Minicamp roundup: Lions want fast, furious, injury-free defense
Gunther Cunningham doesn't think he's asking much from his Lions' defense.
Specifically, Cunningham is asking the secondary to play hard, play fast, and avoid injuries. Safety Louis Delmas was hampered by a knee injury and cornerback Chris Houston missed all or parts of four games with a knee issue.
"The defensive backs in December missed 32 to 34 practices," said Cunningham, the fiery defensive coordinator of the Lions. "The defensive line missed 33."
Cunningham and coach Jim Schwartz haven't been shy about expressing the importance of Delmas, the leader in the back end of the defense, and with depth a concern already at cornerback, the most important stats for the Lions in 2012 might be the injury count on defense.
"We've really explained the facts of life to them," Cunningham said. "I told them about a philosophy that we play violent defense, aggressive, between-the-lines, honest, fair and we're going to cover.
"But the most important thing is that we're available and accountable through the season. We can't have injuries."
The Lions drafted three cornerbacks and signed free agent Jacob Lacey in an effort to compensate for the loss of top cover man Eric Wright (Buccaneers).
