These are not your "Same Old Lions"

A week ago former NFL head coach and current NBC analyst Tony Dungy referred to Detroit as the "same old Lions" following their road loss to the Arizona Cardinals.

Not that he needed any more reasons to be critical of one of our local franchises, but Drew Sharp jumped all over that shit, as did just about every other local newspaper and sports talk radio show in the greater mitten area.

Piling on, Josh Katzenstein of the Detroit News even implied that the Lions were behind the times at quarterback, noting how he believed that RG3 "represents the future of the QB position while Stafford represents the past."

Well, one week later the Lions are coming off of their first win over the Redskins in Washington, D.C. in 75 years as they head into a showdown for first place in the NFC North at home against the Chicago Bears.

Guess what people, these are not your same old Detroit Lions.

Want to bitch about Offensive Coordinator Scott Linehan's boring and predictable play calling? Maybe you didn't notice, but the Lions are regularly mixing in the read option.

Keep your eyes on the receivers. They're actually running pass routes and don't start blocking until they see that Joique Bell has been handed the ball after Stafford reads the defense.

No, Mathew Stafford may not be the most mobile quarterback, or even a running threat at all, but that hasn't stopped Peyton Manning from running the read option as a form of play action to keep defenses honest.

How about the Lions secondary, where their most recent street free agent, Rashean Mathis, almost gave up a 57-yard touchdown pass to Redskins WR Aldrick Robinson?

Well, the key word was "almost," because despite getting beat, Mathis still managed to catch up to Robinson as he was trying to catch the ball in the endzone. That was just enough to jar the ball loose, and the catch was overturned on instant replay.

If all that wasn't enough, the Lions not only successfully converted a key 4th and 1 late in the 4th quarter, but they did so by running to the left side of their offensive line, between center and left tackle.

And while that center was Dominic Raiola, the left tackle was not Jeff Backus...So no, these are not your "same old Lions" by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, I think there might even be more "new Lions" to come.