Detroit Lions Weblog

As Training Camp Begins, So Does The Cliched “Swagger” Discussion Or, Haven’t We Heard This All Before?

Perennially, or at the very least, with each coaching and flavor-of-the-month schematic change that occurs internally, upon the onset of the Lions Allen Park training camp, there is always a lot of discussion of a “new attitude” or swagger. Without further ado, enter Ernie Sims :

“It’s out of my head,” Sims said. “Last year is over with and we’re focusing on the new year with a totally new team. We’re switching our swagger around.”

Now, I REALLY like Ernie Sims. In lean times, despite his battles with inconsistency, he is one of the few Lions that you can feel strongly that he gives his full effort on nearly each and every play. But in this particular case, Ernie, I believe that “O-16″ seasons are never really over, or at least until you can throw some “W” ’s up on the board.

I like all of this talk of a new swagger, I really want to be a “true believer”, too. Still, after the last 10 years or so, it is very hard to subscribe to this kind of talk without a exceedingly healthy dose of skepticism to go along with it. Some of the current young Lions are ready too quickly to provide the media with these type of bold statements, and if I was Jim Schwartz, I would put a lid upon all such ridiculous talk moving forward. All these statements ultimately accomplish, in my opinion, is provide the media with additional story fodder as each Lions season churns limply forward.

Speaking of ridiculous, bold statements, Roy Williams has apparently “re-dedicated” himself in Dallas, at least according to comments by convenient mouthpiece, Peter King:

For the first time in his life, or so one of Williams’ unnamed buddies told SI.com’s Peter King.

“I’m serious,” King quoted the guy. “Roy never lifted before. Now that he has, and now that he’s serious about making himself a great football player, especially with T.O. gone, I think he’s really going to have a good year.”

Think about that. Williams played at Texas and for the Lions, and neither required him to do any weight training?

King writes: “I think the most worrisome thing about that previous note is what it says about what in tarnation the Detroit Lions have been doing for the past decade. No weight program that receivers had to live by during the season, and out of season? That is downright ridiculous.”

Williams is a superlatively gifted athlete, who is in fine athletic condition. But I refuse to buy this hokum, which was likely finely-crafted by an in cahoots pairing of his agent and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, as Williams enters a new season after failing miserably as a Cowboy last season. Image is everything in the McLuhan-esque world where the Cowboys and the media are in a virtually endless interface. MLive.com’s Tom “Killer” Kowalski provides a nice rebuttle to King’s statements:

Since the media isn’t allowed access to the weight room, I asked several people in the Lions organization on Tuesday about Williams and the story and the answers came back fairly uniform. First, Williams wasn’t the hardest working guy in the locker room (this is hardly shocking news), but he did take part in the lifting program. Did the trainers have to get on his butt to do it sometimes? Yes, but he did it.

So, the story has merit because if Williams is hitting the weight room voluntarily and with vigor, then he HAS made some adjustments that are worth noting. Williams, though, thinks it’s all much ado about nothing.

In response to a text I sent him last night, Williams said: “I lifted in Detroit sometimes during the season, mostly in the off-season. I’m just doing the same here in Dallas — just more free weights instead of the machines I’ve been used to. My body has always been the way it’s been and I give props to MadDog at the University of Texas. Now I know I have to get a little stronger. I’m doing what I need to do to prepare for a great season being the go-to guy in Dallas.”

All of this should give us brief cause to bear in mind, in order to keep interest up amid a near endless 24-hour sports new cycle, invariably space needs to be filled with these kind of sound bites. Be it senseless and unfounded talk of swagger, or the convenient puffery of a promising but incredibly underachieving wide receiver, all that this amounts to is primer for the pump. As a football fan, I am as guilty as anyone for consuming this type of sports “empty caloric intake”, if you will. Just remember to add a grain of salt along the way when considering information delivered at this nascent stage of the NFL season.