One of the reasons for all the optimism in Detroit heading into this season was the arrival of rookie defensive tackle Nick Fairley. As it turned out, the optimism was justified – the Lions are 6–2 – but Fairley has hardly seen the field.
However, there’s still plenty of optimism about Fairley on the Lions’ coaching staff.
“He’s as healthy as he’s been since the injury in training camp,” head coach Jim Schwartz told the Detroit News. “We’re ready to see some big things from him. We are expecting to see some big things from him.”
Lions defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham was giddy about the things Fairley was doing on the practice field this week.
“This kid, he made a play Thursday that I made all the coaches show in their meeting,” Cunningham said. “It went beyond something I’ve ever seen from a big tackle.… This guy is gifted athletically. He’s faster than [Ndamukong] Suh. I don’t know if you know that.”
So the Lions believe Fairley is going to be a force in the second half of the season. After his foot injury limited him to three games and a whopping one tackle over the first half of the season, that would be a welcome change.
By faster than Suh I hope that is off the snap or it really doesn’t mean anything because neither would be fast enough to hawk down a 4.4 runningback anyway. If so then teams won’t be able to double team Suh as much and even if Fairley’s production doesn’t increase much, Suh’s will
Faster than suh? Wow.
Frist to say he is a Beast and will show up Sunday for the baby bears.
A easy win for THE GREAT DETROIT LIONS.
23–17 (Lions 8 sacks.)
Really hope he can play consistently well when healthy. I’m no Auburn fan but I watched every game of theirs last year because it was fascinating to see one player on each side of the ball completely dominate the other team.
1st personal foul this weekend ! You think Suh is aggressive…
Good night sweet Cutler..