ALLEN PARK, Mich. – If attitude is everything, then the Detroit Lions may be on the verge of success.

The team’s three-day voluntary mini-camp concluded late Thursday morning and the wear and tear of hard, full-out workouts on the players were apparent.

So was the buzz in the air.

Among other things, head coach Rod Marinelli seems to have been brought in to light a fire under these Lions players, and thus far it looks as though he has succeeded.

His strategy?

Getting back to the basics with fundamentals and details.

“We have a tremendous amount of fundamentals,” said Marinelli. “We have 40 minutes of fundamental work everyday and we’re at four practices. It’s fundamentals from stepping to angles to tackling to hand placement – all the details it takes to play this game.

“What you try to do is give these men as many tools when the season comes and when they get in the game, they can use fundamentals. Those are the tools of your trade. That’s what you try to do.”

Marinelli is going back to square one with these professional athletes and he doesn’t think that approach is insulting to talent in the slightest. He feels it is a necessity in order to get to the top and then stay there.

“You would think, at this level that you shouldn’t have to coach tackling,” he said. “No, you do. The people that don’t [practice it] don’t tackle well. You watch games and say ‘man that’s sloppy tackling.’ Well you have to work on tackling and angles. It’s your fundamentals.

Marinelli has been pleased with his team’s effort. (Photo: Steve Kovich).

“It’s like if you are playing golf, you work on your golf swing even if you played 20 years right? You still have to go work on it. It’s the same thing in football. You have to work on your angles for tackling, your footwork on run-blocking and the details of a route. That’s the basis of this whole thing.”

After three days of working with his new group of players, Marinelli is pleased with the effort put forth. His group of veterans – two-year players on up – have showed a willingness to work hard so playing on Sunday won’t be so tough.

“The biggest thing that I like is progress,” said Marinelli. “It’s about how we’re doing things, the tempo that we’re trying to create, and the willingness to keep doing it day-in and day-out – not just one practice, but from that practice to the next practice, then there’s progress starting to be made. That’s the part I like, their willingness to do it. That’s good.”

While the Lions held a solid three-day camp, it still won’t be the same as playing outside in the heat at the end of July and throughout August. Therefore, the shortness of the camp and the timing during the offseason didn’t quite give the coaches solid evaluations of the players.

“When you really evaluate, you want to see who can retain information, who can play everyday, the endurance of a person, the mental toughness everyday,” said Marinelli. “It’s not the hitting sometimes, it’s the mental toughness that’s going on, perform everyday, every drill, every snap, give a man information, how he retains it, and then how he can perform it on the field.”

Despite the fact that this mini-camp isn’t the same as training camp and wasn’t really a means for evaluation, Marinelli and his coaching staff were able to use these three days as a way to help the players get better on a basic level.

“Right now, you’re using these camps as tools to teach,” he said. “The key, I think, is to find what you want to teach – the tempo and the fundamentals and then start to master the execution of the offense, defense and special teams. To understand the intricacies of each system and know exactly how you may fit in the run game, how you spill, precision on routes, timing of routes and also show exactly where we are at conditioning-wise.

“How we want to have a certain pace everyday on how fast we run our routes or hustle or pursuit. It shows you the conditioning that this team is going to need and the pace that we want to play at.”

If Marinelli’s mini-camp was any indication of the pace he wants his team to play in 2006, fans can be rest assured they’ll find a hustling team on the playing field come September.

“Our pace is so fast right now – the tempo and the pace,” he said. “So what it does, it helps the men see the type of pace that you have to have. Conditioning to me is now a 10- or 11-month-a-year process. Conditioning, hardening your body, for what we want to do is a long process, and that’s what we are trying to show them.”

Receiving Praise

Wide receiver Charles Rogers’ coaches and fellow players are happy with his effort. (Photo: Steve Kovich).

“[I have seen] Hard work – coming out and doing everything we’re asking him to do,” said Marinelli. “I mean [he’s] working hard and he’s got talent. And the offense, the system, is very demanding. And the coaches over there are very demanding. It’s precision – the willingness and learning it and doing it over and over.”

Marinelli also made it clear that he is more worried about the present time than the past. Despite the fact that Rogers had a somewhat bumpy year last season, Marinelli wants to talk about the here and now and what he is willing to do today.

“I don’t talk about so much last year, I just talk about our expectations now,” Marinelli said. “I think right now, we’re here and we want to go there. So here’s where we are starting and here’s the expectations I have for us, and here’s how I believe we can get there – laying out a road map. Now we just have to follow the map. The maps aren’t always easy to follow; there are some hills and bumps and creeks in there. We just have to level our way through it.”

Quarterback Jon Kitna also talked about Rogers after the team’s final mini-camp practice on Thursday.

“Charles is going to be just fine for us,” he said. “He’s got the things that not everybody has: size, speed, long arms. He’s going to be fine. Like I said, we’re all just trying to work into this thing together. The receiving group as a whole is going to be very dynamic.”