Give me an idea what it is like to root for a team that has been so bad the past decade?
I would say that the most frustrating aspect of being a Lions fan is knowing that the Lions woes start at the top. Russ Thomas was the last general manager who cared about the franchise and even then his hands were tied by William Clay Ford who was more interested in the league’s profit sharing than the success of the organization. The years that the Lions were in the hands of Matt Millen can be simply described as a disaster. Millen simply ran the team deeper into the ground. Furthermore, Millen fired Steve Mariucci who was the best head coach the Lion’s have had in the past 40 years—obviously a genius decision as shown by the Lions dismal 0-16 season in 2008. Other coaches who have been with the Lions include Marty Schottenheimer, Fred Hoglan, Bob Schnelker, Jimmy Ray, and Floyd Peters who all moved to other teams where they have all had great success. Players have also been known to leave the organization because of poor treatment by the front office. No higher profile player tops this list than Barry Sanders who unexpectedly left the team in 1999, although he never explained why, it is my opinion that he was fed up with the organization. Less than a season away from breaking Walter Payton’s all time rushing record, Sander’s admitted that the Lions organization robbed him of his love of the game.
I root for the Lion’s because I used to play for them and I would love to see them return to the organization that I remember playing for. Until then I’ll root for New England but I’ll still never bet against them on Thanksgiving.
What do you think the Lions should focus on in the draft?
More than anything else the Lions need to build solid offensive and defensive fronts. This answer might be out of order somewhat but Matthew Stafford is and needs to be the face of the franchise and the key to keeping a franchise quarterback is protection. The reason why the Lions have fielded a rotation of rookie or bargain basement quarterbacks the past ten years is because no quarterback can last in this league taking five plus sacks a game. Charlie Batch failed, Joey Harrington failed, and John Kitna failed not due to lack of talent but because of a lack of protection.
Secondly the defensive line needs a “hole clogger” in the middle of the defensive line. Forcing opposing defenses to scheme to double team a guy every play opens up the linebackers to make plays. By my estimation, the Lions have an extremely talented line backing core that can stop the run or the pass but are especially capable when blitzing. The Lions have time to improve their secondary so long as the defensive line and the linebacker’s can harass and hurry opposing passers.
The Lions have the second overall pick. Who would you take with it?
Not to plug my alma mater but Anthony Davis from Rutgers is arguably the best offensive tackle in the draft and could possibly give the Lions the flexibility to move some people around on the offensive line in order to put the five (six) best guys on the field.
Are you convinced that Matthew Stafford is the QB of the future?
Right now, I’m as convinced that Matthew Stafford is the quarterback of the future as Mark Sanchez is, or that Joe Flacco is. It is very difficult to predict how these guys will pan out three years in the future. Without a doubt Stafford has the tools to be successful but as I talked about before the intangibles will tell. Especially in the Lions organization where the players are moved in and out through a revolving door based on the front office’s mood. In addition to that, an offensive needs to become a cohesive unit, the Lions need to stop hemorrhaging players. Not knowing who your linemen or receivers are going to be during the upcoming season is a mental nightmare for a quarterback. The bottom line is that the Lions have some talent but need more and the talent that they do have, they need to keep.
What are your thoughts on the possibility of no football after the upcoming season?
It’s not a possibility; there will be football in the fall, to not have a season would be the worst possible outcome for all the parties involved. Goodell will broker an agreement because the owners and the Players Association are too smart to let something like that happen. The player’s strike in the NBA led to the emergence of the college game, the NBA is still trying to recover lost fans and revenue. There is no doubt that there are issues that need to be worked out between the NFL and the PA but it will not affect a season simply for the fact that it would hurt much more than it would help. Long term health benefits and pensions for players would certainly have helped me after my injury and it’s a fight worth fighting but not at the astronomical expense of canceling a season. The economic impact on NFL cities would be enormous. I believe that yes it is an issue that needs to be resolved and not playing would make it even worse.
What are some of the major differences in the NFL now compared to when you played?
The easy answer would be to say that the money is the biggest difference between then and now. Even adjusted for inflation, guys now are making exponentially more money than I ever did. But more seriously the game has stayed very much the same but become much more sophisticated at the same time. Defense wins championships and the bigger faster stronger guy wins, but now everyone is much smarter and much more prepared. To state it simply, what used to be checkers is now chess. Every position has evolved into a skill position, everyone is a specialist. When I played an offensive tackle was an offensive tackle, now left tackle is the anchor of any offensive line blocking for a right handed quarterback. Quarterbacks and linebackers used to be the field generals on the field but now receivers break off routes based on the coverage they read at the line and the quarterback is on the same page because they read the same thing. Running backs are taking cues from a center calling out which linebacker is the “Mike” (middle linebacker). The other big difference is the science put into strength and conditioning, my son Matt and Rob played together at UConn and the things they were doing in college were revolutionary techniques in the NFL when I played.
(Jay: I just want to add in to all our readers that if you have ever seen Rob, you know he wasn’t doing any of that conditioning)
Tags: Dan Gray, Detroit Lions
