Marinelli believes Lions finally fit his mold

by Tom Kowalski
Friday May 23, 2008, 12:50 AM

AP Photo
Lions coach Rod Marinelli says Detroit has greater team speed than it did when he took over two years ago.ALLEN PARK -- It took two years to complete the task, but Detroit Lions coach Rod Marinelli finally cleaned out the locker room of players he thought had a poor influence on his team.

After wrapping up their three-day mandatory minicamp on Thursday, Marinelli said he already is seeing signs of an improving attitude. The Lions have been in offseason workouts since March 17 and have also had one week of Organized Team Activities.

"What I see as much as anything is the day-to-day consistency," Marinelli said. "They come out and they go. I'll get on them, but it's more of a mental thing here or a detail thing. But, boy, the energy, day in and day out, they see what I want and how fast we need to play."


Marinelli felt some players didn't want to make the physical or mental commitment to what he wanted to do both offensively and defensively. As a result, Marinelli either traded the player, as in the case of Shaun Rogers, or didn't re-sign them, as in the case of Damien Woody.

It wasn't just addition by subtraction, though, because Marinelli brought in several players this offseason who fit the mold he is looking for. Players like cornerback Brian Kelly, defensive tackle Chuck Darby and safeties Dwight Smith and Kalvin Pearson have all played in the highly disciplined Tampa Two defensive system.

While the defense should be better versed in executing the scheme, the Lions have scaled back on the offensive playbook.

"The more we can simplify as a staff, the more it allows them to do and they go fast. Players like to go fast and they want it on their shoulders to go out and win a game with execution," said Marinelli, who believes the team has greater speed than it did when he took over two years ago.

"I think every year we're getting a little faster," he said. "I felt last year we made strides but it's also 'Do you want to you use your speed?' Speed only lasts as long as your conditioning is there. You can be fast but, without conditioning, you lose your speed in the fourth quarter. Part of that is physical conditioning, but it's also mental conditioning. It's being mentally strong.

"It's not just speed, it's your quickness, it's your balance and redirection. It's quickness more than any one thing I want -- and playing fast all the time. You can see it in our secondary -- we're fast. We've got some good ball skills, we're tall and lean. The secondary is very rangy and they cover a lot of territory. What helps is that we brought some guys in who played in this system and they understand it."

Marinelli believes he finally has got the type of team he wants in terms of attitude and personality.

"They're a bunch of guys who are just tight, I just feel it," said Marinelli, adding that the true test won't come until they hit a rocky road in the regular season. "When that really gets tested is when we hit adversity. When adversity hits, then we'll see how strong we are. I believe in my heart, we are."

The three-day minicamp also was the first time Marinelli got a chance to see his rookie draft picks line up next to the veterans. Marinelli said all the young players showed some talent, but he's not going to overboard.

"I want to emphasize that this is a teaching camp," he said. "You can get too excited about somebody in shorts and you've got to be careful because then the pads come on and it's 'Oh, man.' Or, you might be unexcited about somebody and the pads come on and you're 'Wow, this guy is pretty good.' I talk to the staff all time to make sure we're just teaching and getting all the things we want."

That goes for the two-year assembly of a roster, as well.







I think we have really improved our team all around. To have some depth, youth and talent is something we havent had in a long time. We did lose Rogers on the d-line but when you only play 15 plays per game at full speed and dont play the last 8 games of the year i guess we didnt lose that much. It will be interesting to see how 5-0 does this year. I am excited to see Kevin Smith on 1rst and 2nd downs, Tatum on 3rd downs with Felton getting the nod on short yardage downs. Now the big increase this year will be in the progress with Calvin "megatron" Johnson. I think he is going to have a huge year. The biggest thing I have seen with Marinelli is he demands all his players to go all out on every play. We have had players with talent for years but never had the heart to go after it. I will take a guy with alot less talent willing to run at a brick wall, get knocked down and then run as hard as he can at it again just to try to knock it down over a lazy talented guy who thinks it should just come to him without trying.