for a decimated Raiders secondary last year. The safety allowed zero catches on two targets with three tackles on 52 snaps.
Maulet is a 32-year-old undrafted journeyman on his sixth team in nine years. He has 23 career starts in 87 games played, but hasn't started a contest since 2023. The veteran had five tackles and an interception while allowing just 27 yards on six catches.
"I told those guys, man, after the game, how proud I was of them," said Robertson, who allowed 33 yards on six catches. "Every single last one of them -- Whiteside, Harper, all of them. All I thought about when I was out there, man, is play for those guys. I told them, even though this maybe y'all first opportunity, show the world. We heard the noise. Those guys went out there and played their hearts out. I had no doubt in them. Let's go out there and show everybody and not talk about it, and that's what I felt like we did tonight."
Mike Evans' devastating injury hurt Tampa, which was already without Chris Godwin and running back Bucky Irving. And the Bucs' offense aided in their own demise. Mayfield missed a host of passes high, looking uncharacteristically bad.
Still, it takes more than just offensive miscues to hold a team to nine points. It wasn't like Jared Goff played particularly well either, yet Detroit was able to make enough plays against Tampa's defense. While the Lions cashed in on their explosive plays, the Bucs' offense had just three pass plays of 20-plus yards and no rush longer than seven.
The no-name Lions secondary flew around the field and, perhaps most importantly, they tackled. Tampa generated 106 total yards after the catch. The Lions missed four total tackles. That unsung quartet: 1 (Hallett).
Defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard deserves all the flowers for coaching up this rag-tag unit, concocting a game plan that discombobulated Mayfield, and getting the greenhorn unit to tackle and limit damage.
"That was championship-level defense, and it says a lot about the guys who stepped in to play the positions where we were missing guys cause that seemed like it was a pretty big narrative," left tackle Taylor Decker said. "And those guys, not only did they step up to the plate, but I think they blew the expectations out of the water, so it's a testament to those guys, especially in the secondary. And the defense as a whole."
The hope is that the Lions come out of their Week 8 bye healthier -- at the very least, Branch will return. But one thing is certain, when they need to call on their depth, the coaching staff will have them prepared.
