Questions that must be answered

This is year 3 of the Mariucci regime, and year 5 of the Millen experiment. While others have been more than eager to criticize Matt Millen for his bluster and early poor personnel decisions, I was very willing to give him the full 5 years to see what he could do. When he first arrived, the Lions were an aging team that had survived the 90's by having 3 stars at key talent positions (Porcher, Herman, and Barry) as well as Mr. Automatic, Jason Hanson.

He announced that the team would need to get younger and faster, immediately cutting ties with several key veterans, players who had helped keep the team competitive, but were clearly not part of their future. That is, Millen hastened the demise of the team much as one might implode a building before it became (a) an eyesore and (b) a hazard to the neighborhood. Unfortunately, early free-agent personnel miscues, an inexperienced coaching staff, and bad luck conspired to keep the construction project from taking off, leaving the remnants of a building that had been imploded without appearing to have (a) a plan, (b) a real estate developer, and (c) reputable contractors to see the project through. The result, in years 1 amd 2, was very poor performance from the team.

In the last 2 years, the accumulation of talent from the draft, development of the young players from years 1 and 2, as well as key free agent signings, all seemed to come together under the watchful eye of a respected coach, leading to expectations that this team was on the rise. However, the construction project hit another hiccup last year, as the team seemed uninspired, the offense didn't develop as expected, the team did not win some winnable games, and certainly wasn't ready to win games against the big dogs, leading to a somewhat disappointing, albeit not surprising 6-10 record.

Which leads us to this year. Year 5 of the construction project. The year when we get to ultimately measure whether the 4 years of growing pains were worth it. This is the year when we truly get to judge whether Matt Millen had the right vision --to completely take apart a competitive team before it became an eysore, in order to build a championship-caliber team. Now the team doesn't have to be championship-caliber this year, but considering the level of talent, depth, and youth on this team, a 10-6 or better season will be a sign of how things will be over the next 3-5 years.

So what do I need to see this year to be convinced that these Lions will be an elite team for the next 5 years? With the most talented bunch of players we've seen in years, and Millen's concerted effort to draft players from winning programs, I need to see whether this team will finally adopt a killer mentality: Will they win ALL the games they are supposed to and a few they aren't? That is, will they go out and grab victories, rather than waiting for victory to fall into their hands? Because we know teams who passively wait, come up short. Not only for a game, or a season, but for an era as well.

What do I need to see statistically?

Offense:
Joey: Nothing less than 3400 yards, 25+ TDs, 13 (or less) INTs

Kevin Jones: 1150 yards, 7+ rushing TDs

Charles & Roy: 1800+ combined yards receiving, 15+ TD catches

Mike Williams: 500+ yards, 5 TDs

Kevin Johnson, Marcus Pollard: key veteran leadership, big time 3rd down catches

Defense:

next week