Guys that play with Pride
by redwingxviii on May 11, 2010 1:10 PM EDT
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PrintI've been an out-of-market Lions fan for 26 years (thanks dad). Being out of market means that I usually get news about what happened on Sunday instead of what happens Monday through Saturday. This site has been a great way of filling the gap. Thanks for doing it.
Like you all, I'm pretty excited about the direction of the Lions. Most notably, I think we have a bunch of guys that care to be good football players. This is a stark contrast to many of the clowns we've brought in the past 10 years or so. A good "culture" or "chemistry" is especially important when developing players. A bad culture breeds Mike Williams and Charles Rogers. A good culture breeds guys like... oh I don't know, pick anyone on BAL, PIT, IND, NE. Do they draft better than us? Probably. But more importantly, I think they get their draft picks to maximize talent. Which Suh would you rather have - the one that plays along side Redding and Rogers or the one that plays along side KVB? I'm pretty sure the latter will turn out to be a better pro.
There are probably a lot more names that belong here but:
Guys that really care:
Stafford - Cleveland game was enough for most of us last year. He seems to be a true leader. I think his football skills will improve along with the team.
Kevin Smith - I like him because he said the 2008 team had high school talent. At least he calls a spade a spade. Roy Williams still thinks Roy Williams is the best WR in the game.
KVB and C. Williams - I read the "working out together" post - first, because they were working out, which Cory Redding never did, and second, because they seem concerned with winning, which is nice. I have never seen a complete defensive line in Honolulu Blue.
Suh - I believe he will be one of the hardest working #2 overall picks. (Side Note, Stafford really surprised me with his work ethic, I misjudged him from my recliner). Not exactly what I expect out of him, but I think being an important piece on a good defensive line will be good enough for me.
Delmas - Had never heard of him before he was announced as our pick last year. Seems like a great leader.
Follet - Crazy is good with me.
Sammie Lee Hill - I met Gunther before the @GB game last year, and he told me that the defense only had a few "NFL players" - he specifically named SLH and Delmas.
Ryan Sims - This guy seems way too happy to be on our team. Glad to have him.
Who else belongs on this list? I left CJ out because I don't really think of him as a vocal leader. Certainly leads by example. Maybe I'm wrong too - I have a limited attention span. But who else really cares about winning / will make everyone else around him a better player?
This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pride of Detroit or its writers. FanPosts are valued expressions of opinion by passionate and knowledgeable fans.
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Houston and Wade
are two that stickout alot to me many may not have heard of them but come mid season everyone in the NFL or on the couch watching will know these two. CJ should be on there as well as Raiola and Backus. oh its Rob not Ryan
That was most of them.
Bottom line you made a great point. There seems to be a lot of people who WANT to be here and are HUNGRY to win. This team from here on out will no longer be the kick around team of the NFL. They will at least be highly competitive in all games. I think 2 more years of Drafting and some free agents here and there. There a strong playoff team everyone will be scared of, not just respectable !
As for CJ...
He seemed to get a bit snippy last year…. like the frustration was setting in. I hope that fire died out in the offseason.
Yeah, that bothered me a little too, CLF
He never seemed to me like a guy that would get cheezed off without winning, but I guess everyone has his breaking point. I still think he’s a team first guy, but I think he may see his talent being wasted, which isn’t a good thing. Hopefully, he is the center of the offense next year with all these new weapons to take the defensive focus off of him. I think a pro bowl and 7 or 8 wins would change his mood.
Time is running out on Megatron.
He needs to play his hardest, and Detroit needs to put a real goddamn team around him, or he will either A. Never reach his potential B. Reach it somewhere else.
Either scenario would be kinda tragic for the team that drafted him.
"Someday pray that he will grow a farm barn full, Recent research shows its not so darn harmful"
I have no doubt 81 will become a pro bowl WR
I dunno how easy it would be to forgive the lions if he was doing else were.
Louis Delmas is gonna lay the MAC down on your candyass
Follett and Suh IN YO FACE!!!
by The Profiler on May 11, 2010 7:07 PM EDT up reply actions
Agreed
Burleson, Best, and Stafford all have the power to do it.
"Someday pray that he will grow a farm barn full, Recent research shows its not so darn harmful"
A statement truley worth a +1
Louis Delmas is gonna lay the MAC down on your candyass
Follett and Suh IN YO FACE!!!
by The Profiler on May 12, 2010 4:48 PM EDT up reply actions
typo
nate has a reason to be too happy. several million reasons. i think he’s paid like a top 15 WR or something. but it’s not my money.
by redwingxviii on May 11, 2010 2:55 PM EDT up reply actions
99% of NFL players
Play with pride. Some of them just don’t have the talent, and a lot of them have been Lions recently.
i think this is incorrect
sometimes people forget that athletes are people too. sometimes they hate their job. sometimes they just go through the motions. granted, their motions are pretty freaking impressive (like 300 lbs guys running sprints, or lifting ridiculous amounts).
but it’s a job. they don’t want to go to work every day. they might not want to make the extra efforts. but if you see a guy busting his ass, you might want to bust your ass too. if you see a guy getting high before practice, you might get high before practice.
so i agree with you that the lions didn’t have a lot of talent, but i’d go further and say they didn’t get much out of the talent they had.
last case: do the wings draft better? or do they develop better? they haven’t had a high pick in 20 years. so either they are vastly superior at drafting, or they get the most out of their draft picks (or something inbetween)
by redwingxviii on May 11, 2010 2:59 PM EDT up reply actions
Right on
Having talent doesn’t mean you’re not lazy. I see it all the time in my workplace. Smart people making lots of money and too lazy to put the talent to good use. Athletes are no different. There are lots of players out there that don’t necessarily like the game that much. It’s always been a means for them to be and get everything… popular, rich, girls, etc. Now that they are in the NFL, they can’t get by on talent alone. The NFL is hard. You have to have both talent AND drive to succeed. This is why so many good, talented players fail so miserably… yes, I’m talking to you JaMarcus.
Well
Show me evidence that these guys don’t take make the extra effort and I’ll buy the argument. Until then, I’m not gonna get caught up in make-believe intangibles and assume guys who’ve been playing this game since they were 5 somehow don’t have the desire to succeed in the sport. Do you think Terrell Owens plays with pride? I sure as hell do. The guy played at a high level at an age when most receivers are out of the league. But because media types and fans don’t see him as their Tim Tebow-esque “leader” he’s perceived as someone who doesn’t play with pride. It’s all a bunch of crap.
I don't know why i keep calling him ryan
maybe i knew a ryan sims at some point. maybe it’s east coast bias.
by redwingxviii on May 11, 2010 2:54 PM EDT up reply actions
Well, there is a Ryan Sims....
but thankfully, he doesn’t play for the Lions! Former 1st Rd pick DT with KC that has a whopping 8 sacks in his 8 year career. I’ll take Rob…..
We do seem to have players here who want to play and win for the Lions
Especially the newcomers like Suh, Delmas, Williams etc..
"Zack Follett: he will hurt your mind." - Pride Leader, Sean Yuille, wielder of the Ban Hammer.
2010 Wests Tigers : Current record - 4-2 : Current Position - 7th : Last game - Defeated by Canterbury Bulldogs 24 - 4
Dominic Raiola-
This guy plays with pride and does his job snap after snap after snap. He’s a very good center and has been one of the most consistent players on the Lions. He’s a sore loser too, which make me like him even more.
by Kirt-LionFaninGR! on May 11, 2010 8:17 PM EDT reply actions
Different take
Asshole who basically said “F-you” to fans at a homegame by giving them the finger- the same fans who have been buying tickets throughout the Milen Era. Raiola, to me, has lots to prove. That was an incredibly douchey thing to do to loyal fans in a recession economy. So low class.
"Someday pray that he will grow a farm barn full, Recent research shows its not so darn harmful"
fair
enough Skylar. However he’s been one of the best players on a garbage roster for almost a decade. I am pretty sure he was even more frustrated than the fans. He’s the one grinding it out every year in traingin camp and watching every pick be a disaster. But, he needs to keep it classy.
I have a 9" personality
by Waitingfortheroar on May 13, 2010 3:32 PM EDT up reply actions
true
I think Raiola snapped like we all do from time to time. It wasn’t right to do that to the fans but I also seen it as sticking up for his teammates. He seen the fans treatment of his brothers as an attack..dosen’t make it right but theres more to it than dom just being a classless A-hole once in his life. He has been a great player for us overall though he was one of the very first players to get behind stafford as the QB basicly syaing this kid is special and he would do everything in his power to not let him end up like joey. I forgave Dom along time ago for that we all make mistakes its not like he physicly attacked a fan…Hell even Bud Adams gave the finger.
Louis Delmas is gonna lay the MAC down on your candyass
Follett and Suh IN YO FACE!!!
by The Profiler on May 13, 2010 3:39 PM EDT up reply actions
Agreed.
I think when you’re paid as well as these guys are, flipping the bird to your own fans is simply not an option. Don’t have a vendetta against him, I was just kind of appalled.
"Someday pray that he will grow a farm barn full, Recent research shows its not so darn harmful"
Screw Raiola, he is over rated to begin with, I don't know how you can mention this guy here at all.
I totally wish we drafted some bust instead of him I can’t stand him as a player or as a person. Yeah he will stick up for whoever can help him keep his job, that is about as far as his loyalty goes. Dom showed exactly what he is made of when he flipped the fans off. No matter what he thinks the fans have every right to bitch or say anything they want to anyone on an 0-16 and 2-14 team. Basically they are the boss, they pay for the players. Just goes to show how stupid he is for doing that to the fans. I bet he was not even classy enough to apologize or show any remorse whatsoever. Raiola would have been replaced long ago on a more talented roster, he is just an average player that had the benefit of looking good because everyone around him sucked so bad. All I know is that if I ever flipped my boss off I would have been fired. This guy shoudl be traded, cut whatever, please replace him I can’t stand him.
I almost always agree with you Evil
but have to disagree on this one. First, he isn’t a bum. Second, he flipped off a couple of hecklers that were calling staff an over-rated piece of shit…not ALL of the fans in general.
Kong of the Jungle----Best of the Beasts!!
Oh I think he works very hard, not a bum at all, I think he is an average C, maybe a little better than average.
But by no means an all star, and he is definitely a hot head. I am all right with him sticking around. I guess that was a bit harsh of me. I just get frustrated by him a lot and I get a bit tired of his temper costing the team.
-He's here
The fact that he has stayed with Detroit, despite the losing, show determination and heart. He got angry after a loss and flipped off some drunken idiots in the stands. Obviously not a great move, but it shows how this guy plays with some pride. If a few more guys on the team took things personally, we might see more rapid improvement out of this team.
by Kirt-LionFaninGR! on May 17, 2010 6:37 AM EDT up reply actions
Very good center my ass
He’s serviceable imo. The guy can’t get a push forward. I think we are one of the few teams that can’t do a QB sneak on the goalline due to the lack of push in the middle. I want him replaced but with all the other problem areas we have that can wait. He does care and he does his best but his best is average at best.
by Usmarine0341 on May 13, 2010 6:50 PM EDT up reply actions
HAHA are there any player on the team you
don’t hate? Because we have like 6 above average players stat wise. Dom does a quallity job. He isn’t Mawae but noone has been this decade. Plus the push on a dive or sneak is just as much a guard problem as a center problem.
I have a 9" personality
by Waitingfortheroar on May 13, 2010 8:49 PM EDT up reply actions
Time is running short on CJ
I know we still have him and can franchise him to keep him longer, but losing the way the lions lose will knaw at really special players. And CJ is a once in a life time type player. Lions need to crack 6 wins this year to show true improvement.
One of the Proudest
Jared Devies this guy is relentless one of the biggest hearts in the game and motors.
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