| 27 August 2009
New Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham is here to chew bubble gum and kick ass...and he's all out of bubble gum.
Cunningham wants his defense to to remember that no bastard ever won a game by dying for his team. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his team.
Cunningham is telling his defense to put that coffee down! Coffee's for closers and tacklers only!
Good, bad, Cunningham's the guy with the gun.
Cunningham wants to know what is his defense's major malfunction.
Cunningham thinks milk was a bad choice...and so was taking over Detroit's league worst defense.
Cunningham believes the Lions' defense is but two things right now: Jack and shit...and Jack left town.
Cunningham swears to God he's going to pistol whip the next guy who misses a tackle.
As they say, the truth shall make you free, but first it shall make you angry. After 2 exhibition games have allowed him to see the truth about the Lions' shaky, porous, tackling allergic defense, Cunningham is free to become damn angry!
Candid shot of Cunningham voicing his displeasure in team meetings...
Per Nick Cotsonika at the Freep:
Lions defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham drove home his message over and over again.
He screamed it to the players in loud and colorful language during meetings. He expressed it to reporters more calmly Wednesday. But even then, as he repeated it several times, his blood started to boil.
"I'm flat (ticked) off, if you want to know the truth," Cunningham said.
His message is simple.
"If you can't tackle, you can't play defense," Cunningham said, "and you definitely are not going to play here on defense."
"All I know is, you've got to get mad. You've got to say,
"I'm a good tackler, Goddamn it. My play has value!"
I doubt Cunningham used the word ticked. I'm guessing it's something much more colorful, and not fit for virgin ears.
Tackling, or should I say, the lack thereof, has been a huge issue for years. So I'm thrilled Gunther Cunningham is calling out his defense for their disturbing habit of whiffing on their tackles. Threatening them, in so many words, with Bobby Ross' proverbial bus tickets out of town is a nice touch.
But it won't mean a damn thing if Cunningham doesn't follow through with his threat to kick butt and take names. Even better, he should lower the hammer on some under performing veterans. //cough cough//Chuck Darby//cough cough//
Making what were nothing more than empty threats is one of the things that ultimately undermined Ross, leading him to go insane and walk away from what was then a team with a winning record. The General talked tough, but refused (Or wasn't allowed by William Clay Ford) to take action. I'd hate to see history, as it always seems to do in Detroit, repeat itself. The Lions organization, from Ford on down, must back up Cunningham and his "tacklers only" defensive manifesto.
Unfortunately, I'll have to actually see it, to believe it. I've heard this same BS slung over and over when it comes to the Lions. There's always something keeping the Lions from making needed changes. Be it cap issues, the inability to draft well and develop depth, or just plain incompetence, this franchise rarely follows through on its threats.
Does anyone seriously think Cunningham will be allowed to make wholesale defensive changes, badly needed as they may be?
Me neither.
Cotsonika echoes my thoughts later in the article:
At the end of the day, there is only so much Cunningham can do, too. He said he would go to coach Jim Schwartz and general manager Martin Mayhew about players who could not get the job done.
But the Lions can't cut everybody, and where are they going to get better players at this time of year? For the most part, they have make the best out of what they have.
In the end, the Lions will just have to make do with a defense full of arm tacklers lacking in both effort and technique.
Color me...not surprised.
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