Okay let’s talk about figuring out what the Lions actually needed this year. Honestly, started feeling like we were spinning our wheels after last season.
First Step: Just Brutal Honesty
Grabbed a coffee, sat down alone with a huge whiteboard. Wrote “LIONS REALITY CHECK” at the top. No sugarcoating. Just forced myself to remember every bad play, every stupid penalty, every time we got steamrolled. Felt kinda crappy reliving those losses, but had to do it.
Digging Into the Mess
Looked back at the game tapes. Really watched them, not just skimmed. Took notes like crazy:
- Everytime the offense stalled: Was it Goff getting pressured instantly? Were the receivers just not getting open? Or maybe the play calling was super predictable?
- Every big run we gave up on defense: Where did the breakdown happen? Did the linebackers take bad angles? Were the D-linemen getting pushed around? Or was someone totally out of position?
- Third downs: Oh man, this hurt. Counted how many times we failed on 3rd down, both sides of the ball. Shocking number. Looked at the yards needed – were we constantly in 3rd and long because of bad first-down plays?
This wasn’t fun. More coffee needed. Seeing the same mistakes pop up again and again was frustrating. Really showed where we were weak.
Shouting Matches (Productive Ones)
Took my messy whiteboard notes and brought them to the other coaches. Boom. Instant arguments. Offensive line coach swears it’s because receivers couldn’t separate fast enough. Defensive coordinator blames injuries in the secondary forcing bad schemes. Running backs coach thinks play calling doesn’t establish the run early enough.
Let them fight it out for a bit. Listened. Then brought it back to the film evidence. “Okay, look, here, guard gets beat immediately after the snap. Here, linebacker hesitates just long enough for the RB to find the hole.” Hard to argue with the tape when you point it out specifically.
Zeroing In on “Must Fix” Stuff
After all that yelling and scribbling on the whiteboard, the real needs started to jump out. Forget ‘nice-to-haves’, we needed foundation stuff:
- Defensive Interior Push: Teams ran right up the gut on us too easily. Just physically bullied us. We absolutely, positively needed guys who could plug the middle. Not just big bodies, but strong, disruptive guys.
- Corners Who Can Press: Saw too many times WRs just running free. Scheme helped sometimes, but we need corners who can actually jam guys at the line, throw off the timing. Especially against the top QBs.
- More Explosive Plays on Offense: Relied too much on long drives. Needed someone – anyone – who could take a short pass or a handoff and just go. A legit game-breaker to scare defenses.
- Consistent Edge Rush: When Hutch was double-teamed? Silence. Needed someone else opposite him consistently making the QB sweat.
Realizing It Wasn’t Just Talent
The biggest gut punch? Watching stuff we’d coached well all week just… fall apart on Sunday. Simple assignments blown. Effort fading in the 4th quarter. That pointed to something deeper than just needing better players. It was about depth and resilience. Needed guys beyond the starters who wouldn’t cause a massive drop-off, and needed a locker room that wouldn’t quit when down.
So yeah, figuring out the “Lions Team Needs” started with being honest about the pain, looking the ugliness right in the face, arguing about why it hurt, and finally pinpointing the raw, practical things we simply couldn’t go another season without fixing. Took time, took coffee, took a few heated meetings, but we got there.