Detroit Lions, Jim Caldwell Engineering Winning Mentality
By Maurice Mack
Despite the recent rankings and projections from national analysts, there’s excitement brewing here in Detroit — and for good reason. Quite frankly, head coach Jim Caldwell and the Detroit Lions are primed to be a more balanced, much improved roster.
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Now in their second year under Caldwell, the Lions feel, look, and practice with an expectation of winning. Caldwell says in his locker room speeches, “above all else, find a way to win.” Well, in his first season as Lions, they’ve did just that, amassing an 11-5 record, while learning new offensive and defensive philosophies. That’s considered a leap in the right direction after being a 7-9 team in the season prior.
In Jim Caldwell’s first Season, he led the franchise to a 7-1 home record, and 4-4 on the road, which resulted in an 11-5 record and their second playoff berth in 14 seasons. He’s the right guy for the job. Since the Caldwell era began in Detroit, he’s displayed common qualities that every Super Bowl winning coach, has proved to be the ingredients to success. –“consistently, winning.”
Whether it’s during training camp, practice, the weight room or in the film room, this message has been driven home to his players throughout his early tenure thus far. During the first season as head coach of the Detroit Lions, much of Coach Caldwell’s job was aimed at developing a respectable level of accountability, as well as fostering the teams player development.
Player development from this coaching staff was a point underscored by Martin Mayhew via DetroitLions.com:
"When general manager Martin Mayhew was asked a couple of days ago why he’s so optimistic about this 2015 Lions team, one of the reasons he gave was how Jim Caldwell and his coaching staff are able to develop young talent. Mayhew mentioned the development of Darius Slay, Theo Riddick and Corey Fuller last year as examples."
It’s fair to say that he did a great job of setting expectations for himself, his coaching staff, and his players alike, as he took over a team who were frustrating to watch in the 2013 season. Getting players to buy in to his philosophy, led to Detroit winning 11 of 16 games. It was the first time since the ’91 season that Detroit had won 11 or more games, and it’s under his leadership that the Detroit Lions will go from being a “very talented roster” to a “team in contention.” Although this will be a tall order for coach Jim Caldwell, my sixth-sense tells me that the 2015 year will be a leap forward in the process.
This team returns nine of the 11 defensive starters from the 2014 season, that in my opinion, features a star linebacker in DeAndre Levy. They’ve also added much-needed depth to the offensive line, along with a sold running back in Ameer Abdullah, whom the Lions selected in the second round of the 2015 NFL Draft.
Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports
Coach Caldwell knows that in order for them to go as far as he’d like, Matthew Stafford must consistently show poise and excellent decision-making in the pocket. Thus far in training camp, Stafford appears to be in command of the offense, getting in reads much faster than last year, and seems to have a really good grasp of his offensive read. He looks sharper, more accurate, and appears to be display leadership qualities that Coach Jim Caldwell expects.
Under the guidance of Caldwell and offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi, Stafford is now expected to put this team in a position to win games. General manager Martin Mayhew has orchestrated a roster that fits both Caldwell’s philosophy and Stafford’s playing style.
Teryl Austin returns as defensive coordinator for a second year. Continuity for the Lions is essential for this team, moving forward. Questions remain as to how effective the defense will be, without Ndamukong Suh, Nick Fairley or C.J. Mosley. But the “next man up approach” complements Caldwell’s nature as a leader and someone who believes in developing players from within.
This bodes well for a team who become a super bowl contender. One thing is evident though. This Detroit Lions team has taken on the personality of their head coach. Hopefully, that character translates into winning football games.
Next: Can Ameer Abdullah finish what Jahvid Best started?