Something To Believe In

So often we as Lions fans get caught up in all the things that could make us cry. This year, we are gnashing our teeth and beating our chests and howling at the moon over the state of our secondary, which, let's face it is basically Louis Delmas and a bunch of factory defects. Unfortunately, if there is anything those of us weaned on the culture of the noble city of Detroit are familiar with it is factory defects, and so although the state of the secondary is no doubt horrifying, it is also sadly something that we have grown used to. Of course, that doesn't stop the bitching and the moaning, and really, in a lot of ways, that familiarity just makes it all that much worse. Even though we are used to it, and even though we tell ourselves that it doesn't matter, that it has always been this way and that it will never change, that tiny little optimist who lives in our hearts is always screaming at us, desperate to get us to hear what he has to say. And the war between that little dude and the pessimist who flies around our brain like a coked up dragon is pretty damn painful. It never lets us truly get used to the idea of failure and so when we see it repeated over and over and over again, it hurts on some level just as much as it did the first time. It is one thing to get punched in the balls, but it is quite another to get punched in the balls for fifty years in a row.

It's easy to have your perspective warped by the searing pain of a billion swift jabs to the balls, and so you can't really blame Lions fans for being down about their team. It's just easier that way. You focus on the things that hurt so that when you get hurt again, you're at least expecting it and maybe, just maybe, you can tell yourself that it doesn't quite hurt so bad this time. But that doesn't work - not really, anyway - and in the end all you're left with is a set of bruised balls and a heart full of hate and that doesn't do anyone any good.

Instead, I think from time to time we need to look at those things in our lives as fans that are good, those things that make us realize that although we will still get punched in the balls, we can fight back, and that maybe one day, we will be the ball punchers.

Okay, okay, I have stretched this ball punching thing to the breaking point, a very, very disturbing breaking point and I will knock it off. No more ball punching, which is appropriate because what I want to talk about is something that can make us feel good, something that can make us remember that we are on the right track and that the little optimist who lives in our heart will indeed slay that degenerate dragon.

One of the ancient truths handed down from ancient times when Hercules was a star fullback and Pericles ran the option like Tommy Frazier on greenies is that great football teams are built from the inside out, that before you can focus on your skill position players, you have to have the big retarded bears and angry vampire apes up front bludgeoning the shit out of people. This has become somewhat overblown over the years, and it has become easy to dismiss, if only because the people saying it are usually the paleolithic assholes who still think that the forward pass was responsible for the Holocaust.

But, there is a reason why it has become such a venerable staple of football theology - call it the book of Lombardi - and that is because, well, sometimes it's really, really true. This seems to be the way that Jim Schwartz and company see it. They have set about reshaping both the offensive and defensive lines and the good news about that is they seem to be doing a really, really good job.

My pal, Ty, over at The Lions in Winter, put up an excellent post earlier today about the defensive line schemes used by the Lions and the positioning of the players in those schemes, as well as a breakdown over which players fit which position. It was a fine post, very illuminating, but what I was struck by in the post was the amount of options we seem to have now along the defensive front. We have multiple defensive ends who should be able to play a role in this defense, from Kyle Vandenbosch to Jason Hunter, and it is extremely telling that Hunter, a guy who started for big chunks of last season, is now being discussed as a player who might not even make the team this season.

In the middle, meanwhile, Sammie Lee Hill seems poised to be the space eating monster this defense calls for while Corey Williams is a natural fit at the more explosive pass rushing Undertackle position. Meanwhile, you've got Landon Cohen looking like a decent rotational player, Turk McBride floating around the line, Cliff Avril ready to bound of the edge, and suddenly, it looks like we might have real, live options. And that's before the Lions even draft Ndamukong Suh. Now throw Suh into that mix and, well shit, not only might there be quality depth, this unit might actually be capable of kicking some serious ass.

If you look at what I wrote in my preview of last season about the defensive line, that is a damn miracle. Seriously. This shit is astounding given where we were last year. At that point, I had no idea who would start at one of the end spots and Sammie Lee Hill seemed like a dude who needed about 18 years worth of coaching before he was ready to play. Basically, it was Avril, fat Grady Jackson and that was about it. Things have changed and they have changed in a huge way. I really can't get over how shocking the difference could be once this season starts. We could end up with Vandenbosch, Hunter, Avril and McBride on the outside with Hill, Suh, Williams and Cohen in the middle. Throw in Anthony Hargrove's name being tossed around as a trade possibility and it's amazing how swiftly Schwartz, Mayhew and the gang were able to put something worthwhile together here.

But it's not just the defensive line that is taking shape. The offensive line just got a whole lot better today too, with the news that Lions stole left guard Rob Sims from the Seahawks for a fifth round pick. Sims is a good player - not a great player but worlds better than the ground sloths who have occupied the position over the last decade plus - and we were lucky that the Seahawks were rebuilding their own line and determined that Sims didn't fit stylistically with what they wanted to do. That's why we were able to get him so cheaply.

Not only will Sims finally shore up that black hole of doom known as the left guard position, he will also make Jeff Backus a much, much better player next to him. Backus has eaten a lot of shit for a long time from Lions fan. I am not above admitting that I have been there with a shovel scooping that filth into his mouth a time or two myself. But the truth is that Backus is a pretty decent player. Coaches and scouts love him. He's not a great player - he's limited in a lot of ways - but he's a very capable player who can be an asset for your team. Backus' problem is that he has spent his entire career with the Lions out on an island, next to left guards who the Lions could have gotten more value out of by selling as meat to dog food companies. Left alone, Backus was forced to try to make too many plays by himself. Like I said, Backus has his limitations and those tend to show up when you don't have any help and are attempting to do two different jobs at one time. I predict that Sims' arrival will suddenly cause Backus to appear to be a much better player than anyone thought. He won't be. He'll be the same player he always was, but with a living, breathing human being next to him for the first time at left guard, he'll seem like a totally different player.

The overall effect on the line caused by Sims' arrival cannot be overstated. With Backus and Sims holding down the left side of the line, Dominic Raiola will be allowed to do his job more efficiently at center, which will then ease some of the burden off of Stephen Peterman, who can then provide Gosder Cherilus with the same support that Sims gives Backus. It is an absolute domino effect and it will result in the offensive line being radically better, and will likely touch of a billion posts and articles wondering why the Lions various offensive linemen seem so much better this season. Well, Rob Sims is the reason. Okay, not so much him personally as what he represents, which is an 11th man on an 11 man unit that has tried for far too long to get by with 10 men. It's that simple.

It's easy to get bogged down in all the misery and it's easy to find yourself drowning in the muck. Lord knows I have spent a lot of time down there, but fuck all that noise. Today the Lions got a lot better, and the good news is that today is not an aberration, but a confirmation of something we have suspected for a long time, that Martin Mayhew and Jim Schwartz are actually really, really good at their job. We will make war in the trenches and we will win, and although right now we still don't have the dynamic weapons to win the larger battle, those will come next and when they do we will stand victorious in the sun and we will wipe the blood and the dirt off of our faces and we will scream at the ghosts that have trailed us for far too long and those screams will echo in that great void we have wandered in for so long and the ghosts and the demons will know that we made it out alive and that they are not welcome anymore.