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Rough One
John,
I feel sorry for you because the Lions are not giving you much to write about. Since you have taken the post they have lost 22 games, so how do you find different ways of being creative to write about the Lions losses?
This was a tough one, and this whole week I was thinking "On paper the Lions are suppose to win this game, but somehow they will figure out a way to lose it". I can relate with the Lions because I coach a CO-ED softball team, and for three seasons we are 4-20. I have several players that are new to the game of softball that is part of it, but there is also this losing aura that gets a hold of you. Mentally you start to think "how will we lose this week" "What's going to go wrong this time". You just can't seem to shake this losing aura, and I know they say we don't have the talent but I hear prognosticators say that the talent level is so close in the NFL that the difference from losing to winning is miniscule.
Obviously you agree the mental aspect is apart of the cause of their losing ways, but would you say that it is much bigger than we realize. Think about it the expectations of the fan base is so low, and coupled with the players who have been here the last 8 years through all of this losing. I mean Barry Sanders retired early because of the ineptitude, and atleast in the 90's we had a few winning seasons could you imagine if he would have been in here the last 8 years. You and I both know that the fan support would be crazy if the could field a competitive team.
I have said it before several times in this forum, and I will say it again winning organizations build from the lines out. When you have a powerful offensive line your entire offense builds confidence from that. Sackus is a joke, and we have nobody who can play guard for us its very frustrating. You can build a dominant offensive line through the 2-5th rounds of the draft it doesn't always have to be in the first round. The same goes for the defensive line look at the clinic Minnesota's dline put on Green Bay yesterday it was beautiful baby.
Living here in Dallas you can't help but notice the Cowboys, and they have a great O-line which gives Tony plenty of time to get the ball to his receivers, and they have the best rushing attack in Football. Put Tony, and his skill players behind our line he becomes just another pedestrian middle of the pack qb's. Minnesota, New Orleans, New England, Pittsburgh, and Atlanta get this concept of building a team from the lines out. I am getting on one of my tangents again. Thanks for your input John, and appreciate your work on the Detnews!
Thanks!
You're right about Dallas. Ditto Minnesota and Atlanta (somewhat). Disagree with you on New Orleans a little bit. NE and Pitt obviously have systems that have been in place for a long time, so it's less about building inside-out as it is reinforcing with young players each year.
Again, though, I'll say this about the '09 draft -- the Lions essentially had three first-round picks, and they used one on a "franchise" QB, one on a big TE that helps both the OL/RBs and the QB, and one on a defensive playmaker in the secondary. I don't have any big issue with that. They also added what look to be a couple second-day keepers -- something the previous regimes never got -- at LB and DT.
Now then, do they still need to find OL and DL help. Yep, a lot of it. And I will be very surprised if they don't address that high in this next draft.
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