The Lions are a young team, yet bring back many of last year's starters and key contributors. These players form the nucleus of the first Lions' playoff team in ... I am glad we ended the streak!

The Front Office has challenging task ahead with continued salary cap issues, yet they've shown a consistent effort to retain/sign good players even if it takes some creative solutions. There's a vision, a direction and a steady hand rather than so many of the impulsive moves the Lions seemed to continually make in the past.

While I follow along this offseason's questions and concerns
there's some valuable ideas expressed in two recent quotes.

more if you want-

These quotes from the last few days have me optimistic:

Cherilus on the o line "We've been together for a while now,.....We speak each other's language and kind of understand what we want to do as a group and I felt like for the most part this year we did that. I think next year will be even better."

Lewand on last year's success "Well, you know what, it wasn't a great year. It was okay. It was a step in the right direction, but we've got a lot of work ahead of us and our goals are out there to be achieved and that goal ultimately is Super Bowl championships -- not just one, but many."

I like the continuity of the Lions roster- as the roster improved, the play improved. I felt a little sad as we lost some of the guys who contributed to the strong 4 game win streak as I was attached to them. I'll feel a little sad to say goodbye to any losses from last year's playoff team. At least with this FO, I have faith the lost players will be replaced with more talent.

I thought the O line played better last year, than the year before so I like Godsler's quote. I hope he's right. I think the premise of his quote is correct. The best o lines have experience together. The Lions will draft more talent- so some young players will keep pushing, and let the competition make each one better...regardless of position.

As for Lewand's quote- it does sound pretty lofty given the Lions lack of success. I like it though, because it reminds me, there's a long term plan in place. For those worried about Cliff, and the other big contracts - this quote shows that they want to win now, but also want to win into the future. They're not building for the short term. I don't think their direction will cripple the franchise.

Go Lions!