Are the Detroit Lions Ready for Some Football?

The draft is over.  Matt Stafford is the once and future king of the Detroit Lions jungle, more commonly known as the NFC North.

Gone is the ineffective Matt Millen.

Gone is Rod Marinelli who is a very good coach but was in way over his head with the Lions.  A good "pound the rock" philosophy but you could tell, especially during the collapse of the 2007 season, players just weren't buying into it anymore.

Gone is Mr. Interception, Jon Kitna.  If you look at his stats, it is amazing how balanced he is between touchdowns and interceptions.

Gone is the madness that was Mike Martz.  The self-proclaimed Mr. Wizard of Passing is currently out of a job in the NFL. When he was fired from the Lions after the 2007 season, the Lions wanted to commit more to the run.  An instant replay was stated when he was fired from the San Francisco 49r's last year.  Does anyone see a pattern here?

Enter Martin Mayhew and Tom Lewand.  Both have been with the Lions for sometime.  In fact, Lewand is entering his 12th year with the Lions.  Mayhew, as we all know, was hired by Matt Millen in 2001 and was an integral part of Millen's draft strategy.

Based on how he drafted during the 2009 draft tells me that while he may have counseled Millen, Millen did not heed his advice and the result were disastrous. 

The past is the past.  Lions have 26 new players on the roster.  There is yet another new coaching staff of head coach Jim Schwartz, OC Scott Linehan and DC Gunther Cunningham, all well respected in the NFL and all have had some measure of success.

However, there is one constant that has not changed since 1964 when he plunked down $4.5 million to purchase the Lions outright from Dick Richards. He is often blamed, and rightfully so, for the Lions abysmal record since he as owned the team. There have been playoff appearances, 10 games in fact of which the Lions have won only one of them. 

Pitiful after three NFL championships in the 1950's and were considered one of the top NFL organizations during that time. He has kept ineffective front office personnel and coaches despite insistence from fans to fire them. 

Many NFL experts, Detroit columnists and thousands of NFL Websites are convinced the Lions will never get to the Super Bowl as long as William Clay Ford, Sr. owns the Lions.

It is difficult to be a Detroit Lions fan...and it has been for many years. However, the 2009 Lions at least appear to be putting forth an effort to improve. For 2009 to be considered a success, the Lions do not have to reach the playoffs. Fans would be very happy with a .500 record. 

There have been many articles posted on what to expect from the 2009 Lions. Even wrote one myself. But I think I may have been premature in writing it. I sincerely don't know what's going to happen this year. But I like what I have been hearing out of the Detroit camp.

Louis Delmas has been compared to Dale Carter, four-time Pro Bowl cornerback of the Kansas City Chiefs, by defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham, who coached Carter when both were with the Chiefs. If Delmas can come close to what Carter accomplished, we have an excellent cornerback in the making.

Matthew Stafford, not a popular pick with the fans, has shown he can make all the throws. What I hope is that he isn't going to be another great practice quarterback.  If he can translate what he does on the practice field to game time, he'll start making believers out of the doubters.

Larry Foote comes to the Lions from the Pittsburgh Steelers. He, along with the signing of Julian Peterson makes the once weak linebacking groups a strong one. Add the fact that both he and Peterson bring a certain amount of nastiness that will only improve an already great linebacker in Ernie Sims.

The signing of running back Maurice Morris will give the Lions an excellent one-two punch when paired with Kevin Smith.  Morris has been a capable back-up in Seattle and did fairly well when called upon to start.  In fact, the Lions running game will catch a lot of teams by surprise.  I think the running game is better than what a lot of people think.

Brandon Pettigrew, yet another unfavorable pick in the eyes of the fans, is going to help the Lions right away.  Big (6'5" and 263lbs), fast (4.83 40-yard time) and with great hands, he has shown he can block as well.  He will be a huge factor in the red zone and will take some double-teams away from Calvin Johnson.

With the improved running game, the addition of Pettigrew and WR's Bryant Johnson, Ronald Curry and Derrick Williams, CJ is going to have a lot of opportunities to improve on his 1,300 yard, 12 TD 2008 season. 

Lions won't make the playoffs in 2009 as Kevin Smith predicted.  But they will surprise a lot of teams and just might shake some of the monkeys off their back. 

Maybe they can win at Lambeu Field when the play the Packers on Oct. 18.

Maybe they will put together a four-game win streak after the bye when they play St. Louis, Seattle, Minnesota, and Cleveland.

And maybe, just maybe, there will be a glimmer of hope that these improvements are just the first step.