Detroit Lions: Don’t use that ‘same old’ label
The Detroit Lions played their second preseason game last night. Although it counts as a loss, the offense was reasonable and the first team defense dominated.
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Last Thursday, the Lions decimated the New York Jets in the first preseason game of the year. In that game the offense displayed a potent run game, with Ameer Abdullah gashing the Jets with seven carries for 67 years, including a 45 yard run and Matthew Stafford throwing for a touchdown. In short, the Lions have looked good. Even though it has only been two preseason games, against suspect teams, it should have been enough to fire one up for the regular season.
Instead, the whole time I was watching the games, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, because that is what we have come to expect from the Lions in our lifetime. I was waiting for the injury to the flashy new rookie. I was waiting for the first round draft pick from last year to continue last year’s habit of dropping the ball. I was waiting for Stafford to make a poor decision and fling the ball into double coverage, as a harbinger of things to come in the regular season.
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None of that happened…thankfully. But I can’t help wondering if it will happen in the next preseason game, or the next one. I watch every game with trepidation, waiting for something bad to happen. And it doesn’t end with the preseason.
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Every regular season game I am always waiting for the mistake, for the injury, for the boneheaded play. And it doesn’t end when they are winning; we all remember the fantastic starts, with the end-of-season fade causing them to miss the playoffs. The history is what has given us the phrase “same ol’ Lions.”
You see, with the Lions, it is so hard to separate the past from the present. Logically, there is no reason why an injury to Billy Sims or Barry Sanders retiring or Marty Mornhinweg taking the wind should effect this Lions team. It is in the past, and should remain there.
Listen – I have no idea how they will do this year. Their schedule is brutal. It is maddeningly hard to make the playoffs multiple years in a row in the parity-driven NFL. Injuries will happen, just like it happens to every other team.
But my advice is – forget that “Same Ol’ Lions” crap. THE PAST DOESN’T MATTER. Watch the games with hope and anticipation, not fear based on some meaningless history. Analyze the talent they have today – not what they had in the past. Pay attention to their performance today, to their attention to detail today, and don’t think about the mental mistakes of the past. Because today’s Lions are different than last season Lions, which are different than last generation Lions.
These are not the same old Lions. We don’t know yet what they might be, but so far your eyes are telling you they have a pretty good team – despite what your heart is saying. Relax and enjoy it!
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