| Curtis A. Clark. 9th August, 2006 - 8:30 pm
 On Friday the 11th the Detroit Lions will play their first preseason game. Fans await with a combination of uncertainty and optimism, something familiar with the last decade of Lions' football. This preseason however fans will be more curious as to a changing of team demeanor rather than performance. They want to see a change from recent years.
This off-season was a good one for Detroit. Instead of making the moves that would suddenly catapult the team into the playoffs, as the Mariucci hiring was, GM Matt Millen focused on players and personal that would work hard. A blue collar approach to winning.
Head coach Rod Marinelli will be the person on the field that fans most want to see. Fans want to see him grab a player by his facemask and scream at him when he doesn’t perform, wanting to see him hold players accountable and punish them if they don’t play hard and smart every down. In a sense we want a taskmaster. Not the spa style players coach Detroit fans have seen in Wayne Fontes and Steve Mariucci.
Matt Millen hired a man about as counter to that philosophy as we could.
Rod Marinelli is an effort and discipline style coach, he runs drills with more precision than some teams execute plays. Possibly Marinelli’s most endearing attribute is his status as a Vietnam Veteran. This man comes at football with military precision, and it pays off. Marinelli has had the best and most discipline defensive line in the NFL over the last 10 years. His D Line in Tampa controlled the line, and in turn the game. Detroit can only hope that carries over with the talent they have up front.
But lets not forget the ever lasting drama at the Quarterback position… or wait, can we forget it?
Millen went and grabbed a no none sense QB. Not a flashy personality, not savior of a dying team, rather a solid cog for his team.
New quarterback Jon Kitna sends pleasant memories of former Lion’s QB Erik Kramer through the Lion’s fan base. Kramer, responsible for the Lion’s only playoff win, was not flashy, not highly touted, but a player who played within himself and actually removed the quarterback position from the limelight. Something rare in a city where the fans are more prepared to boo their field general than cheer him. It would be a lovely change if Kitna could go about the business of quarterbacking this team without being thrown under the bus ala Rodney Peete, Scott Mitchell, and Joey Harrington.
Kitna has similar qualities to Kramer, he is quiet and confident, not looking to carry the team, but simple put the team in a position to win by cutting down on costly QB errors. Most importantly of all is that Kitna is a mature player, he is a man in his 30’s, not a young draft pick with no experience like most of the Lion’s QB’s of the last 20 years.
Friday the 11th of August is a big day for the Lions organization, they need to demonstrate their new direction, and that old habits have died. Fans don’t need to see a wowing performance, though that would help, they just need to see a team that is playing hard and worth their support. Hopefully Millen, Marinelli, and the players can win back the great Detroit sports fans.
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