In my estimation, at least on paper, the Lions have improved.  So much so, the have they capability to win eight games in 2009.  More than likely, it will be in the five to seven win range.  I haven't really looked at the schedule and I am sure there will be those that will ask just which games the Lions will win.

If I knew that, don't you think I'd be on the first plane to Vegas and betting my life savings?

What will be key?  How the players will buy into Jim Schwartz's coaching strategies, something that never occurred under Rod Marinelli.

Also, Schwartz, Cunningham and Linehan all have a "go get em" philosophy when it comes to defense and offense.  I am thankful the Cover-2 defense is a thing of the past since all it was a prevent style of defense...and we all know that type a defense prevents you from winning.

Brandon Pettigrew will be the key to this year's offense.  Yes, Calvin Johnson will be the star and Kevin Smith will be the workhorse, but as the year progresses, you'll hear Pettigrew's name on key blocks, critical third down pass receptions and touchdowns when the Lions are in the red zone.  At 6-5 with both great blocking ability and great hands, he will be like money in the bank.

Defense surprise of they year?  The focus of the defense will be the linebackers.  Sims, Peterson and Foote will be formidable.  However, the one player that will make the biggest impact is going to be safety Louis Delmas.  Granted, at 5-11 and 203 pounds he may be undersized but he has great closing speed, excellent coverage skills and a big hitter.

Lions have a great opportunity this season to begin rising from the ashes and become a contender in three to five years.

Perhaps the biggest change for the team is the fun they are having.  Ken Griffey Jr., who is now the "old man" of the team, is just as loose as he has always been and has become the vocal leader that the team has desperately needed for the last few years.

The pitching on the Mariners is still suspect but each pitcher is battling. Even the beleaguered Carlos Silva is pushing forward with great effort. They are lacking a legitimate closer and this problem will be the one area they will concentrate on this year and will definitely be a main concern before the 2010 season.

The Mariners are a young team who is buying into new manager Don Wakamatsu's philosophy of getting back to the fundamentals of the game by playing solid defense and creating runs rather than hoping for three run homers.

They will continue to make some noise but I suspect GM Jack Zduriencik will find the players to contend in 2010. Bringing Russell Branyan in was perhaps the second best move the Mariners made, the first being bringing Griffey back.

Seattle is a good team that will only get better. If injuries can be avoided and the right players brought in, especially a legitimate closer, they could be playing in the World Series in 2011.

But what can the Lions expect from their fans?

Everyone knows rooting for the Detroit Lions is about as much fun as having a wisdom tooth pulled.  Despite that kind of pain, fans keep coming back year after year.

Attendance fluctuates depending on how "well" the Lions are doing.  And "well" is a relative term when it comes to the Lions.

Last year, for the first time in many years, the Lions actually had at least four home games blacked out.  There was even concern the traditional Thanksgiving Day game would be blacked out.  If not for the NFL extending the 72-hour rule and some businesses buying tickets, it would have.

That alone sent a strong message to the incompetent owner, William Clay Ford, Sr.  The fans that did show up for Thanksgiving and the rest of the games were screaming for improvement and rightfully so.  Even an optimist such as myself found little good from an 0-16 team.  If not for Calvin Johnson and Kevin Smith, there would have been nothing at all to cheer for.

So now we look at a new year.  New coaching staff, new front office management, and a slew of new players, including Matt Stafford, Brandon Pettigrew, and Larry Foote.

Instead of looking at the Lions with trepidation, as I am sure many of us have each new season, I am choosing to look at this with a more optimistic view. 

Without blowing sunshine up anyone's skirt, I am not looking for the Lions to get to the playoffs in 2009.  While it may not be impossible, it would be highly improbable.  Instead, I look for them to achieve .500. 

Instead of doing the next thing right, I want them to do the next right thing.  It's a subtle difference but an important one.

What would be the next right thing?  Continue to build this team into a contender.  Not as a flash in the pan but think more long term.  Put young players in positions to succeed and not get buried or over matched.  Be patient!

What would be the next thing right?  Rush players into starting before they are ready.  While the initial results may encourage a lot of people, it may not be the right thing to do.  Fans may scream and yell for second stringers, but NFL teams rarely win when they start listening to fans. 

I'm sure to a player, a coach, and even a GM, they want the fans to come out and support them.  We fans have spoken loud and clear that we are tired of being the doormat to the rest of the NFL. 

Detroit Lions, if you want the fans to support, start improving.  Start winning.  Start playing and coaching smarter.  Start tackling better, start running the ball better, and please, for the love of Jason Hansen's right leg, start doing better in the red zone!

Start rushing the QB better.  Start by having the secondary intercept more than one freaking pass all year. 

I think if the Lions start improving in all of these areas, fans will come back and cheer.

But when the Lions have done that in the past, they quit improving.  Imagine if two years after drafting Barry Sanders, the Lions drafted a tight-end the caliber of Brandon Pettigrew?  They would have at least made a Super Bowl appearance in the '90s.

It's a two-way street Mr. Ford.  Far too long have you taken our hard-earned money and support and given really nothing in return.

Time to pay the Piper Mr. Ford...with interest!

On paper, it does look as though the Lions improved themselves. 

From the draft, they obtained players that did address areas of need. Though questionable at the time, taking tight end Brandon Pettigrew with the 20th pick may turn out to be the biggest impact from this draft class. At the very least, he will be the one player from this draft to gain immediate results.

Safety Louis Delmas should also have an immediate impact. As a unit, the Lions secondary was decimated most of the year. 

Part of that was due to an ineffective pass rush but most of it was due to a lack of talent, an issue prevalent throughout the Lions roster. With the additions of Delmas as well as CB's Anthony Henry, Phillip Buchanon and Ramzee Robinson, it's fairly certain the secondary will improve greatly over last year's squad.

But really, what can we expect from the 2009 Detroit Lions? As everyone and their brother knows, they were an 0-16 team last year. However, as bleak as the season was last year, the team made some significant moves, first and foremost, the removal of the most incompetent general manager ever to grace the earth, Matt Millen.

However, we still had the "talent" he drafted and signed to watch on the field.  There was little that could be done at the time. The Lions had little choice to go through that dismal season and did as much as they could to posistion themselves for yet another rebuilding year.

WR Roy Williams was traded to the Dallas Cowboys for multiple draft picks.

QB Jon Kitna and WR Mike Furrey were pretty much shelved by being placed on the IR.  Furrey was released and Kitna traded to Dallas for CB Anthony Henry.

QB Dante Culpepper was signed to replace him and despite the team showing signs of life behind Dan Orlovysky, his injury forced the Lions to start Culpepper who had played little in 2007 and not at all in 2008 until signing with the Lions. 

From his performance, it was evident just how out of football shape Culpepper was.  But I challenge anyone to attempt what he did.  He did the best he could with what he had.

Season over, 0-16. The Lions are on record as having the worst season ever in the history of the NFL.

On to 2009. A new coaching staff of head coach Jim Schwartz, offensive coordinator Scott Linehan and defesnive coordinator Gunther Cunningham. This trio is perhaps the deepest coaching staff the Lions have ever put together. 

Linehan's attacking style of offense puts a lot of pressure on defenses. His offenses have put up some big numbers such as Culpepper putting up 4,000 yard seasons while in Minnesota and while has head coach with the Rams, QB Marc Bulger having perhaps one of his best seasons. 

Running backs and wide receivers consistently have 1,000 seasons. He runs the ball very well and he uses his weapons equally as well. He is very good at attacking defenses.

With the hiring of defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham, we can all rejoice in the end of the Tampa 2 defense. Cunningham makes it very clear that his defenses "goes after people." 

The defense will be much more aggressive and expect the Lions to put more pressure on the quarterback then they have in the past. His idea of an ideal defense is to be explosive, disruptive, aggressive and go after people.

As for head coach Jim Schwartz, he looks for two things from a defense: stopping the rush and getting a lot of three and outs by opposing offenses. He wants the Lions to be big and strong, build them to play important games in cold weather and be able to stop the run. 

However, look to the Lions to have a multi-dimensional looks. They will do what it takes to win that week. No defense in the NFL can play one style and expect it to work week in and week out. He wants opposing teams to "play left-handed", a tactic he learned from Bill Belichick. 

What that means is if the opposing team is a good run team, force them to pass.  If they pass well, force them to run. Make other teams beat you with their weakest component.

If you can stop opposing team's strengths, it's a good bet you can win the majority of the time.

I'd like to see the Lions get to an 8-8 season in 2009. But I suspect that expectation is a little high.  But I believe in setting the bar a little higher than what's comfortable. It forces one to stretch a little more, try just a little harder to get there. 

As with anything, obstacles will always be in the way and the Lions have to battle a long and sad past as well as opposing teams.

But regardless of how each person feels, the one thing all need to recognize is this;  the Lions upper management and coaching staff has a plan.  And so far, they have been sticking to their guns.

Tom Lewand, he of the famed "F$*k em until next year" memo, and Martin Mayhew have made it known they wish to rebuild the team via the draft.  It's a practice recognized around the NFL and it does seem to work.  Just take a look at the Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Ravens, and Miami Dolphins of last year, all of whom built their teams via the draft and saw immediate results.

Both the Falcons and the Ravens started first year quarterbacks, Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco.  Both brought their teams to the playoffs and if nothing major happens injury-wise, to the team or quarterbacks, they will be perennial playoff teams over the next five to seven years.  Atlanta made a great move in getting All-World Tight End Tony Gonzalez which is going to make Matt Ryan an even better quarterback.

But something seemed to have gotten lost in translation from last year.  In the coming weeks of the draft, a lot of talk has been going around the success of the Falcons and the Ravens.  But little has been said about teams that went the other way, using veteran quarterbacks to guide a younger team.  I am speaking of the Super Bowl runner-up Arizona Cardinals with Kurt Warner and Tennessee Titans with Kerry Collins.

Now before anyone gets an idea that this article is going to be about a man-crush on Dante Culpepper, you're wrong.  I am not a fan of Culpepper but I have to recognize his accomplishments of 2003 and 2004.  A lot of people were upset we traded away Jon Kitna since it was felt he was the best chance for the Lions to win while a new QB was waiting in the wings.

Let's compare Culpepper's two best years with the Vikings and Kitna's two years with the Lions as the starter:

Culpepper, 2003 & 2004:  8,196 yards 64 TD's 22 INT's  83 sacks  103.65 QB rating.

Kitna, 2006 & 2007:  8,276 yards 39 TD's 42 INT's 114 sacks  80.4 QB rating

Both threw for over 8,000 yards.  But Culpepper beat's Kitna in just about every other category.  The only one that concerns me is Culpepper's sack total which I feel is largely due to mobility issues.  Kitna's sack total was largely due to an offensive line that could not pass protect.

All I am saying here is that Culpepper, who reported to camp in the best shape he's been in for a long time, could be a serviceable QB.  Over his career, he has a far better TD to INT ratio than Kitna, 146/100 to 152/151 respectively.

No, Culpepper isn't going to lead the Lions to the Super Bowl, that is highly improbable.  But what he does give the Lions is time.  I have stated in many articles the Lions are going to be taking Matt Stafford in this year's draft.  It's not the smartest choice they are making since the defense needs so much more help than the offense.  But they are going to take Stafford and make him the cornerstone of the Lions.  Not just the offense but he is going to be their Peyton, their Eli, their Brett, their Elway.

The Lions may surprise a lot of people this year.  And one draft pick does not a playoff team make.  This draft is not about the number one pick for the Lions.  It's going to be the 20th, 33rd, 65th, 82nd, 174th, and 255th picks.  The lower picks are where great teams find players they can build on right away.  So if and when Stafford is going to be ready to lead the Lions, he will at least have a fighting chance with those players having at least two years experience under their belts.  In a perfect draft (if there is such a thing), these players won't wash out.  But there are going to be holes to fill every year. 

The Lions need to get to a point where they are filling only pot holes, not chasms the size of the Grand Canyon.

Will it be the consensus choice among NFL draft predictors in Matt Stafford? 

He does have a strong arm—and of course, the eerie connection to Bobby Layne.

Both he and Layne attend the same high school, Higland Park, in Dallas. Perhaps taking Stafford will break the 50-year curse Layne put on the Lions when he was traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1958.

Or could the Lions draft the fans; popular choice in LB Aaron Curry? He would be the best pick for a defense that has ranked no higher than 20th over the past six years, including the last two years ranked dead last. 

Or will they decide to bolster the offensive line by drafting OT Jason Smith? Or the defensive line by drafting, in a surprise move, DT B.J. Raji?

Despite what my main protagonist C DeGetmon feels about my opinions, writing style, and me being a Mayhew plant, I am not a seer that can predict the future. In fact, it would be safe to say that no NFL draft predictor knows what is going to happen.

What I would like to see is a different story.  Here are the players I would like the Lions to draft: (If anyone has read my last article, please don't be confused. The mock in the Cutler to Bears article is based on a gut feeling that Stafford is the No. 1 pick. This mock is the direction I would like the Lions to take.)

First Round

1. Aaron Curry, MLB, Wake Forest 

With Ernie Sims on one side and Julian Peterson on the other, Curry would make this trio potentially one of the best in football. Get some defensive line help, and the Lions can do way better against the run and get some pressure on the opposing QB.

20. Duke Robinson, OG, Oklahoma

If Jeff Backus is going to stay at left tackle, then he and the rest of the line needs a lot of help. And what would be better than a 6'5", 329-lb. left guard that was part of the best offense in Oklahoma history. 

He would be good at opening holes in the middle for Kevin Smith, and has the tools for pass protection.

Second Round

33. Connor Barwin, DE, Cincinnati

He may be better suited as a rushing linebacker but I think he could do well with the Lions.  At 6'4" and 256 lbs., he would have the speed and quickness to get around most tackles in the league. And with a 41.5" vertical leap, he could knock down a lot of passes. 

Last year, he finished with 15 tackles for loss, 11 sacks, broke up seven passes and blocked three kicks in 14 games. If this kind of production can translate to the NFL, he can be a game changer.

Third Round

65. Ramses Barden, WR, Cal-Poly-SLO

Yeah, I know, the Lions have signed Ronald Curry and Bryant Johnson, both of whom should be OK in between the 20s. However, the Lions have been miserable in the red zone for who knows how long. 

Imagine defenses coming up to the line and seeing two 6'5" receivers (Calvin Johnson and Barden) line up.  Who would you double-team? 

Barden helped himself a lot by running a 4.4 40 in his Pro Day. In his last year, he produced 67 catches for 1,257 yards and 18 touchdowns.

82.  Lawrence Sidbury, DE, Richmond

A player that should be able to play in any defensive scheme. Last year, he had 14.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks. 

I'll stop here since these first five picks are going to be the most important for the Lions to get right.

While no draft is going to get the Lions into the playoffs this year, I believe taking this approach builds a solid foundation and sets up the Lions to make a strong run in 2011 and/or 2012. 

But this is only one draft—and one draft does not a playoff contender make. It's going to take a GM that can trade players and picks to position the Lions to succeed.