FanPost

The Culture Change


I haven't posted in a while, but some of you "old timers" may remember me. I have been a lifelong Lions fan and, obviously, I always will be that. No matter what, I am a Lions fan, through thick and thin. I know echo your thoughts as well (or at least I hope so), but I have felt compelled to get something off of my chest.

Martin Mayhew and Jim Schwartz have been spot on in turning around what was a losing culture in Detroit in a SMALL amount of time. I realize there will be bumps along the way and nothing is perfect. However, with the rookie class of 2011, I am FAR from impressed with our choices. Talent is great to have and I love the approach that the Lions take in drafting players. Along with this concept, though, the team needs to adopt a very strict policy when it comes to off-the-field incidents. This may seem obvious, but this turn-around process is still very fragile. Nothing is given to us, and it never ever will be.

Nick Fairley was a problem child in college, infinitely talented as he was during his time at Auburn. Living in Champaign, I can tell you first-hand how popular and how much of an impact Mikel Leshoure was on the field for the Fighting Illini, but he had an issue here as well with the police. Though Burleson played the incident down, Titus Young needs to keep his cool and not be making news with internal conflict, especially with veteran leadership like Delmas.

With the culture change that Detroit is currently successfully implementing, the only major problems are coming directly from the guys who have contributed the LEAST. Fairley still needs to show why he was a first-rounder, and getting arrested twice and acting like you own the world isn't the way to prove to a franchise that you are the guy that belongs next to Suh. Now, neither player is likely to be playing for us through the first quarter of the season. Unbelievable.

Leshoure has done absolutely nothing yet. Yes, he was injured last year and that is unfortunate. It's part of football, though. This is all the more reason for him to be staying out of trouble entirely. I wasn't really impressed with his retort for what he had learned from everything either.

All and all, Schwartz and Mayhew need to put an end to this quickly by setting examples. We went 10-6 WITHOUT the help of Fairley and Leshoure for the most part last year. We can do it again. I see no reason to be tolerating this kind of thing within our locker room. At all.

Aren't we tired of being embarrassed?

[NOTE: I WANT Leshoure and Fairley to be with us. I just care about the future of this franchise more.]

Thanks for reading.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pride Of Detroit or its writers.