DETROIT LIONS: THE FORGOTTEN COORDINATOR

With all of the hoopla surrounding Mike Martz and Head Coach Marinelli's defensive baqckground, its easy to forget about Donnie Henderson. Don't do that. Look, for all of the focus on offense the last few years, it was easy to forget that the defensive side of the ball was clearly the better unit. However, it was not an elite unit, but has the potential to be. I actually didn't mind Jauron as a coordinator, though I did think he was a tad conservative.

Henderson is known for blitizing a great deal, which is not one of the hall marks of the cover2 defense that the Lions-and it seems everyone else- is now running in the league. One thing that has also gone unnoticed-and justifiably so-is that as bad as Millen's drafts have been on offense (though you have to say that Backus, Jones, and R. Williams were good selections), his picks on defense, before this year always lower draft picks, have not been too bad. Shaun Rogers, Redding, Lehman, Bailey, Bailey, Lewis, Cody, and Holt all seem to be good players-to different degrees-and the biggest problem is keeping them all healthy. I hope that the two defensive guys we picked up this year will pan out. Remember, Ernie Sims will be the only guy that we have picked in the first round on defense.

Yes, like everyone else, I am more excited about seeing the offense develop after so many years of ineptitude and so much promise, but I am still confident, that at least for this year, the defense will again be the best unit for the team.

Whether that will turn out to be good or a disaster, only time will tell.