Lions Overcoming Obstacles Game By Game, Giving Fans Reasons For Hope
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
CBS DETROIT - Detroit Lions fans can be forgiven for clinging to their skepticism even as their injury-ravaged team enters its bye week with a record of 6-2 following back-to-back comeback wins.
Lions fans have been hopeful and then hurt before, so darned if they will let this 2014 team into their pain-hardened hearts prematurely.
After all, eight regular season games remain, and only last year Detroit stumbled to a record of 7-9 after starting the season with a record of 6-3.
Not all Lions lovers take a cautious approach to their fandom, but many find it safer to remain aloof as long as possible, lest they be let down yet again.
This year's Detroit team has made such skepticism hard - if not impossible - to maintain.
When Jim Caldwell came to the Lions as their new head coach, he said he would not truly know the players until he saw how they responded to adversity. The Lions overcame a 21-point deficit Sunday despite injuries, mistakes and missed opportunities, and Caldwell liked what he saw.
"They don't quit," Caldwell said after the Lions defeated the Atlanta Falcons, 22-21, in London. "They're not deterred. They play with poise. Down the stretch, the pressure doesn't bother them, and they find a way to make plays. They hang together so well. That's the thing that's unique about these guys. You see those guys kind of bind together, the way they talk to one another on the sideline, encouraging one another. It's a pretty special unit. Pretty special guys."
The Lions had entered the game without star wide receiver Calvin Johnson, without their starting right tackle LaAdrian Waddle, without running back Reggie Bush and without tight ends Brandon Pettigrew, Joe Fauria and Eric Ebron.
They were also missing defensive tackle C.J. Mosley, whom the Lions suspended and sent home Saturday for conduct detrimental to the team. During the game Detroit lost another defensive tackle, Nick Fairley, to injury.
Detroit trailed the Falcons by three touchdowns at the half.
"Man, I was not happy at halftime," quarterback Matthew Stafford said. "Nobody wanted to sit around me. I just knew we were doing it to ourselves, and that's a frustrating feeling. It's not as frustrating as playing good and some things aren't going your way, as far as doing things and playing great, whatever it is, we were doing it to ourselves. That's hard to take and it's frustrating.
"But I knew that we had to find a way," Stafford continued. "There were so many missed opportunities. Even in the second half I threw that slant at [wide receiver] Golden [Tate] that I missed and I thought that was it. You can't miss an opportunity like that. It was a great check and a great route, and that was the worst throw I ever had, I feel like. And I was sitting there, thinking how bad that was going to eat me alive on bye week if we didn't win that game."
Remarkably, the Lions climbed all the way back, and kicker Matt Prater missed from 43 yards with seconds remaining only to get another chance because of a delay-of-game penalty. Prater made the kick, Detroit won the game, and the Lions have a record of 6-2 midway through the season.
"One thing that I'm finding out is that this team has a lot of heart, and it's incredible to see and it's incredible to be around," Tate said. "I think it motivates us to play even harder for each other. This organization, I think we have all the pieces. I'm talking about from top to bottom, from the scouting department, to the media guys, to the people in the cafeteria, coaching staff, the players, obviously. We have it. We're extremely excited to get back on the field and we're getting some of our key players like Calvin and hopefully Reggie and Joe back, so we're excited for the second half of the season."
The Lions are 3-0 without Johnson this season. Last year, with many of the same players, the Lions were 0-2 in games Johnson missed. Sunday's win over the Falcons was the second straight comeback victory for Detroit, who rallied from a deficit of 23-10 against the New Orleans Saints last week.
"It's huge," defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh said. "We understand that as a team we got to trust in each other and continue to do that, and then it paid dividends for us. It's something special. I'm very excited to be a part of this team. Understanding what we have done in the past, we put ourselves in tough situations, but if you watch our psyche and you watch from the sidelines, no long faces, nothing of that sort."
The Lions have faced numerous challenging situations this seasons, from several season-ending injuries - cornerbacks Bill Bentley and Nevin Lawson, linebacker Stephen Tulloch and right tackle Corey Hilliard among them - to an inability to make field goals early in the season.
Despite all that, the Lions have won all their games except two. Both losses included at least two missed field goals. The high-powered offense so many expected has yet to materialize, and yet Stafford and the rest of the group have managed to do enough.
"We keep finding ways," Tate said. "We don't think the game goes perfect because in a perfect world we would score 21 in the first and 21 in the second half. That's certainly not the way it's going to happen each and every week."
It might be scary for Lions fans to hope, given how they have been burned for such faith in the past, but after a remarkably solid first half of the season, Detroit is giving plenty of reasons for optimism.