If you run an NFL team, and you want success, you might want to make sure your coaches don't contradict each other out of childish spite.The line's biggest collisions involved line coach Larry Beightol and offensive coordinator Mike Martz...That sound you're hearing is that of Lions season ticket holders expressing their gratitude for getting such a fine-tuned product for their money. In all fairness, I see what the Lions were doing -- in college, I always did best on the exams I crammed for last minute. You may call it a lack of cohesiveness, organization, and professionalism; I call it a bold managerial strategy.
Sometimes, Beightol would give the linemen instructions on how to block a certain play. The linemen would follow his orders in practice, and Martz would yell at them for following Beightol's instructions.
The players were like kids caught in the middle of a big nasty divorce. Some weeks, they wouldn't know what they were supposed to do until Saturday.
With new starters in George Foster and Edwin Mulitalo, Martz is optimistic about the state of the Lions' offensive line. It doesn't hurt that, with Beightol gone, the players can focus more on blocking schemes and less on blaming themselves for the split and what weekends they get to see Daddy.
