With clear eyes, the Lions are talking the talk. And welcoming the walk.
"To do the same thing and expect different results is crazy, right?" said Amon-Ra St. Brown. "So we gotta do more than we did last year. Whatever we did last year wasn’t enough, obviously."
"At this point, nobody cares what we did last year," said Taylor Decker. "It doesn't matter. It's going to have no bearing on this season. If anything, it's going to be even harder for us, so we can't take that for granted."
The Lions opened training camp Wednesday with their eyes wide open, and their gaze fixed on the goal. Not that they're looking past today. A year after winning a franchise record 14 games and falling just short of the Super Bowl, the Lions are fully aware of the challenge in front of them. They don't want to redo last season, exhilarating as it was. They want to outdo it.
"For me," said David Montgomery, "I’m taking it a little more personal, just because I know it wasn’t enough and I want to be better than I was last year. It definitely drives me, just because we were so close to getting to the big show. Knowing how small and intricate the details were that prohibited us from getting there, it gives you that extra edge of knowing we got everything it takes. We just gotta take the next step."
Last year's step was huge, from 9-8 and a darkhorse in the NFC to 12-4 and a Super Bowl contender. Those famous two words were uttered frequently Wednesday, but not flippantly, and for good reason. The Lions have a Super Bowl-caliber roster. That's the clearest difference, already, between this year and last year: they have filled their biggest holes. On defense, they almost look whole.
They should be more dangerous up front, with the additions of DJ Reader and Marcus Davenport. They should be more dynamic in the middle, with Jack Campbell poised for a breakout season. And with Carlton Davis III and Amik Robertston teaming up with rookies Terrion Arnold and Ennis Rakestraw on the back end, they suddenly have more talent than they know what to do with, assuming everyone stays healthy (which is a foolish thing to assume!).
"It’s a great problem to have — it’s not a problem," said Dan Campbell. "It’s a great situation to be in. We really like where we’re at and every one of those guys is going to get an opportunity to showcase what they can do. And look, the guy who gives us the best chance to win games and produce -- on the outside, inside, at D-line -- is going to freaking play for us."
The only pressing question on offense is whether Jameson Williams is ready to grab the No. 2 receiver role. He grabbed a touchdown on his first catch of camp, a bomb from Jared Goff where Williams left two defenders in the dust, hurdled a fence in the back of the end zone -- and then hurled some of his breakfast on the grass. (I just ate the wrong thing this morning," he said.) If defenses have to truly respect Williams this season, they'll be queasy trying to stop everyone else.
"Each year, you get to that meeting on the first day and it’s like, what do you want to accomplish as a team?" said St. Brown. "I can truthfully say this year, it’s not even the playoffs. It’s not the No. 1 seed. It’s the Super Bowl. We have the team, we have the coaches, we have everything we need in this building to win a Super Bowl."
That's from the star of the offense. Here's the star of the defense, asked to define a successful season for the Lions:
"The obvious answer would be the Super Bowl," said Aidan Hutchinson. "That is the expectation. And if we fall short of that and end up in the same spot, it would be a failure, for sure. So that is the mentality. It is kind of a harsh reality, but we got the guys, so there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be playing in that game and winning that game."
Hutchinson smiled and said "it's weird" to think about trying to answer the same question two years ago. At the time, the Lions were coming off their fourth straight last-place finish. They weren't picked to play a single primetime game. Now they're slated to play five, after winning their first division title in more than 30 years. If there's pressure that comes with that, the Lions invite it.
"We’ve come a long way. It’s good, though. The expectations and pressure add a different level of play to our team," Hutchinson said.
Campbell still remembers that first training camp, before Hutchinson even arrived. The Lions looked more like peewees than pros: "The ball’s on the ground, we’re not getting the snap off right, we’ve got guys jumping, we’re not even close to being on the same page." The Lions had a mountain to climb, and nowhere to go but up.
Now they can see the summit.
"The end goal I think for every team is to win the Super Bowl, but for some teams it’s just different," said St. Brown. "For us, we know we’re capable of doing it. But we gotta put the work in."