“Lions Football” (or, Deciphering Marinelli)

By Os Davis  |   Monday, June 19, 2006  |  Comments( 2 )

Detroit Lions
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No one will ever confuse Coach Rod "Almighty" Marinelli with Yogi Berra, that's for sure. At a press conference held to close out last week's training camp activities, Marinelli tantalized tormented-yet-optimistic fans of the Detroit Lions with what sounded like hopeful positive stuff. "Sounded" is the key word here, for Marinelli expressed himself with some of the most creative usage of English this side of the President.

The first question from assembled journalists regarded the energized feeling the Detroit Lions offense is showing in spring workouts. Not exactly answering the question, Marinelli answered with "As I keep saying [to them], this is Lions football."

A quote worthy of bumper sticker material, and a phrase that already has the Motor City listening. We may not know exactly what it is, but clearly for the first time in ages the Lions are guided by a real purpose. And that purpose is Lions football.

"Each unit has the opportunity to impact Lion football," Marinelli continued, possibly meaning "impart" rather than "impact," but what the hey, Coach is a defensive guy. "And I think what the offense is doing right now and the energy [offensive coordinator Mike] Martz and the offensive staff - I mean the team can see it. I can see it. I mean, we have to do this, y'know?"

This writer would probably translate the above as expressing admiration for Martz; later Marinelli would go on to say that Martz is "even better than I thought he was." But the key in the above quote is probably the last line: "We have to do this." And this "this" is simply "produce an energetic and thus winning football team." Lions football.

Later, Marinelli was able to get succinct, stating the goal to be "taking more snaps at a higher level." Marinelli sees a lack of conditioning at the heart of Detroit's problems. "Conditioning allows you to think better." Conditioning, said the coach, allows a team to take over in the fourth quarter.

Wait a minute, what? A Detroit Lions coach is talking about taking over in the fourth quarter? Isn't the black-and-blue beat dogs supposed to be automatically facing a double-digit deficit in the fourth? Does Marinelli actually mean to be involved in close ones?

When asked about plans for practice, Marinelli interrupted with "First day we're in pads. Every practice we'll start in pads." The statement was emphatic enough to silence media representatives for a good couple of seconds, no small feat.

When asked a question regarding how quickly decisions regarding some positions - i.e. quarterback and offensive line - Marinelli came back with another succinct answer: "We're getting a pretty good feel with them, but the key is to get into the pads and put a little pressure. I think it's going to happen fairly quickly. You got the preseason - I can see us starting to go. The thing is that it can change, too," et cetera.

In English, then, at present, Marinelli is publicly addressing roster issues as though every player starts on an equal level. Privately the situation is certain to be different, but few would appear to have jobs locked up. Half the question from the journalist appeared to be more attempting to stir up a quarterback controversy; such efforts are probably futile, though, as Jon Kitna was announced as starter over Josh McCown shortly after the nearly in-tandem signings.

OT and franchise player Jeff Backus is certainly in a starting spot, making for the biggest news of the Detroit free-agent signing period. Marinelli insists that many positions on the depth chart here are up for grabs, good news for well regarded low draft picks fifth-rounder OT Jonathan Scott and OG Fred Matua.

"Four or five" roster changes will be made by camp, said the coach. "Something like that." The main point of shaking things up a bit, Marinelli explained, is that "I want to see who can respond under duress." Wait a second. Players performing under pressure? My god, this guy means to win. In Detroit.

As for team rules while the squad approaches the regular season, Marinelli spoke of his golden rule: the "Do Right" Principle. Simply put (good thing some things were) the principle states that "Men know right from wrong" on the field and off. By the time Marinelli nearly completing answering the question, he'd switched his explanation to example, using an unknown "he" as subject, explained that Marinelli had talked things out with "him" and "he understands." This is only a guess, but I think reported discipline problem, first-rounder Ernie Sims felt his ears burning.

Less than six weeks before training camp, runs the whisper on the winds. Perhaps then we'll get a glimpse of this magic called "Lions football." Until then, don't expect anything straight out of Marinelli. Lions Football: Detroit can hardly wait.

Check out Realfootball365.com for more on Coach Marinelli's Detroit Lions.
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
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