How Ndamukong Suh can make this defense respectable

The Lions defense has been weak for way over a decade now. With the recent addition of Ndamukong Suh, that can all change fairly quickly. Here's how:

First of all, even as a rookie in the preseason, he's already getting double teamed and already finding ways through the double teams. He has a variety of moves and great technique for a rookie that it's almost unbelieveable. He has the strength to shed blockers and the speed to get to the quarterback pretty quickly. Even NFL Network's Warren Sapp, who is probably the best DT I've ever seen outside of Reggie White and John Randle, has said this guy is absolutely amazing for just a rookie with his proper hand placement and ability to wreak havoc on an offensive line. With this kid's talent and already pro caliber game, according the NFL.com's Michael Lombardi, he will easily make guys like Kyle Vanden Bosch and Cliff Avril look like probowl defensive ends. He will constantly be double teamed, which frees up the ends to make plays. When the opponent rushes the ball, they most likely won't run it into him so they will run towards outside where the linebackers will be waiting or try to make Corey Williams, another stud defensive tackle,  tackle the ball carrier instead. Either way, his presence alone makes every phase of that defense just that much better. The linebackers job won't be so difficult, like last year when they had to blitz more and try to fill gaps that the lineman failed to fill themselves. The linebackers now can help that weak secondary out by playing more coverage in the flat and middle and the secondary can play deep with consistent pressure from the front four. As bad as they say the Lions defense will be, it's hard for me to believe that they won't be much improved with the kind of defensive line we got. With that better defensive line comes better play from the linebackers because of the lesser responsibilities they have and the more opportunities to make plays, which in essence makes the secondary look better because they can focus more on not getting beat deep and help in run support when needed. I don't anticipate a top-5 or top-10 defense, however, I don't anticipate another 32nd ranked defense again either. This isn't just because of Ndamukong Suh that I feel this way, but he's a big part of the defensive improvement that I expect this season.