We’re still waiting for a player or a coach to declare that his team is going to suck in the coming season.
While we wait, Lions linebacker Stephen Tulloch has become the latest player to pronounce that his team is going to be good.
“This team is a playoff team,” Tulloch said Monday, via Gillian Van Stratt of MLive.com. “You guys come out here every day, you see what’s going on. We just got to put it together.”
Tulloch thinks the Lions have engaged in a little addition by subtraction, thanks to the dumping of certain members of the organization.
“We got rid of some players that were kind of dragging us down and we got players here that want to win and understands what it takes to win,” Tulloch said. “Bringing guys in like Glover Quinn, who’s been to playoff games. Bringing a guy in like Reggie Bush, who’s been to playoff games. Guys who are experienced with veteran leadership will help us grow as a team and will definitely pay dividends in the long run.”
As to those who were dragging Detroit down, Tulloch didn’t name names. The Lions have parted ways with players like Titus Young, Gosder Cherilus, Cliff Avril, and Justin Durant since last year’s 4-12 campaign ended.
Regardless of who was or wasn’t committed to winning in 2012, Tulloch may be right. The Lions have a franchise quarterback, one of the very best receivers in the game, a solid tight end in Brandon Pettigrew, and Reggie Bush should help provide a dynamic the Lions have lacked since Jahvid Best suffered the concussion that ended his career in Detroit.
The Lions were 5-0 in 2011 with Best playing. In the next game, Best absorbed another concussion. Since then, the Lions are 9-19.
They could win more than nine games in 2013 with Bush joining a team that seems on paper to be more like the 2011 edition than the disappointment of 2012.
So, yes, Tulloch may be right. Meanwhile we’ll keep waiting for the player or coach to admit that 2013 is destined to be a long, miserable year.