Yes, Aaron Glenn has seen the memes too

ALLEN PARK - Aaron Glenn is headed back home as one of the hottest names in coaching. And not just because he became a meme-worthy sensation over the weekend, although there was that too.

The Detroit Lions defensive coordinator was shown during the Fox broadcast of the Packers game, well, you can see the photo above this story. The internet did too, and did its thing.

Presenting Exhibit A, courtesy of Amon-Ra St. Brown:

"Listen, this thing is really getting out of hand," Glenn said with a laugh. And if you know anything about that man's usual demeanor at press conferences, particularly after his unit plays well - when he seems to be at his most brusque for some reason - you know he was really enjoying the spotlight.

"I am not a social media person," he continued. "But I have three kids, and they're grown, and my wife of 28 years - and let me say this first off, she told me I was so much better up here last time because I smiled, so I want to make sure she sees this. All right, I want to put that out there, but, man, for all the memes or whatnot that people have been sending me about that, and I had no idea, I really didn't. Man, I was just locked in trying to call the best game I can, knowing that was a quality opponent. The best one I've seen was the one that Saint put together where he had his Green Bay shirt on or whatnot and he put my face on his. But this thing is getting out of hand, fellas. But it's cool."

You know what's cool? These days, despite losing Aidan Hutchinson and six other members of the front seven, the Detroit Lions defense. They've allowed 14 points each of the last two weeks despite patching together their pass rush with guys like Al-Quadin Muhammad (who just signed with the practice squad) and Isaiah Thomas (who was just signed off Cincinnati's practice squad).

Then they lost Brian Branch to an ejection in Green Bay. That didn't matter either. The Lions defense actually scored as many touchdowns (one) as they allowed (one) the rest of the way and the Packers never found paydirt until the game was in hand in the final 4 minutes.

Impressive stuff in a game that looked like it was played in a car wash.

They didn't flinch.

Aaron Glenn, literally so.

"It's hard for me to say that because the only thing I was thinking about is, 'What's the next play, what's my next play call and how I can put guys in positions to be successful,'" Glenn said. "And once BB had his altercation and he was out, now I have to just re-focus on doing some other things and making sure that I get everybody in line with what we have to do, because that was a transition in itself. Because there is a lot of things we do as far as our game plan to put him in positions to go make plays, and when he left the game, we had to transition to some other things. I thought our coaching staff did a really good job of understanding exactly what I was trying to do and helping those guys get in positions."

They've been doing that all season. Despite losing the NFL's sack leader and ranking in the bottom-third in total defense, the Lions have allowed the sixth-fewest points per game, thanks largely to getting off the field on third down (first) and in the red zone (fourth).

Glenn has been a hot name for head-coaching vacancies for years despite lackluster results on the field. Now that he has some horses and the defense is playing well, and they are continuing to play well despite the injuries, Glenn is drawing national acclaim in his return to Houston for Sunday's game against the Texans.

Glenn grew up in the Houston area, played his college ball at Texas A&M and was taken fourth overall by the Texans in the 2002 expansion draft. He spent three seasons with the team and became the Texans' first Pro Bowl nominee.

"I really looked forward to going home and playing in my hometown and be able to play in front of my family and friends," Glenn said. "And I really took that as an opportunity to, 'Man, how can I put my stamp on this team knowing it was a new franchise?' So I wanted to do everything I could to lead by example. And I thought I did that."

Now he's leading by example in Detroit, where his players voted him as the No. 1 most-liked coordinator in the league after last season. Now that he's led the Lions' defense back to competitiveness, he might finally break through the head-coaching ranks next season.

"First of all, he's salt to the earth," head coach Dan Campbell said. "He's an unbelievable human being. He's a man of high character, he's a grinder. Nobody works harder or longer than he does. He's a student of the game. For a guy that has learned so much, he wants to learn more and more, just constantly looking up better ways to do things, other ideas. I think he's strategic, the things we go into the game with to attack opponents, I think it's some of the best in the league. And then when you start losing a couple of pieces here and there and you're still trying to attack them, but you've got to use what you have on the roster, I think he does an outstanding job.

"He doesn't have bad days. He's not one of those guys. He can get pissed off, believe me, he's a fiery guy, but he just doesn't live like that. Everything is, 'Hey, you tell me what it is, you tell me what we've got and we're going to make it work and we're going to make the most of it and we'll be good.' He's just positive, upbeat, grinder. I can't say enough great words about him. Everybody respects him, and those guys, they play hard for him."

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