Detroit Lions tight end Eric Ebron is shocked that his team is winless through three games. He doesn’t understand how the Lions could possibly be 0-3 because he sees how “great” his team looks in practice every week.
Speaking after Week 3’s 24-12 loss to the Denver Broncos on Sunday Night Football, Ebron expressed his dismay at the ill fortunes befallen Detroit in the early goings.
“I mean, I’m surprised, yeah, because of the players and how great we are, how good we look every day,” Ebron told the Detroit Free Press. “So I’m really surprised. But it’s the NFL. A few mistakes can make you 3-0 or 0-3. I mean, we’re 0-3 because of the mistakes we’ve been having and the mental errors and things like that. So we’ve just got to continue to work hard and get better.”
Perhaps in hindsight Ebron will wish he had used different words.
While it’s certainly true the Lions possess outstanding players at multiple positions, such as all-world receiver Calvin Johnson, defensive end Ziggy Ansah and quarterback Matthew Stafford — who is sometimes great and sometimes putrid — this team as a whole isn’t “great.”
In fact, the offensive line is clearly below average and the defense has taken a significant step back from last year’s dominance, thanks in part to the departures of defensive tackles Ndmukong Suh and Nick Fairley.
Detroit’s lack of discipline is a huge reason the Lions are 0-3, and Ebron in particular is to blame for a number of mistakes that cost his team valuable opportunities to score early in the season. Great teams don’t make the kind of silly mistakes we see from the Lions on a regular basis.
However, Ebron believes these are mistakes that are easily fixed.
“Yeah, that’s why we’re 0-3,” he said. “We’re hurting ourselves. No one in this league can match us or play against us unless we hurt ourselves. And we’ve been doing that for three straight weeks. So we’ll get better at it.”
They better get better at it in a hurry, because a highly motivated Seattle Seahawks squad is waiting for them in Seattle, and Detroit’s offensive protection issues will be exposed on the road in that hostile environment. It’s a Monday night showdown, meaning the “12s” will be as loud as ever in front of a national audience.
After that, the Lions take on the Arizona Cardinals, meaning this “great” team could be 0-5 in the blink of an eye.