The sports landscape has changed immeasurably over the last ten years.
No longer do things progress in a slow or steady manner. Opinions are not developed over time. Reactions are quick and often unforgiving.
Teams hire and fire underperforming players or coaches at the drop of a hat. Excellence is demanded, and anything short of that is grounds for removal.
Unless, of course, you are Lions’ quarterback Matthew Stafford. His leash is long and the expectations placed upon him are minimal.
The franchise seems to have some type of unrelenting confidence in his ability to lead them to greatness, despite little to no evidence that such a goal is at all realistic.
Mixed Message
But the message seems to be mixed.
On one hand, the Lions will trust Stafford this season to be their starting quarterback for the sixth consecutive season. That is no small feat. In today’s “What have you done for me lately?” world, five years of pedestrian ball generally gets you the boot. Yet his throne remains untouched. The long-struggling franchise believes in Stafford.
Or do they?
Just last week, they used another super-valuable first-round pick on an offensive player. They grabbed Eric Ebron, supposedly the “next big thing” in the ever-growing popularity of athletic tight ends in the NFL.
And it’s not to say that Ebron will not be a productive professional player for many years to come, but doesn’t the pick (and the many top offensive selections in prior years) suggest a limited franchise-wide belief in the efforts of one Matthew Stafford?
In five of the last six drafts, one of the Lions’ first two picks has been a pass catcher or ball carrier.
Flourishing franchises like the New England Patriots do not spend high picks on receivers. They have an inherent belief that Tom Brady can make an undrafted player into a seasoned pro, and a mid-round pick into a Pro Bowler.
Yet the Lions continue to pepper Stafford with more and more high-priced weapons at the cost of improving a defensive unit that seems to have been stuck in the mud for the last 20 years.
Really, how many impact players on defense has this franchise developed over that period of time? How far back do you have to go to find a real difference maker at linebacker, or cornerback? These are positions of need.
Ebron Pick Speaks Volumes
Another tight end? That’s a position of want. The Ebron pick represents an unspoken hesitance on the part of the Lions’ franchise to truly place this team in its quarterback’s hands.
If Martin Mayhew and his cohorts believed in Stafford, wouldn’t they have grabbed one of the many blue-chip defensive prospects that were gobbled up soon after?
In the seven picks following Ebron, off the board went an aggressive corner from Virginia Tech and a pair of rugged linebackers from football factories, Ohio State and Alabama. We need not bother with the names. They are solid football players from solid programs playing important positions that are thirsting for quality in Detroit.
But the Lions don’t go that route. They pick up a juiceless veteran like Rashean Mathis or rely on a glorified special teamer like Ashlee Palmer.
They continue to try and fill out the defensive roster with patchwork additions while continuing to bless this supposed “franchise” quarterback with more new toys.
In this town, somehow it’s almost considered blasphemous to suggest Stafford is not the Lions’ long-awaited savior at quarterback. Why that is, I don’t have the slightest idea.
But it’s that very type of blind, evidence-lacking, faith that has robbed this franchise of any type of success over the last half-century.
Change has never been a specialty of the Detroit Lions. They prefer to continue on the original path, hoping things will suddenly change for the better, whether or not there is any indication whatsoever that such a renaissance is forthcoming.
No Shift in Collective Thoughts
Last week’s draft could have represented a shift in collective thought. A commitment to defense and overall toughness could have been established.
Instead, it is another set of waiting hands for the sidearming Stafford.
The problem is, utilizing such gifts has never been #9’s specialty.
He need not worry, however. He’s got plenty of time.
While the rest of the league reacts in minutes, the Lions take years. The world as a whole has become quicker, meaner, less tolerant of failure.
Only the Lions remain stuck in the ways of yesteryear. And they continue to pay the price.
