Will the Detroit Lions offensive line be tough enough?

The Lions new offensive line coach Jeff Davidson, has been around the league both as an offensive line coach and formerly playing on the offensive line. He has experienced differing degrees of success on the field and the sidelines, but he has demonstrated an ability as a coach to build lines that are generally smart, tough and get the job done.

That will be his ‘mission impossible’ with the Lions.

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Last season the Lions offensive line was nothing shy of a M.A.S.H unit and not only was it difficult for them excel at their jobs, it was a rarity for any of them to even finish a game.

As the Lions speak about an emphasis on toughness for the O-line, fans everywhere figure that just keeping the starting unit together for the majority of their games next season will qualify, but toughness means more than that.

When we break down the traits the Lions have listed for their offensive line, playing smart is pretty self explanatory. Don’t have any false starts or holding penalties that just puts the team behind the sticks and make life that much more difficult for the whole offense to keep drives alive.

It also means carrying out their assignments with precision. It only take one offensive lineman to mess up his assignment for the whole play to fail miserably.

There will be a process of building cohesiveness. After all, how much cohesiveness were they able to build last season when the lineup was constantly changing due to injuries. Now add in another new starter who happens to be a rookie, and we all need to understand that there will be an adjustment period.

That doesn’t mean that they can’t play pretty well out of the gate, but given good health and the opportunity to work together on a consistent basis, there best games should be down the road.

Then we get to the toughness.