A year ago, the Lions were in the midst of an offseason in which they averaged an arrest a month, leading up to a season in which they were one of the NFL’s biggest disappointments. But one Lions player says he can already see a big difference.
Lions cornerback Chris Houston, who re-signed with the team this week, said the Lions had problems in the locker room a year ago, but those problems won’t be back with the team in 2013.
“I think we had a lot of distractions last year, on the offensive side of the ball, and like I said, there was so many free agents on the defensive side of the ball, and the chemistry wasn’t there,” Houston said. “But I think, upstairs, they’re doing a great job of getting guys in here who [are] about football, and good guys, mainly, in the locker room. Once you have that, and guys are on one accord, then it’s the sky’s the limit, and I don’t think that was the case last year.”
Houston didn’t say what the “distractions last year on the offensive side of the ball” were, but there’s not much doubt that he was talking about Titus Young, the receiver whose repeated misbehavior finally got him sent home for good late in the season. Houston also seemed to suggest that some of his teammates a year go were thinking more about their contracts than their assignments.
“One thing that I see with a lot of playoff teams, they’re more of a brotherhood,” Houston said. “I think, because of the free agents we had last year, there was so many that guys didn’t know where they was going to be, and the chemistry wasn’t there like it was the year before, when we went to the playoffs. I think, if we can get back to that chemistry where everybody’s on one accord on the defensive side of the ball, then it’ll be great things to come -- like we made the playoffs and had all those interceptions the year before.”
The events of the first few days of free agency ensure that the Lions will look a lot different in 2013 than they looked in 2012. Lions fans can only hope the results will look more like 2011.