The Detroit Lions 2010 Season for Dummies

If you’re like me, you are excited beyond belief every time football season comes around.  Also, if you’re like me, one of your biggest pet peeves is trying to break down how vastly improved the Lions have gotten over the past year to the casual fan. 

Sure, I’ve rationalized a Mike Williams here and a Boss Bailey there, but for the most part I’m walking into a season with blind faith. My guess is that if you’re reading this article on Bleacher Report, you know your stuff.

This article is for the fan that isn’t completely invested in the Leos; may this guide your way back to the promised land.

For starters, it’s important to note where the current team comes from. Every team starts from the top down, and owner William Clay Ford fumbled the ball by hiring Matt Millen. From 2002 to 2006, every single player drafted is either off the Lions or out of the league.

Every single player!

I doubt we will ever see such a horrible combination of both incorrectly evaluating a player and ruining one’s talent. 

The meat of a football team is built through the first two rounds, with the third and fourth producing some big names too. Occasionally a fifth, sixth, and seventh round choice comes from out of the woodwork to make a difference, along with undrafted free agents.

The draft makes up the core of your team, and the Lions have been the epitome of ruining that structure. 

That’s exactly why we try to fill that first-few-round talent with over the hill free agents. The big name free agents don’t want to come here. Why would they?

It’s a horrible cycle that has been repeating itself for quite some time here in Detroit, but it all stops with one man: Jim Schwartz.

For those of you that don’t know him, Jim Schwartz is our head coach. He is the former defensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans, where his squad placed well statistically on a yearly basis. His defenses finished in the top ten in rush defense nine years running, something that is well coveted around the league and a practical unknown in Detroit. 

Schwartz was hired by Tennessee in 2001, and during his seven-year term there his defense ranked fifth in rushing yards allowed per game and sixth in stopping third down conversions. He interviewed with numerous teams before settling down here in The Motor City. I like to describe he and our past few coaches like this: 

• Bobby Ross was the coach whose porridge was too hot.  He would accuse players of playing for their checks to the media and was just an angry dude.
• Steve Mariucci’s porridge was too cold. He was the cream puff coach whose players ran the team and never really seemed to respect him. He was like many of the Lions recent free agents, washed up from years past.
• Rod Marinelli was……hmmmm…..not even porridge?  Simply put, he was the most over-promoted head coach of all time.
• Jim Schwartz, ahhhhh.  Now that’s the stuff. He is the perfect blend of knowing what he wants and having his players respect. 

I remember the first time I saw Schwartz live. He had just got off the plane after the Lions hired him. I watched him field questions left and right and with the poise he had, even in something as small as a quick airport interview, I was confident he knew what he was talking about.

His first year in Detroit proved exactly that.  Our first four draft picks not only ended up starting, they ended up being our most impactful players. 

Matthew Stafford, the first overall QB and franchise player, is already the leader of this offense heading into his second season. Brandon Pettigrew is a multi-dimensional TE and also a punishing run blocker, in addition to being an enormous red zone threat. Louis Delmas, a second round safety, is a ruthless tackler and our best player in the secondary. Deandre Levy is a third-round linebacker who can do it all. He is being moved into the leader role on our defense this year as the middle linebacker. 

These four guys will start as long as they’re in a Lions uniform—a great start to Schwartz’s future here in Detroit.

Ndamukong Suh, Jahvid Best, and Amari Spievey seem likely to continue Schwartz’s draft success, as the DT, RB, and CB respectively are all much needed position players. Kyle Vanden Bosch, Corey Williams, Dre Bly, Jonathan Wade, Nate Burleson, Tony Scheffler, and Rob Sims were all acquired through free agency or trades. Most will start, all will see plenty of playing time.

In Tennessee, Schwartz was a defensive guru. He built his defense systematically, starting with the defensive line and moving his way to the secondary.

D-Line has never been a strength here in Detroit.  We’ve had occasional difference makers in guys like Robert Porcher, James Hall, and Shaun Rogers, but never a dominant, cohesive foursome. Our defensive line is now our strength on defense.

Go ahead and repeat that Lions fans. 

Our schedule this year is no easy task. We have to face off with three of the hardest divisions in football, including our own. 

The Vikings and Packers look to continue their run around the top of the NFC and the Bears threw big money at a few big name free agents.

The toughest division in the NFC, the NFC East, will be rough. The Cowboys, Eagles, Giants, and even the Redskins will not be easy.

The fastest rising division in football, The AFC East, will be hard to deal with. The Patriots, Jets, and Dolphins all have dominant defenses that have been a haven for big name free agents this off-season. 

The Lions do not have an easy task ahead of them, but the good teams prevail. 

In a decade of mostly top-10 selections, Lions fans have had little to cheer about. Draft day is our version of the Super Bowl, and we hold out hope that that one player can turn this team around.

Through two off-seasons, Jim Schwartz, General Manager Martin Mayhew, and Team President Tom Lewand have built a solid foundation. With multiple game changers on both sides of the ball, the Lions will greatly improve this season. 

I won’t pull a Louis Delmas and promise eight wins, but I will guarantee game-by-game progress with the ability to be in every single game.

The time is right for Detroit to exit the gutter. 

Don’t be that fair-weather fan that orders his or her bandwagon tickets within the next two seasons. Get on board now and enjoy the ride!