The Lions Congregation: Expectations
By Zac Snyder
Thanks to Joshua over at DetFan1979’s Roar of the Lions (note the new URL), 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!
Here are this week’s questions:
Q1: How did the Lions in reality stack up to your offseason expectations of them prior to the 2010 season?
Q2: Who was one player who met your expectations, one who didn’t deliver, and one who exceeded your expectations?
My answers comes after the jump…
1. Last preseason I predicted a 6-10 record for the Lions this year so it would be easy to say that the Lions met expectations in 2010. That prediction was made under a set of circumstances that didn’t pan out, most notably with lack of playing time from Matthew Stafford. Knowing what I know now I am inclined to say that the Lions exceeded what should have been expected of them. Credit goes to the coaching staff for staying steady in their preparation with Shaun Hill and Drew Stanton leading the offense and instilling an expectation to win in any situation. The players clearly believe in what the organization is doing and ended up taking a step forward despite trying circumstances.
2. A lot is expected from Calvin Johnson every year and he delivered in a big way this year to live up to his billing. CJ certainly wasn’t an underachiever this year but he didn’t have the ridiculous kind of year that he would need to exceed expectations.
Stephen Peterman was a big disappointment to me. He seemed like part of the solution rather than part of the problem in 2009 and the line really suffered after got hurt late in that season. Rather than building upon that positive he took a step back this and received a lot of heat for it. Peterman’s foot injury probably played a bigger roles in his struggles than we knew but his season was a disappointment nonetheless.
The Lions had a roster full of players that could receive credit for exceeding expectations but Ndamukong Suh is the one my mind goes to first. Singling out Suh is high praise considering he came in as the number two overall draft pick but defensive tackle is a position that has required young players to adjust to the NFL over the course of a couple seasons rather than making an immediate splash. Not so with Mr. Suh, just the second defensive tackle to have a ten sack season in his rookie season.
You can read answers from each panel member on Monday 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.
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