Detroit Lions: One Reason Why the Lions Will Succeed: Ndamukong Suh

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

I'm writing from lovely Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, taking a small break from the festivities.  And before I forget, South Carolina is a great place to see.  I would suppose living here would be a totally different pace than one would be used to.  But this one person could see a name change from Seattle Lion Fan to South Carolina Lion Fan.

I'm here in this wonderful part of the world as part of a family reunion on my wife's side.  Interesting group of people, most with a ten letter last name and let me tell you, perhaps one of the more knowledgeable folks on sports I've ever met. 

I read a few articles about Ndamukong Suh over the past few week and I like what I've been reading.  Suh is establishing himself as one of the leaders of the team and expects his teammates to take the same mindset as he does:  To go into every game expecting to win.

In a recent interview in the Detroit Free Press, Suh once again stated that the Lions can go 16-0 this season if they attack the football and win one game at a time.

What I find interesting about all this, Suh's statement, and he's said several times already, hasn't caused near as much of clamor as Jon Kitna's statement back in 2007 that the Lions will win 10 games and get into the playoffs.  Lions looked like they were going to back up Kitna's words by starting off 6-2.  But then the wheels, axles, transmission and the engine fell off and the Lions finished 7-9 in perhaps one of the more spectacular collapses in NFL history.

Suh's presentation is different.  If you read carefully, he is saying that he expects to win every game.  Will it happen?  Most likely it won't.  But athletes don't go into competition thinking they are going to lose, I don't care what sport it is.  They aren't there to just merely give a good performance and lose, right.

The name of the game is winning.  And Ndamukong Suh is a winner.

Suh was asked in the interview (in my opinion one of the more inane questions that could have been asked) on if he lost any sleep over the Lions record over the last season.  I'm sure Suh thought a better question could have been asked but the Lions past is what it is:  dreadful.

But he answered with class and dignity with just the right amount of required aggressiveness:

"

I know what you mean.But this season is an opportunity for us to move on and have other expectations.  I think the biggest thing for us and the city is that the mind-set has changed.  We are not the same old Lions that have lost.

"

Look at the words he used:  Us.  Opportunity.  Move on.  Other Expectations.  This city.  Mind-set has changed.  And perhaps the most driving portion of that comment, we are not the same old Lions that have lost.

He is saying all the right things...and his teammates are looking toward him to lead them into the land of higher expectations.  His explanation of the Lions going 16-0 is simple and direct:  "Why can't I be serious about that?  It's a simple fact.  I'm going into every game expecting to win it.

What he is telling his teammates, the fans and the city is that to rise from the ashes from a decade of awful football is to win one game at a time.  Place one foot forward at a time but keep moving forward and under no circumstances, do you ever give up until the final gun has fired.

His expectations are to win every game he plays in.  My expectations when I watch the Lions is to have them win every game as well. 

Right behind you big guy...go get em!