Mon May 11, 2009 1:57 pm EDT
Larry
Foote(notes), who spent last season with the world champion Pittsburgh Steelers, just
got his first taste of action with the Detroit Lions. This might come as a shock
to you, but the six-time world champion Steelers and the perennially downtrodden
Lions take a different approach to things. From MLive.com:
"There are a lot of curse words going on," Foote told Matt Shepard on WDFN-AM Detroit. "I think I heard more f-bombs in one day than I have in five years."
[...]
"It's a lot different from Pittsburgh," Foote said. "I don't know if it was the new coaches or the new staff, but it was military style yesterday. Pittsburgh is a little bit more laid back."
I guess that stands to reason. More f-bombs are required in Detroit because there are more players who are f-bomb-ing terrible at playing f-bomb-ing football.
Still, just because that's how the Lions do it, it doesn't mean that that's the wrong way to do it. With Pittsburgh, you have mostly veteran guys who know what they're doing, and they don't need to be screamed at like children. And if someone does get out of line, there are veteran players to set him straight. They can afford to take a more relaxed approach in May.
With Detroit, it's a whole different culture. It's more of a blank slate; with younger players, worse players and players who require more coaching (or the repeated and bloodthirsty screaming of profanity, as the case may be). There's a reason that new defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham and his shooting glasses need to yell four-letter words other than "Pull!"
Enjoy your new culture, Larry Foote.
Shutdown Corner is an NFL blog edited by Matthew J. Darnell. Email him, and follow him on Twitter.

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69 Comments
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What do the Lions and Billy Graham have in common?
They both can make 70,000 people stand up and yell Jesus Christ!
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And yes, another standout Michigan player doing well. The Lions could use more. It would at least upgrade their classiness and eventually lead to good football and less cursing.
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PITTSBURGH has it and the LIONS NEED IT ! This is why the Steelers WIN SUPERBOWLS and the LIONS go 0-16.
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All the players are not only from THE USA.
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