Detroit Lions Weblog

Mandatory Minicamps End, OTA’s Begin, Optimism Abounds

This is the most difficult time of year to be a professional football fan, in my opinion.   The excitement and ballyhoo that comes along with the draft, free agency, and off-season trades is essentially finished, for now. Their is so much build-up surrounding these off-season events, that ennui and a keen sense of letdown are a natural outcome of the preceding “sugar buzz”-like euphoria that one experiences at this time of year. 

Meanwhile, beat writers and insiders still have to produce work in order to earn their paycheck, as a result, avid football fans have to wade through a lot of media misinformation and glowing puff pieces to sate their unquenchable thirst for America’s most popular sport.

As a Lions fan, it is even more difficult.   Guarded optimism is second nature for most Lions fans during the off-season.   This shakey sense of optimism, that most Lions fans possess, quickly shifts to an impending sense of doom and disgust immediately after two or three games are played during the regular season.

Coming out of the mandatory minicamps, their is a lot of optimism about the team and a lot of exciting features about several of it’s members.   I have recently read features about players like MLB Paris Lenon, G Stephen Peterman, and several others that would lead you to believe that their future contributions may be able to help the Lions to turn the corner as an organization.

The toughest thing for me, is attempting to temper my response to these articles with some objectivity.   I really want players like Lenon and Peterman to have a Mike Furrey-like ascent from the back end of the Lions roster, but let’s be realistic.  

The Lions have serious needs on defense.   As much as I believe that their offense could be lethal entering this season.   Their lack of a consistent pass rush, their inexperienced and injury-prone linebacker corps and secondary, and the sad reality that opposing teams were able to completely eviscerate the Lions defense last season by utilizing both the run and the pass, all contribute to leading me to believe that the Lions still did not do enough to address their conspicuously weak defense this off-season.  

Underachievers like Boss Bailey, Teddy Lehman, Shaun Cody, Kalimba Edwards, and Keith Smith aren’t all going to be able to understand, perform within, and master this defense contiguously, as much as I want to believe that they are able to.  The Lions have all of the intoxicating allure of a sultry mistress, but much like those sort of fleeting relationships, these players ultimately are unable to provide the sustenance necessary in the end for fans to feel fulfilled by their performance.

I do think that Head Coach Rod Marinelli really believes what he has been saying about the quality of this team.   A veteran like Jon Kitna doesn’t casually state that the Lions are capable of winning ten games.   Their is a different state of mind in Allen Park these days and if the stars somehow align, who knows?