By: Jeremy T. Ballreich
The Lions seem like they have been rebuilding ever since Bobby Layne cursed the team after 1957 season. Yes, William Clay Ford Sr. was a big part of that. But at the same time. We the fans have become impatient waiting for it to be done right. We gripe after every loss. Usually blaming the QB, or bad coaching, or bad talent picked by GM. When in all actuality, most players do not show any true development until year 3 of their career. When it actually clicks and comes together. For Example, look at Jeffrey Okudah, was labeled a bust playing only 11 ganes over 2 seasons. With 10 with the absolute worse coaching staff for player development I have ever witnessed.
Fast forward to 2021. The Lions were a team, outside of like 8 players who were unexpectedly better than we thought. Now this is year 2. Granted a lot of us bought into the hype from the Hard Knocks series on HBO. We started drinking the Kool-Aid a year too soon. And in too big of amounts.
Granted, I bought in a little without the series myself. I originally thought 7 to 10 wins possible, due to the fact the “starting roster” was twice as talented as what was on the team last year, if they can stay healthy. I specifically said Starting Roster, because on offense. For 4 weeks, our offense was 90% healthy, including most of our playmakers at key positions were there then (Swift, Amon-Ra St. Brown, DJ Chark). The Lions Offensive unit was the most explosive in the NFL. The problem was we were less than 70% healthy defensively. And it was glaringly obvious. We blamed the Defensive Coordinator Aaorn Glenn, then the scheme change. But this past Sunday, we saw a defense that was 85% healthy. And did a healthy scratch with an underperforming player (Michael Brockers). And they played much better.
But yet the offense was with an 80% healthy #2 WR. The Number 1 was out, our 3rd WR on the depth chart was put into concussion protocol. And wonder why with a 2, 5,6,and 7th WR looked bad. It’s obvious to me. But the impatient ones want to.out all the blame on a QB that completed 21 only 26 passes. That’s 80.7%. Am I saying he doesn’t get some, or a good portion of the blame. Absolutely, but we all said Jared Goff is the type of QB that needs good pieces around him to be successful. Why do we expect him to be great with less than what he had when wlge was good? Because us long time die hard fans, we’re getting impatient with the losing.
We have 1 bright spot this season we didn’t have at this time last year. It didn’t take 13 weeks for our Beloved and beleaguered Kittens to get their first win of the season. Brad Holmes said it best in a presser this offseason. He expects the wins in 2023. I’m leaning towards that myself.
Hopefully, his predictions are true, and it happens, so we can enjoy the ride. But it takes something that even I have forgotten over the past few weeks. Patience with the 2nd youngest roster in the league!
Because if ownership, and the fans stay impatient. We go through the growing pains of another regime, another scheme change, and more waiting for the wins to happen!
Thanks for Reading!!!
