Lions Congregation: Step Forward Time?
By Zac Snyder
Thanks to Joshua over at Roar of the Lions, SideLion Report is part of what is called the Lions Congregation. Every week, he brings a panel of Lions bloggers the questions of you the readers. It is exciting to be a part of a solid group of writers and fans who share equal passion for our football team!
The Panel:
Ty of The Lions in Winter
Al of The Wayne Fontes Experience
Phil of Mlive.com
NetRat of The NetRat Detroit Lions Site
Zac of The Sidelion Report
Steve of The Detroit Lions Weblog
Blades Boyd formerly of The Church of Schwartz
Joshua DetFan1979 of Roar of the Lions
Here are this week’s questions:
1. Frank: Has the team gone back to “same old Lions” or was the Vikings just a bad game by an almost not horrible team?
2. LyonFan54: With all the mistakes the Packers made against Chicago last night {Monday} do you think the Lions have a chance to beat them considering we should have won that game against Chicago?
3. LionKipersMane: Is there any hope for the Lions? Seems like we are getting ready to talk draft again and it’s not even October.
My answers comes after the jump…
1. I like the description of the Lions as “almost not horrible”. They are still pretty bad but they do appear to be on that cusp of “not horrible”. When I think of the “same old Lions” I think of a muddled mix of players with no discernible foundation or direction. Do this: think about the players currently on the roster that you think are the team’s best or are most excited to watch every week. My guess is that list includes names like Matthew Stafford (when healthy), Calvin Johnson, Jahvid Best, Ndamukong Suh, Louis Delmas and Kyle Vanden Bosch. With the exception of KVB, all of those players are young and the kinds of players any organization would love to build around. Excluding Calvin Johnson, they are all players that came to Detroit under the watch of Martin Mayhew. To me, that is progress.
2. No, next question.
3. Hope for this year? probably not, but I don’t know of many people that had real hopes for a playoff appearance this year. I have been of the opinion that the Lions would be an improved team even if it was not reflected in their final record. I think that is the case which leads to more frustration. As fans we want improvement on the field to equal improvement in the standings. The Lions still have too many holes to fill for that to be the case. This is what happens when you are basically an expansion team without the benefit of an expansion draft. With a finite number of draft picks available and a limited talent pool of available players we just have to wait it out. The opinions of Martin Mayhew remains high so there is no immediate need to call for anyone’s head. Patience is a hard thing to ask for considering we have been waiting for a decade but there is little the Lions can do about it and nothing else for us to do as fans.
You can read answers from each panel member at Roar of the Lions.
Do you have a question you would like to see the Lions Congregation answer? Email us at lionscongregation@yahoo.com