Lions Ready To Walk The Walk
ALLEN PARK, Mich. - Coach Jim Schwartz hates to use the word swagger, but he couldn't come up with a better way to describe the feeling his team has coming into Week 3.
"We have some good players, and we don't need to just sneak out onto the field and sneak away," he said. "They're good players. We can embrace that. But we're worried about winning football games and doing what we can. When you have good players they're going to get attention. When you win football games, you're going to get attention. And that's what we've done these first two weeks."
And in the next breath he will repeat the mantra of the week ??? "But it's only two games, we have a lot of work to do."
The Lions are swimming in uncharted water right now. There are still 10 players left on the roster from the 0-16 season. The team hasn't started 2-0 since 2007 and hasn't been 3-0 since 1980.
So there is an odd but exhilarating mix of emotions swirling around the practice facility.
"We put in so much work and now we're starting to see the fruits of our labor," wide receiver Nate Burleson said. "Now you can start to see the swagger come out in this team. ??? You're just starting to see us actually figure it out a little bit."
The swagger is tempered by the memory of the ugly past.
"We don't take anything for granted," defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch said. "We know where we're at and we know where this team and this organization has come from. It's not like we're coming off a Super Bowl or we're a perennial playoff team. We have to earn it every week."
The Lions have had a specially-designed touchdown dance for every victim this season. The dances were team choreographed but executed by tight end Tony Scheffler. Against the Bucs, he did a swashbuckling pirate. Against the Chiefs, he pantomimed making native American smoke signals.
This week, they travel to Minnesota, where they haven't won since 1997 ??? a fact that Vikings mascot Ragnar never tires of reminding them of with his Old Norse horn.
"I might bring my own horn," said Burleson. "That might be a celebration I need to do."
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